have any of you built/designed outdoor composters?

[Ernie Jurick]

That has got to be the most unintentionally hilarious sentence I've seen this week. Thanks!

-- Ernie

[George]

The perfect job for plastic. Holds warmth and moisture well. A drum will roll on whatever cedar v-block or simple crossbuck setup you use, and with modest vent holes only, hold an astonishing amount of organic matter.

I'd do sawdust and kitchen stuff, blowing the grass back into the roots.

[js]

[Mike in Mystic]

I built one a couple years ago. Nothing to it. I used pressure-treated lumber and didn't treat it with anything else.

Use 4x4's for posts. I put strips on each face, to form a slot. Then I made sides in picket fashion, with horizontal slats, designed to slide down in the slots on the posts. This way you can lift the sides out when turning over, moving, etc. the compost. I used 6 posts so that there were two chambers.

It is holding up ok, but I would suggest mounting it on some platform to avoid stressing the posts. Either that, or just use some post-set to hold the posts better. My posts are sagging a little.

Mike

[ToolMiser]

The easy way is to find some pallets and screw them together to form a box. If you find them made out of oak they will last a few years.

[Just Bob]

Same as Mike with a few mods. I ran a 1x2 between the tops of the front posts just behind the slot to stop the sag. I put 1" spaces between each slat for air to get in. The sides and back are fixed only the front slats slide up which stops sag on the sides and back. For the front with the moveable slats I used 3" deck screws at each end and left 1" sticking out to act as a spacer.

I only have 1 chamber but it's 30"x 30".

Everyone just calls me Bob.

[Wood Butcher]

I made SWMBO one out of cedar fence boards about

5 years ago and there's no signs of rot yet and we live in Oregon.

I basically made bottomless boxes ~48x48x8 that stacked on, & interlocks with, each other. It's real easy to make and modular so you can make it as tall or short as you want. Turning the pile is easy too - put the top box on the ground next to the existing heap and transfer the top of the pile into it; move the next ring and keep transferring; etc, etc.

Art

[Bob S.]

Andrew,

On a recent local PBS show about gardening, they showed one of the least costly and thoroughly effective containers for composting. A simple 4' high by about 4' diameter bin made from chicken wire (or similar). Leaves, grass cuttings etc. simply dumped in with no cover, no turning and no chemicals provided black gold after one season - all without any smell according to them.

Bob S.

[Steve Wolfe]

chemicals

The trick is to make sure that you get air through the mixture. As long as the decomposition is happening aerobically, your pile won't smell. The rotten stink comes from when the oxygen is used up, and things happen anaerobically.

steve

[mind skew]

I built one using 5 wooden pallets. One on the bottom to allow air up to the compost, 4 sides made of pallets with the one in front cut to make a small door at the bottom to shovel out the dirt/compost after it has decomposed. I just wired the 4 top pallets to one another so that if I wanted to empty the whole thing out, you just unwire the sides.

It works well, was free and took about an hour to put together including picking up the pallets

Real easy. Ian

[Edwin Pawlowski]

Cedar is expensive. Pallets are usually free.

I stood three on end and nailed them together. They are about 20 years old now.

Mine is a simple open front design. You could put another pallet in front if you'd like. Ed [e-mail]

[The Good Bohemian]

I am looking for a quick and dirty design to throw beside my house. I don't want to buy anymore soil or toss anymore organic crap into the garbage inside.

Any ideas of what any of you may or may not suggest? I imagine cedar would be the stock of choice?

Thanks. Andrew.