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First compost batch in my tumbler- need help

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Posted by erika412 z5/Chicago area (My Page) on
Thu, Jun 16, 11 at 19:25

Last fall I bought two mini tumblers in brown from envirocycle. They were back ordered so I saved all my kitchen scraps in our freezers for about 5 months. When they came in, we filled them both with the scraps and some shredded newspaper (I don't have much options for browns). Shortly after that, winter happened and I forgot about them until the spring. I spin regularly and all I seem to be getting is round clumps of paper mache. Some are big as a softball, some as small as a golf ball. It doesn't smell horribly, but I wouldnt say it smells like earth either. I break them up, but then they clump at the next spins.

What am I doing wrong?

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RE: First compost batch in my tumbler- need help

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Mine does that when it doesn't have enough browns or is too moist (they kind of go hand in hand).
That was fine with me because I use the tumbler to pre-compost for my worms.
They love the goo-balls.

My advice -- more browns or some reds (worms that is).

Good luck

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RE: First compost batch in my tumbler- need help

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Thanks! I will add some more browns.

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RE: First compost batch in my tumbler- need help

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If your material clumps together there is too much moisture in the mix and you need to add more dry, not necessarily brown, material.

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RE: First compost batch in my tumbler- need help

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I used a tumbler for two years and it tended to clump up.

A number of factor may cause it:

1) too much moisture
2) not turning it often enough
3) materials not shredded or reduced to small enough size

I mixed the materials before putting them in the tumbler and that helped a bit. The center bar rusted thru after four years, but by then I had switched to mesh bins piles.

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