I've never used a tumbler, so I have no idea how well they work.

For many years, I just made free standing piles. Those worked but weren't necessarily aesthetically pleasing. When I moved to my current house, my wife told me she didn't want a pile, but wouldn't mind a bin in the corner. At about the same time, the county offered bins for $10 in an effort to reduce the amount of waste going into landfill. These were Garden Gourmet bins. I've had good luck with mine.

What's your price range?

I'd say under 100, but I don't think there are any tumblers in this range.

Here are a bunch of 'best' previous discussions you may want to read through.

They also include most of the standard comments and explanations on why this isn't necessarily the best approach to composting so I won't bother you with re-hashing them here.

I'll just say there is little if any correlation between dollars spent and quality of or ease of compost obtained. ;)

Dave

Here is a link that might be useful: Best composter discussions

Cheapest I could find was $132.00 dollars. The best thing to do is buy a standing compost bin. There really cheap and can make more compost than alot of tumblers. If you decide on a compost bin, you will need some compost activator.

Here is a link that might be useful: Big Bin Leaf Composter

You can make your own with wire fencing very similar to the Big Bin linked above. I made many for myself but since it is likely discussed in the search linked above, I won't go into it here. But the wire fence bin is my preference, period.

Using free fence the neighbors are throwing out of course.

Gumby_CT - who thinks like the fruitcake there is only one compost tumbler. It continues to get re-gifted ;-)

there is only one compost tumbler. It continues to get re-gifted ;-)

Excellent Gumby! Perfect analogy.

Dave

PS: Like tumblers, "compost activator" is also not a requirement. Compost activates itself quite well.

Compost Activator does speed up the process though.

So does old moldy money. I think the point is it is NOT needed. What does Mother Nature use to activate?

But if you have spare money for a compost tumbler then why get rid of the rest on compost activator?

I never use activator, never have, never will. My compost easily gets to 150-160 degrees with fresh additions of compostables. It hasn't gone below 120 in at least a month. What's to speed up?

Karen

Yeah compost activator's of all types come up for discussion here often and pretty much get panned here as a waste of money. But the madison avenue ad types make good money off the hype on them.

So straxman - back to the original question, you mention that space is at a premium for you. How much space? Do you need one that has to be buried in the ground? Also have you considered vermicomposting at all? Takes much less space, uses a small container, and makes great stuff easily.

It all depends on what types of materials you have to compost? Lots of leaves and grass clippings vs. mostly kitchen scraps?

Can you provide up with some more details?

Dave

I've always composted in piles, but after moving to where we have eternal winter and 4 feet of snow, I decided to get a tumbler this year (actually bought it for my mother's day gift). I got it at Costco for $99. It's too early to say how well it works, but I need to use it at least during the winter - I'll probably stick to my piles the rest of the year.

Straxman - I think you have to familiarize yourself with how each system works before you can make a decision about which kind of composting you want to do.

Do you want to be passive or aggressive? Do you have a lot of stuff to compost all at once or just a little to add now and then?

I use three different methods. A two sided concrete block bin that I turn from one side to the other. Makes a good amount of compost but it takes some work.

Then there's the tumbler that I just started using again. This one is for batch composting. I stopped using it for awhile because I couldn't seem to get the hang of it. After reading several of Lloyd's posts about tumblers and how to fill it correctly, I'm cooking along really nicely now and it's going much faster than the bin.

Then there's the Earth machine. It sits in the corner of the garden and takes all the household waste that can't be added to the tumbler (because it's cooking nicely) or the block bin (because it's full and cooking nicely).

Since your space is at a premium, I'd say you need to first decide "what" kind of composting you want to do.

Val

I do like the EarthMaker but I wonder if it's worth the investment. About $200 isn't exactly cheap. But if you're someone like me who doesn't like to turn the compost pile every few days, it might still be worth it. They mention that insects and worm get inside all by themselves, so you might not need activator.

I'd also be interested in other's experiences with this model.

Here is a link that might be useful: Earthmaker compost bin - rapid no-turn composter