Compost Bins

[Airic]

Anyone have some good ideas or pictures of a compost bin? I've got a lot of 1" x 6" pressure treated lumber from a friends old deck. Not sure if I should just build a three sided wall bin or if there are better ideas out there others have deployed. The other thing is that the location I have in mind does not get much direct sun. Is there any real issue with this in regards to the organic breakdown.

 

[randy41]

i think treated lumber is not supposed to be used for organic compost bins.

if you turn your compost every couple of weeks it will break down the components very well whether in the sun or not.

 

[Egon]

Do a goggle search and I'm sure there will be more plans and ideas than one can comprehend.

 

[ragkar]

A compost bin should have a volume of at least one cubic yard before the heat generated by the decay becomes effective.
I don't think that wood is a good idea.
I'd like to suggest building a three sided pen of five foot metal stakes and hardware cloth. I tried chicken wire and that didn't work too well. Three sided so that you can dump in there and also get in with a pitchfork to turn it over every three or four months. Your tractor bucket should do the trick in minutes.
I compost the autumn leaves to make my own soil.
Size wise. Simple math should convince you that building a big heap uses a lot less wall material than a small one. I use to have five heaps of a cubic yard each, then I consolidated and it's now roughly circular and about twelve feet across and three feet high. I have room for many years of leaves in there.

 

[Airic]

Thanks for the info. I didn't know there was an issue with utilizing pressure treated wood. I'm assuming it can leach the chemicals. I'm having a hard time picturing hardware cloth, wouldn't seem to be very durable. I'm thinking of a permeate type bin. I was planning on building multiple bins in a row for different materials (i.e. stone, top soil, clay, sand, mulch and compost) All has accumulated in piles around the property from many of my project and I'd to get a little more organized. The compost bin has had me thinking it should be a little different set up. I could build block walls but that is a little more work than I would prefer.

 

[AlanB]

I am toying with the idea of making my mulch bin walls (and my compost as well) out of rammed earth tires. Google around on earthships and you will see what I am thinking.

I am thinking that the tire filled with wetted and packed red clay, overlapping each other with rebar through occassionally will be cheap, solid, durable, and able to handle the occasional bump from a loader. I am thinking along the lines of two tires side by side, stacked (interlocked) to about chest high.

 

[dtd24]

so alan, the rammed tire thing, basically tire with dirt "rammed" into the center hole? Hmmmmmm. I'll look at it some more. Sounds cool though!!

 

[AlanB]

so alan, the rammed tire thing, basically tire with dirt "rammed" into the center hole? Hmmmmmm. I'll look at it some more. Sounds cool though!!

Yes, the stuff I have seen they do it with a sledgehammer.

I am too fat and lazy to do that.

My current thought is to get some of the clay I am trying to get out of my pond, have a layer of tires in place, and dump with the clay in with the front bucket, then just soak it with a hose and kind of "wash" the clay into place.

One of my earlier thoughts was the HF Jack hammer

Harbor Freight Tools - Quality Tools at the Lowest Prices

and then make a domed head to go on it, do the dump slurry thing then "hammer" it in with that thingy.

I figure every couple of layers go down through every couple tires (real precise wording I know) with some rebar rods to kind of lock it all together.

My mulch beds are empty (mostly) at the moment and I am thinking of doing the center wall this way and see how it works.

As with many of my thoughts, it comes from having old tires to get rid of, and clay to get rid of, and extra Rebar lying about................. Has to be a wall in there somewhere

They had a thing on "invention Nation" where they showed it pretty well Episode of "Desert Power"

Episodes: Invention Nation : The Science Channel

When I was in middle school,,,, (Man, that was a tad bit ago 77 or so) Had this great teacher that was very alternative type lifestyle. We did tire walls etc. with him.

 

[mikim]

wish I could find some old "PSP" -- steel sections with holes in it that we used in SEA for temporary flight line .... and anything else it came in handy for.

 

[wedge40]

Here are a few places to start.
G6957 How to Build a Compost Bin, MU Extension
This one is just the plans. And I'm thinking this is what you're looking for.
They will tell you to use cedar, because it's rot resistant.
http://www.backyardgardener.com/compost/RCO_files/WoodWireStationary3binsystem.pdf
And one more.
LABOR-SAVING Compost Bin

Buy the way I googled composting bin and got over 550,000 hits.

Wedge