Compost tumbler won't make soil

[charles p]

Asked you fellows a few months ago why the ingredients in my commercial compost tumbler do not decompose to make soil.  Most responded that my compost was too wet.  I agree with that answer.  Since then I have added a lot of wheat straw and the volume of the compost has actually reduced, so I know it's working.  The foul odor is gone too.  I needed a higher ratio of brown stuff.  Problem is, I still get these baseball size balls of compost.  They just roll around in the tumbler but don't change much.  Should I add more straw?  Should I stop adding veggie scrap?  I can use the balls because they will till in the garden, but it sure would be pleasing to see beautiful compost roll out of the tumbler.  Been making these balls for about three years now.  They look like the scat from some African plains animal - maybe a zebra road apples.

If I add more straw, I might make bricks!

[Graybeard]

If it's now not stinking and is reducing in volume that means it's composting. I'd not worry about it myself. Till them under and they will finish the process in the dirt. I've never used a tumbler so have no first hand experience to fall back on. Even in my bins it seems to take forever for some stuff to become fine soil but I don't let it bother me when it looks ready it goes into the garden and can finish the process in the ground.

[bilmac]

I've never used one either, but I wonder if you are spinning it too much. I would think that about all the turning you need to do is just turn it over so the air can get in.

[rokefert]

Im actually thinking about trying to make one for this year-----do they have any type of cross bars in the barrel from side to side to kinda break the stuff up as it tumbles rather than just roll around?

[charles p]

Mine is called an Urban Compost Tumbler.  I think that is the name of the company as well.  It holds about 40 gallons.  There is an axle and cross rod in the center that disrupt the compost when it is turned over.

For some reason, the partially composted product eventually forms into round balls about the size of baseball.  Like GB said, they till up OK.  In previous years my product has been too wet on the inside, even though there are drain holes in the bottom.  On sunny days, I completely remove the top to allow for evaporation.  The source of the moisture is the veggies and green stuff that goes in.  I add wheat straw to balance it out. 

I keep a second compost bin made from a hoop of hardware cloth.  I put stalks, limbs, shredded paper, and larger stuff in it.  When I empty out the tumbler, I put the contents of the hoop inside the tumbler.

I tried adding earth worms.  They didn't live very long.  The tumbling may have killed them but I expect the drastic temperature changes are a problem for earth worms as well.  The tumbler is black plastic.  The sun heats it and it cools at night.

If you build a tumbler, design it to be high enough off the ground that you can tilt the barrel and rake your compost into a wheel barrow.  I have to retrieve my compost from the tumbler because in its horizontal position with the top removed, it is too low to pour the compost into a wheel barrow.

[Drilling Man]

If it's now not stinking and is reducing in volume that means it's composting. I'd not worry about it myself. Till them under and they will finish the process in the dirt. I've never used a tumbler so have no first hand experience to fall back on. Even in my bins it seems to take forever for some stuff to become fine soil but I don't let it bother me when it looks ready it goes into the garden and can finish the process in the ground.

  I agree with Bill, till it in the garden and don't worry about it.

  DM

[Graybeard]

I believe you might also be turning it way too much. How often do you turn it and how many times do you turn it at each time? Daily is too much in my opinion more like weekly or at most twice a week I'd think. I'd do no more than two revolutions when turning either.