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Daleks VS Pallet bins

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  • #1

    Daleks VS Pallet bins

    Hi all, are there any views on which is better to use?? I currently have a Pallet compost bin but am thinking of trying a Dalek out as the pallet one seems pretty slow (although the temp outside wont be helping) Do the dalek bins have any problems associated with them ?? Thanks all
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  • #2
    I prefer the pallet bins because its easier to access the contents and to stir it up; they're also free! Daleks are too tall for me and the top opening is quite small. I have to lift the whole thing off the compost and then you can't replace the bin as the contents have collapsed. I can't shovel the compost back in as its too hign. I won't get another one.

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    • #3
      In my experience daleks are slow but I think they still have their place. I have 2 in my garden so when one is full I start filling the other then 12 months later the first one is ready to empty and begin to fill again. On my lottie I have a dalek that I filled with donated chicken bedding/manure. The smell of ammonia was eye watering but there is no smell at all now and a lovely texture compost awaits. I also have a traditional pallet type that I'm able to turn and will be emptied in spring. The only problem I've had was an ants nest in a dalek bin one year, but I'm guessing you could just as easy get that in any compost bin.

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      • #4
        In my experience, daleks are best: quick, really quick !
        I can't get on with pallet bins at all, the one I made didn't rot quickly, and it got infested with mice & voles.

        This is one of the school daleks, which has just been lifted. You can see the pile of compost in front of it, ready to be scooped into the beds.
        Any big lumps of unrotted wood, stalks etc get chucked back in.

        On my lotty I put the daleks (I have 5) where I want the compost, so I don't have to carry heavy compost around. I just lift the whole thing off and rake out the compost level . Then resite the dalek somewhere else, and start filling it again.
        All gardeners know better than other gardeners." -- Chinese Proverb.

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        • #5
          Pallet bins for me. Makes compost far more quickly as I am able to get in it and turn it every week, plus watering is easier. I make more compost with pallets than our two daleks.
          Look deep into nature, and then you will understand everything better...Albert Einstein

          Blog - @Twotheridge: For The Record - Sowing and Growing with a Virgin Veg Grower: Spring Has Now Sprung...Boing! http://vvgsowingandgrowing2012.blogs....html?spref=tw

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          • #6
            Originally posted by Two_Sheds View Post

            On my lotty I put the daleks (I have 5) where I want the compost, so I don't have to carry heavy compost around. I just lift the whole thing off and rake out the compost level . Then resite the dalek somewhere else, and start filling it again.
            TS that is such a good idea why didn't I think of it.

            What size lottie do you have?

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            • #7
              TS- just had a quick look at your pictures and see that you put your couch grass roots in black bags to rot down. How successful is this and would you do this with other perenials?
              Whether you think you can or whether you think you can't, you are probably right.
              Edited: for typo, thakns VC

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              • #8
                I used to have daleks but freecycled them as I didn't like them much, rather small but still seemed to take up a lot of space. OH built me two nice big wooden ones with lids at home which work better and fit the space in the garden better. At the lottie I have rather scruffier pallet bins which have the advantage of being free with some pallets which were given away. I find they rot down nicely and I can climb in to mix them so nice and easy.

                Some of us live in the past, always talking about back then. Some of us live in the future, always planning what we are going to do. And, then there are those, who neither look behind or ahead, but just enjoy the moment of right now.

                Which one are you and is it how you want to be?

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                • #9
                  dalek in the garden, 3 bay pallet bin on the plot. The plot one is too recently made to comment on. I will get around to stuffing the sides with cardboard some day. Main reason for the pallets on the plot is the cost of the daleks, even at subsidised council prices.

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                  • #10
                    Originally posted by donnakebab View Post
                    What size lottie do you have?
                    Standard size, 10 rod I think

                    Originally posted by singleseeder View Post
                    you put your couch grass roots in black bags to rot down. How successful is this and would you do this with other perenials?
                    I haven't checked the bags yet, it's a bit early. I'll have a look in the summer. No reason that it wouldn't work though

                    Originally posted by salome2001 View Post
                    cost of the daleks, even at subsidised council prices.
                    Try eBay and freegle. I was gifted a couple of mine, and another couple were just £2 each
                    All gardeners know better than other gardeners." -- Chinese Proverb.

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                    • #11
                      I shove the roots either into water and use it for feed or the last couple of years I've been ptting stubborn ones in half barrels I used to use to grow in. I had a nice lot of compost out of one of them in last year, so there's no reason why black bags wouldnt work as well.

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                      • #12
                        Thought I had a triffid in my dalek the other day. Took the lid off to give it a good stir and there was a white shoot, 8 inches long and as thick as a pencil with a furled leaf bud at the top, rising out of the compost.

                        I had to dig down about a foot into the compost to find where it was coming from - it was a parsnip top. I was a bit miffed 'cos I find parsnips quite picky about growing from seed, and here was a darned throwaway bit growing like...well, like a triffid
                        Last edited by mothhawk; 29-01-2012, 07:08 PM.
                        Location - Leicestershire - Chisit-land
                        Endless wonder.

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                        • #13
                          I have four pallet bins which I find easier for turning ......sort of a conveyor system . Also have three daleks (inherited unused with the plot) these are the weed bins and are open at the top . In goes a bucket of weeds followed by a bucket of water (or pee) when they seem to be on the way to rotting down well they will go into the first pallet bin . They are on a slight slope so the water hopefully drains down through the fruit patch. Also have a lidded dalek at home for home stuff but it's a pita when it needs some out cos the door at the bottom isn't quite big enough for the spade.
                          S*d the housework I have a lottie to dig
                          a batch of jam is always an act of creation ..Christine Ferber

                          You can't beat a bit of garden porn

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                          • #14
                            Originally posted by binley100 View Post
                            it's a pita when it needs some out cos the door at the bottom isn't quite big enough for the spade.
                            Those little doors are useless.

                            I've found its much easier to take the whole thing up and off. So long as you haven't dug it down into the soil, it will come loose after a bit of hefting fwds and backwards. A swear word or two is very effective. If swearing doesn't work on its own, get a spade under the bottom lip and lever it about, all the way round.
                            It gets easier the more times you do it. I now turn (lift off & relocate) my daleks as soon as they're full, I'm getting usable compost a lot quicker that way.
                            All gardeners know better than other gardeners." -- Chinese Proverb.

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                            • #15
                              Dalek bins

                              Never been convinced by the dalek bins as although they are neat
                              and keep all the composting material together how does bacteria get
                              enough oxygen to break down the material?
                              Isnt getting air into the compost crucial to success?
                              Warmth clearly stimulates the break down of material as well.

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