Compost Hopper

Munroast · Wednesday at 11:51 PM

I was wanting to build a hopper to keep compost in, put it in the top, shovel it out of the bottom, if it is straight sided it will just stick to the sides and lock itself into place, two sloping edges would help it fall naturally - but what angle do i use - anyone have experience of this

Needs to be approx a cubic meter internally, so it will be big!

morqthana · Thursday at 12:42 AM

Try the gardening forum?

But I always got good results from building basically cuboid structures from old pallets (a plentiful resource, always available for free). They provide ventilation, which compost heaps need. You can make one side, or the bottom half of one side, easy to remove to get at the compost. Or if you want to get really fancy, buy a couple of T-strap gate hinges.

Eventually they rot away, but it takes quite a few years to become useless.

King Billy · Thursday at 6:57 AM

For a small domestic situation, a quick and easy solution is a couple of rubber/plastic bins with the bottom cut out.
Fill one for a month or two, then swap to the other while the first rots down and is ready.....ad infinitum.
When ready you can simply lift the bin off the compost.

Stivino · Thursday at 8:20 AM

You could copy one of these. Or, just buy one, sometimes they are going cheap on Gumtree and the likes.

blup · Thursday at 8:30 AM

Just make it square , it will stick anyway

Ivor Windybottom · Thursday at 9:37 AM

I never found the hatch at the bottom to be of any use, it just blocks up and is impossible to shovel from. At best you'll get a shovelful then the rest will stay above it. You only need a couple of twigs to make it stick.

We used to just have two large plastic compost barrels. Fill one, when it's full transfer its contents into the second (mixing/inverting it) then start filling it again. When both are full, empty the entire second one around the garden, transfer the first into the second, and so on.

Munroast · Thursday at 9:49 AM

Ivor Windybottom said:
I never found the hatch at the bottom to be of any use, it just blocks up and is impossible to shovel from. At best you'll get a shovelful then the rest will stay above it. You only need a couple of twigs to make it stick.

We used to just have two large plastic compost barrels. Fill one, when it's full transfer its contents into the second (mixing/inverting it) then start filling it again. When both are full, empty the entire second one around the garden, transfer the first into the second, and so on.

you are confirming my doubts

Ivor Windybottom · Thursday at 10:04 AM

The standard plastic compost bins are fine, just ignore the hatch at the bottom. You can lift the entire thing, it slides up off the compost and leaves you a heap of half-rotted stuff. It takes a few minutes to shovel this back in (inverting it, leaving the newest stuff at the bottom), then you start again.

Google compost bin and your local council name. You should be able to buy a couple delivered for very little, they're usually subsidised by the council. Get the biggest size they do, the little ones aren't worth bothering with.

morqthana · Thursday at 12:53 PM

Stivino said:
You could copy one of these. Or, just buy one, sometimes they are going cheap on Gumtree and the likes.

OK - these sorts of things are smarter than old pallets (may not be an issue - depends where it will be), but very similar in basic appearance

The DIY (and why not?) version:

pallet composter - Bing

Intelligent search from Bing makes it easier to quickly find what you’re looking for and rewards you.

www.bing.com

Google Search

morqthana said:
Or if you want to get really fancy, buy a couple of T-strap gate hinges.

Ivor Windybottom · Thursday at 6:56 PM

I've had a pallet of bricks in my garden for a couple of years. I just unpacked and moved it today. The pallet beneath has turned really light and flimsy, it came up from the soil in pieces when I tried to pull it out. It's basically turned to something like polystyrene.

I wouldn't recommend anything made of wood being in close contact with soil or compost.

aveatry · Thursday at 7:36 PM

I made one out of an old wheelie bin.
Cut the bottom off and added a sliding (pull up ) door/hatch on the side. Very convenient with the lid on the top. But I do have to dig it out of the hatch, like underground following a coal seem. Once the whole bottom section is dug out I dig up a little and it slowly slides down as I dig it out I stop when it starts to get less composty. I usually get about 4 trug buckets out of it when I do it once a year in April.
I turn it a little form time to time and sometimes add the garrotta accelerator to it. All the kitchen green trimmings and pealing go in it as well as normal garden stuff but for thick twigs and stuff that does not like rotting like cordyline then I have a council garden bin.

Ivor Windybottom · Thursday at 7:39 PM

We have a beast of a Bosch chipper that turns any hedge cuttings into what looks like wooden £2 coins and assorted other bits. We chuck it all in the borders, it does a great job of keeping the weeds down, it feeds the soil and the birds have a great time hunting through it for insects.

morqthana · Thursday at 8:31 PM

Ivor Windybottom said:
I've had a pallet of bricks in my garden for a couple of years. I just unpacked and moved it today. The pallet beneath has turned really light and flimsy, it came up from the soil in pieces when I tried to pull it out. It's basically turned to something like polystyrene.

I wouldn't recommend anything made of wood being in close contact with soil or compost.

That was in closer, more extensive, contact with wet soil and with a lack of ventilation.

Yes, pallets will rot when used for a composter, but it takes more than a couple of years

Compost Hopper

Similar threads