DIY vs off the shelf compost bin?

[caribumamba]

I know it is easy to make one but I don't have spare materials right now. I have just used most of the parts of pallet I had.

As I am wanting one soon I am thinking maybe better to get one bought.

Although the other alternative to using scrap parts is to make myself but with new materials. I make this distinction because making one from cobbled bits means it is harder to get the lines toe match up and wanting something to keep rodents off it.

This is where store bought would be easier as I would just have to think about the bottom rather than the whole structure. Had thought to use some rodent mesh on the floor so they would not be able to climb up and in. Not so bad if they have a nibble but to avoid them nesting or the like in the pile itself.

I want some fast right now though so thinking maybe just buy a cheap store bought one to get something 'off the ground' literally, hehe, vs digging holes, which is cumbersome and more susceptible to rodents. Although just a few OSB3 sheets I could probably knock something together in a couple of hours with a flap for access of the bottom mature compost so might do that.

[JoaoLeaftide]

If you're buying new materials anyway an off the shelf one probably makes more sense. The cheap plastic dalek bins do the job fine for a single household and they're less faff than building something square from scratch. Only real downside is the small footprint makes turning difficult, so you end up with a slow cold compost rather than hot. If that doesn't bother you they're fine.

[caribumamba]

If you're buying new materials anyway an off the shelf one probably makes more sense. The cheap plastic dalek bins do the job fine for a single household and they're less faff than building something square from scratch. Only real downside is the small footprint makes turning difficult, so you end up with a slow cold compost rather than hot. If that doesn't bother you they're fine.

Well the job is so trivial that the labour involved does not really factor as a negative - just screw 4 sheets of wood together. Also those 'daleks' I am not keen on the circular shape. Why are most compost bins circular? Making one myself I can make to my preferences.

I did have my eye on this rectangular one though even before considering making one myself: https://www.diy.com/departments/300l...6757195_BQ.prd

The reason I changed my mind though was due to it being not straightforward to get one where I am and I then thought why not just knock one together. The construction process of that one seems like it would be about the same as just screwing some board together, maybe even harder reading the reviews that the lid is very tight!

Wood also is a nicer aesthetic than plastic given the choice. Sure plastic has its benefits - doesn't rot and such but swings and roundabouts. I could easily make another after a couple of years.

[ChingfordHarry]

Why are most compost bins circular?

Circular bins won't have colder corners - the heat generated is more evenly distributed.

I have a couple of daleks - the thing I really don't like about them is that the hole at the bottom is so small I can't get a spade or garden fork in to get the compost out for turning (and in compost making, turning regularly is a good thing). So I have to dig out the compost from the top until it's low enough not to spread out everywhere, when I can lift the dalek off and continue forking (not sure this makes sense, but it's quite clear in my mind what I do...).

I used to have a double cube (basically, two cubes side by side with one common side) made from pallets tied together with string - worked well, and I could move the contents of one into the other fairly easily. The downside was that I didn't really generate enough waste to get it to generate sufficient heat for a quickish composting process, and it dried out quite quickly, so when the daleks became available I changed.

[caribumamba]

Circular bins won't have colder corners - the heat generated is more evenly distributed.

I have a couple of daleks - the thing I really don't like about them is that the hole at the bottom is so small I can't get a spade or garden fork in to get the compost out for turning (and in compost making, turning regularly is a good thing). So I have to dig out the compost from the top until it's low enough not to spread out everywhere, when I can lift the dalek off and continue forking (not sure this makes sense, but it's quite clear in my mind what I do...).

The one I linked to seems to minimize this issue by having plenty of venting holes. Not used it so can't say how effective it would be.

I used to have a double cube (basically, two cubes side by side with one common side) made from pallets tied together with string - worked well, and I could move the contents of one into the other fairly easily. The downside was that I didn't really generate enough waste to get it to generate sufficient heat for a quickish composting process, and it dried out quite quickly, so when the daleks became available I changed.

This is what they did at the market garden I volunteered at but a bigger size, using breeze blocks and they had the benefit of the animal manure as well which would be provided from that section of the farm. That one always seemed quite active and hot from what I remember and my untrained eye.

I think that people can get a bit pedantic about the perfect conditions? because I was just burying a la pit composting which I would guess most would call imperfect and after 6 months I checked it and it had broken down well. No turning or other intervention.

Anyway I have been cutting back the vetch and I am getting far more than I would ever have gotten with my food leftovers so I will just consider that stuff waste disposal.

I have gotten several huge bales of vetch now which I have piled up and and planting seeds and spreading it on over the top. When cutting back I noticed that some of the undergrowth had started to compost already, with a slimey brown under the top canopy.

I have far more land which is still wild as well so I could potentially use more of that just for green manure growth, which I read is a viable practice in itself, but if you were doing that wouldn't it be draining the nutrients from the cover crop area if you are spreading it elsewhere so it would become infertile after some time if you didn't give back to that soil?

[ChingfordHarry]

Normally the idea of green manure is to dig it in (or just cut it down and let the worms incorporate it) into the ground you grow it on - partly it is supposed to out-compete the weeds, and partly to extract minerals from the soil when it's growing, and then return the minerals in a more available form once it's been cut.

Getting the "perfect" conditions for composting is an ideal, but it's something to aim for if you can get it. An ideal compost heap will get hot enough to kill the majority of weed seeds (and some of the roots as well), so it's doing more than breaking the organic matter down into a growing medium. Turning the heap regularly helps redistribute oxygen and uncomposted material among the composted stuff (which contains the bacteria necessary for a good fermentation - as I understand it, fungi don't really contribute to the composting process in the way they do for producing leaf mould, for example).

Having said that, conventional wisdom says that we can't get those high temperatures homogeneously at home, so there will always be some weeds remaining. Back in the day, there used to be steam sterilizers available to kill what remains...

[Mark Rand]

my compost heap is very slow because it very rarely gets turned. The worms do most of the work.