Morning Ken.

I have used two basic procedures and they really aren't much different than using a bin intensively.

Batch. All materials are assembled to fill a tumbler. Shredded leaves and fresh grass clippings are the best bar none. The tumbler is filled, adding water as I fill it to ensure complete mixing. Within 24 hours it will be 120-130 + and will have settled. I top up the tumbler with the same materials but adjust ratio if I feel it is necessary. Daily tumbling (sometimes more if I am around and I remember) begins until the temperature gets down to 100-110ish and then the contents is removed and put into a curing bin and a new batch is begun. Usually the volume is about half of what I started with. The stuff in the curing bin is monitored for moisture content but that is about it. Sometimes I play with it and use one of those wing-ding things but this is more for entertainment. The large tumblers can stay hot and the material can be in there for 3-6 weeks, the medium tumbler takes about 21 days to get past the heat phase. In both cases temperatures get up into the 150-160 range.

Continuous. One tumbler is filled about two thirds full with leaves, grass clippings and maybe some shredded straw. I go for a higher C:N ratio and drier in this because I am going to be adding kitchen/office scraps on almost a daily or every second day basis. This can go for months depending on which tumbler I am using. The large ones will last a whole summer easy. I add leaves occasionally as the material is digested and depending on the weather sometimes I need to add small amounts of water now and then. Usually towards the end of summer or into fall I will add some fresh grass clippings to get the heat to spike and let the material 'cook' for a week or two and then put it in the curing bin. Sometimes I've let the stuff just sit in the tumbler over the winter and empty in the spring. Depends on workload around the farm.

Winter continuous. I start with a tumbler one third full of leaves and add the kitchen scraps covering them with some leaves each time something is added. It all freezes and by spring it is ready for some fresh grass clippings and a couple of weeks of tumbling.

I like tumblers because they allow for easy mixing and aerating. I have no trouble with getting too much moisture in them but that came from practise and experience. I know all tumblers are not the same and low volume ones will not likely achieve higher temperatures so they are likely used more as a continuous method and a second curing bin of some kind is definitely an asset.

As a disclaimer, none of this is carved in stone. My life requires a lot of flexibility so I don't panic about any of this and some days the compost is left alone for days and days.

Lloyd

You are speaking of those big metal tumblers on your flickr page? Wow those are crazy big! So you have to have it on a set of wheels to turn it? I can usually only get about 50 browns, but I read it is better to have more browns then greens. I see also you have a lot of browns which would account for the tumblers not being too wet inside. All the straw hay and wood makes a lot of browns. Do you sell the compost? Can you use all of that compost yourself?

I use three different tumbler systems. The multi-large drums (2+ cubic yards each), the silver coloured medium (1 cubic yard) and the small 45 gallon drum. The multi tumbler is turned by an electric motor, the others are by hand. The tumblers are used mainly for anything that would be considered food for varmints. The windrows compost most of the plain jane plant stuff.

I have access to more than enough materials, green and brown. I give a lot my compost away (friends, family and various fund-raisers) but some is sold. I myself use only a few cubic yards of finished compost. I use 80-90 percent of the raw feedstocks on my fields. I also get paid a tipping fee to take the materials.

Lloyd

You are the king of all compost.

Thanks for the information Lloyd. How long is the compost left in your finishing bin before using? Do you feel compost will "finish" OK if it is put in 1.5 cu ft plastic bags and stored that way for six months or so?
What I do is bag it in the bags from my pellet stove I keep from the past winter for ease of handling?
Your thoughts?
Ken

The stuff can sit in the curing bin anywhere from six months to a year. Depends on what else I have going on. When I first started using this method, I would screen it through the trommell before using/selling/giving it away, but the last few years I just loaded it into the manure spreader and spread it over my Aunt's garden in the fall. She is one of those ladies who knows how to grow stuff.

I've never used small bags for curing but I'd have some reservations about curing compost in plastic bags. There is still a lot of air requirements so at the very least the tops should be left open. I'd be wary. Having said that, if you are already using this procedure and it works, who the heck am I to say you shouldn't. ;-)

I'd be willing to bet a cup of coffee and a doughnut that there are numerous methods and procedures that people use quite successfully that theoretically should cause problems.

Lloyd

Thanks a lot Lloyd, you gave me exactly what I was looking for in the way of information about compost tumblers.
Thanks again
Ken

Ken, how are your tumblers doing now?

Joli
I'm going down to that house on Thursday and will check the one tumbler then. The problem I'm having this year is I'm only getting down there every two weeks for three or four days. I started this batch on wed the 11th of July , I turned it four times before leaving on the 14th. I expect it to be cooled down when I get to it. I may just put the whole thing on top of the worms as feed, if it actually has cooled down. I don't see a reason to try to heat it back up as I won;t get back again for another two weeks.
Am I thinking correctly, considering the time lapses I have getting back to attend to the tumbler?
Thanks

yeah, the worms sound like a good way to finish the compost.
You can start some more in the tumbler, as the grass should be high by now. Feed the worms next time you are down.
They seem to like horse waste & coffee/tea waste too.

After getting back to the tumbler yesterday, I found it had indeed cooled down as I expected. Is it possible to just add greens and get it to heat back up. I'd like to see it stay hot for at least two weeks. I have plenty of grass available to use, but didn't know if that would be a good idea? Any thoughts on this?