A twenty gallon sized unit will not likely generate much heat so "cooking" is not likely to happen. Paper products and woodier items are not the best C materials for optimum composting. I've used tumblers a lot (although not your type) and I've never achieved what I call a mature compost in four weeks. Under optimum conditions with optimum materials/moisture I can get a one yard tumbler pretty well through its heat phase in around three weeks. It still needs to cure or finish after that.

My father had one, free from the city, to reduce kitchen waste in the garbage.

Composting took about 10-12 weeks. Unless you add lots of "brown" you will get little compost. Your compost tumbler may attract rats possums and raccoons.

Your results are similar to my father's, he did not have critical mass.

Ok, so I was definitely being overly optimistic with timing. Sadly, I don't really have access to a good source of browns. Given that I don't really have the room, money, or enough quality material for a larger bin, it sounds like I'm unlikely to ever be able to produce compost on my own. I suppose sending less waste to the dump is still a positive, even if I get little to no useful output from it.

Could you get a bale of straw to use as you brown source to add your kitchen waste to? Leaves in the fall are the goldmine for browns too for when that time comes.

I am literally the only person on my block with no trees. :( Apparently the people who lived here before me absolutely hated trees, as I have 3 different giant stumps in my yard. I know I should just talk to my neighbors and see if I can take some leaves from their yard, but to say that I'm not a people person is the understatement of the millennium. Maybe I can convince my significant other to negotiate for some... Though he's not much better with people than I am!

That's not something I'd considered--I'll have to look into straw. I know the 2 garden centers I've shopped at in the past definitely don't carry it. I'll have to figure out where else to look for it, or see if buying online will be cost-prohibitive.

Look into worm composting. This is a great way to use up kitchen scraps, coffee grounds, etc. but without a lot of the hassle of composting. You don't have to decide between browns and greens; you don't have to turn or aerate; you don't need to achieve and maintain any specific temp - the worms do all the work. Your reward is worm castings........won't be the volume of compost you could expect with a regular composting operation, but worm castings/compost is the most nutrient dense and varied of any compost or manure and offers a number of other bonuses. And can be used as a liquid fertilizer when the liquid/leachate is diluted into a tea.

Vermicomposting forum

If you have a lumberyard nearby, you could ask for their wood shavings/sawdust. Just make sure it doesn't contain pressure treated wood. My place is happy to get rid of huge bags that i use for my chicken coop and compost tumbler. I too had your problem until I way upped the browns.

I've had a tumbler for a long time. It makes partially cooked compost. What I do is dump it onto a huge tarp, refill with leaves and mowed grass, tumble for a few weeks and dump that onto the tarp, building up the pile. By the end of autumn I have a huge pile of compost which I put on the garden beds as winter mulch which decomposes further during the next summer. It works well for me that way.

What I have seen with compost tumblers is most of the time the mix is too wet. Theoretically, according to the manufacturers and sellers of those items you could make compost in 4 weeks, but you must follow the directions very carefully.

Even if there are unfinished sticks in there, as long as there is no identifiable food waste you should be able to put that stuff on the garden. It doesn't have to be 'finished compost' to use as a mulch. In fact, the decomposition process itself is a highly fertile process, and will benefit your plants. We only use compost bins and tumblers to speed things up a bit, look neat and keep varmints away. Mother Nature never used a bin. I'd keep doing what you're doing. Or a possible alternative is that when your second side is full, transfer as much of it as you can to the first side and cook it together awhile longer. You can also chop up your sticks smaller and they won't be so noticeable.

That is a very good point--I've been so focused on getting "proper" compost, I didn't even think about just using what I have. Next time I run out of room in there, I might just spread my half-finished stuff as mulch and call it good. I could certainly use any help I can get controlling weeds!

I'm sorry, but unless you are putting garbage in your compost, compost piles will NOT attract any critters. And you should not be trying to compost garbage. Vegetable scraps when properly buried into the middle of a hot pile won't attract critters, but they're better used for vermiculture IMO.

