Home Made Compost Tumbler

How to make a compost tumbler from a food grade pickle barrel. Free Plans at http://dixiegrilling.com/tumbler.htm This compost tumbler with it's internal aeration system speeds the composting process. Great way to get compost for your garden without the mess and strength required to turn a traditional compost bin. Concealed barrels picks unwanted critters from hanging out at your compost pile. Excellent for urban gardeners with restrictions on space. Can be made very inexpensively. Link to free plans and bill of material at the end of the video.

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  Howto & Style

[slowgawd]

Great idea, is this hard to rotate when full, and sounds like the plastic won't sag when rotating it on the pipe when full?

[Strat Man]

The barrel I used is very rigid with no sagging. The barrel does become more difficult to rotate as you add material, but it's manageable.

[DRYICENZ1]

Great plans - I'm interested to know why you didn't drill any holes in the side of the barrel?

Instead it looks like you only use the handle holes as external ventilation.

Would adding holes to the barrel accelerate the composting process (with the internal PVC pipe already installed) or would it just be detrimental?

Thanks

[Strat Man]

I chose to not have exterior holes as I was afraid they might allow too much water to enter the compost from rain and it would give bees and wasps lots of places to start a nest.

With this design you have to be careful not to have too much moisture, as the barrel limits evaporation like you would have with a traditional open air compost pile. You don't want to end up with compost muck.

[sean123456789]

Great video, but I have two questions. How do you keep the cap from falling off when it's being flipped? and Does compost get stuck in the holes on the pvc pipe?

[Strat Man]

You will find the plans for this project at the link above in the description for this video

[Christien Bumpus]

This is wonderful! Thanks so much for posting.

[Janette Francis]

Excellent.

[MrFlyTWA]

Simple design great job!

[greenbuystuff]

Great design. I especially like the closet flange and vent pipe. That's a great thing about these tumblers and especially with your design, is the air flow to speed up and produce a nice aerobic compost.

[100BearPaw]

That a great design that should speed the process up a bit. Good job.

[minlouwho10]

Thank you!! Love this!!