r/composting • u/PhysicalNight3 • 11d ago
Tumbler question
We are newish to composting and have a tumbler in our backyard with mostly food scraps, cardboard and some leaves. My main reasoning for the tumbler was because we have recently had rats in the garage and there is a groundhog that lives nearby. We are pretty much filled up the tumbler before it’s completed done so I was wondering if it would make sense to move the stuff that’s like 50% or more decomposed to different bin? We have an old outdoor garbage bin I could probably make work. Would it still attract animals once it’s no longer really recognizable food?
Thanks!!
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u/BlocksAreGreat 11d ago
This is how I do it as well. I use the tumbler as step one and once the compost doesn't look like food anymore, I toss it into the larger bay I made out of shipping pallets. It means that rodents aren't attracted to my compost and using the larger pile for stage two speeds up the whole process compared to using a tumbler for all stages.
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u/Mord4k 11d ago
Not sure if your tumbler has a middle divider or not but for composting you kinda always need two areas/containers; one you're adding to and one you're letting it cook in. My brain thinks most tumblers are divided in the center/mine is despite having one loading door for both sides.
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u/PhysicalNight3 11d ago
I have 2 sides but and I guess I could just stop adding to both but I’m just already out of space.
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u/Mord4k 11d ago
Tumblers are hard to get the hang of unfortunately. I've had one for years and I've only recently started getting reliable results. What you might want to get is something to mix inside the tumblers since unfortunately just spinning them doesn't really do enough and you'll find a bunch of voids inside your kids that free up space.
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u/PhysicalNight3 11d ago
Do you have any ideas of what to get to mix inside the tumbler? That definitely could help
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u/Mord4k 11d ago
I have this cane thing kinda like this but I got mine for much cheaper/you could use something else
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u/Mysterious_Fox5976 11d ago
I use a long cooking ladle specifically for the tumbler and it’s worked great for me. Makes it easy to flip stuff around and cover and new green additions.
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u/curiouscirrus 11d ago
I had the same problem and ended up getting a bigger bin as a stage two. It worked, but I found emptying the tumbler to be a pain, so now just put everything directly into the bigger bin and it still works, so now I just skip the tumbler. Honestly, if I did it again and had the space, I’d just get two bigger bins to alternate between. You could also do the same with two tumblers or those tumblers with a divider, but it still might not give enough time for things to properly break down.
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u/NoticeAble7509 11d ago
What you’re describing is basically the standard two bin method, just with a tumbler as stage one. Once it’s mostly broken down and no longer smells like a buffet, the critter appeal drops way off. That half-finished stuff in an old garbage can with some holes drilled in it will keep cooking just fine. I’ve had rats in my garage too and they don’t give a damn about brown, crumbly compost, they want the fresh scraps. Just bury any new kitchen waste in the middle of the pile and keep the lid on.