I've been composting my entire life. In nearly 6 decades, no critter problems ever. If your compost pile is heating up properly any vegetation breaks down quickly. If your compost pile is improperly built and managed, its a problem even without critters.

straysod, I got one of those little dual chamber tumblers before I started reading about getting a critical mass going for composting to happen. I only have oaks and redwoods in my neighborhood, so no access to dry leaves at all. I have been adding kitchen veggie scraps, coffee grounds and shredded cardboard since May, and except for some bamboo leaves that didn't at all breakdown, I am finding what looks like sweet smelling brown compost in the first chamber. I am going to let that mature a little longer, and start filling the other chamber now. I also got some bbq wood pellets for cheap and am planning to test that out instead of cardboard this time. But even though my chambers are very small, I'd estimate twenty gallons each side, maybe, and it seems to be working. I do spin it every day when I toss my coffee grounds in, and sometimes need to add a little a water. Hope that gives you some hope.

Here's a pic of what i have, even though I just added some sweet pea and green bean vines on top of what was going on below. Most of the light colored strings are the bamboo leaves. I'm going to not add that anymore!

kcandmilo Thanks! It does make me feel better to know that I'm not the only one working with a small-ish tumbler and mostly kitchen scraps. :)

kcandmilo said. " I only have oaks and redwoods in my neighborhood, so no access to dry leaves at all." Why do you think the Oak leaves and Redwood needles would not br a source of composting material?

kimmq, I was told at the county composting workshop that they take too long to break down especially with a small tumbler, and that oak leaves were best left in situ to be mulch and break down at their own pace.

KC

Shredded leaves of any type will compost faster. Oak leaves in particular have a waxy surface that shredding allows microbes to get underneath. If you have a mower, you can just mow over them (with or without the bag, whatever works best). I don't have any experience with redwood but in general conifer needles go rather slowly but may also benefit from shredding.

Sadly, I have no shredder or lawn mower!

Straysod, Like you, and others who replied, I have a small tumbler that never really finishes. I dig it out by the bucketfull and use it rough. the places where I have dug it into the soil, it disappears quickly and though partially unfinished, hasnt hurt any plants. in fact, they seem to like it. I use mostly kitchen scraps and have a lack of browns too.

I don't know why we introverts are so silly about this but i also put off asking my neighbors for leaves for almost a year. I was so awkward in avoiding this simple conversation that I once waited until they weren't home and hastily swept up all the leaves in the street in front of their house. I felt like a bandit! How embarrassing! But just last week I finally asked one of my neighbors for her leaves and she was so sweet and happy to oblige! Why had I been putting it off so long?! Now I have access to a neverending supply! ....And yet despite this success I am still avoiding asking my other neighbor for her grass clippings! O.o

The worst thing they can say is no and you're right back where you started. Best case you have a new free resource. Maybe offer to blow and sweep the leaves yourself if you think they're likely to say no. Good luck to you with your compost and happy gardening.

Believe me, people LIKE knowing their leaves and grass are being used in a productive way. When I lived in a small residential city, I'd be out on the streets collecting people's raked leaves into big garbage bags. Not one negative comment. People knew why I was doing it. It's a positive activity.

Tristan, hahaha waiting till a neighbor is gone and then sweeping the street in front sounds exactly like the sort of thing I would do! I am working on my courage--hopefully by the time fall rolls around I will have gathered the gumption to ask for leaves. I don't really think they'll say no or be rude about it, I'm just so cartoonishly awkward around people I won't even order pizza unless I can do it online without having to talk on the phone!

Thank you, everyone, for your advice and shared experiences! I feel a little more confident that it will work out one way or another now, and have gotten a few ideas as well. Whenever I google a garden problem, this forum pops up 9 times out of 10, and now I can see why. Even though I am very inexperienced and felt a little foolish asking questions, people here have been super helpful and kind. So thank you all for being such a wonderful community! <3

Hey if there are huge piles of leaves (when people are raking), close by, take a large tarp, rake them onto it and just drag it home. If you have a buddy you can pick it up and dump it right into your 6-8 ft diameter wire fence leaf bin. :-}

If you rake the neighbors fall leaves you can be better assured of getting only leaves and no trash :-) Maybe a bit of practice with speaking to only the friendliest looking neighbors could help. I am an introvert too.