"Jack" wrote in message
...
When its smoking, its just right according to the taliban!

Add some shovel fulls of ordinary garden dirt, and the bacteria in dirt
will help a bit, also add some blood and bone.
If you dont add dirt the system wont work normally.

it's worth pointing out that tumbling compost isn't really "normal" :-) for
ordinary compost in a bin, you should have it on the ground directly & i
know some people like to put a layer of soil in their recipe (although
others don't). if it's in a pile on the ground, it will eventually break
down into nice compost come what may & no matter how long it might take, yet
i suspect that if a tumbling composter was just walked away from, you might
not get that, because it's seperated from the normal bugs & usual rotting
environment.

in tumbled compost, you won't have any worms, slaters, & other creatures
that you normally would. it's a different & rather more artifical system.

Also there's
usually some worm castings in the dirt, which all goes to help.
Let us know how you get it right!
PS a lot of compact stuff is not a good idea.

i know!!! i wish i knew why it conglomerated into disgusting gobs. i think
the whole mix was just wrong.

You should use mixed
sizes of compost to allow air into the system....But that may not aplly to
a rotary composter.
I have had this idea for a drum type composter with small wind assisted
rotation attachment.
Will get around to it one day I guess!

it's an interesting idea! i'm pretty sure you wouldn't want it rotating
constantly though, unless you had a really really biiiiig one, so that the
bacteria weren't being constantly tossed about. my theory is that, like with
soil, they need an element of peace & quiet to do their thing, which they
can't do if constantly disturbed (that's just my theory though). you tumble
it a few times every two days with the model i have.
kylie