Does anyone have experience with the composters? I’m so tempted, but it’s a lot to spend without knowing much about it. Currently I compost by throwing scraps in a pile outside, but it’d be nice to have a more efficient/less stinky method.
I’ve used the ceramic pail for several years now. I wound up throwing away the carbon filter it comes with because the first fruit fly to discover it will lay eggs and then you’ll have nasty worms in it that never leave. Even without the filter there’s no smell from the pails. Just fill it up and dump it outside in your bin. I used to use supposedly biodegradable plastic liners that they claimed would break down in compost, but they never do. Just use the pail as-is and rinse it out each time you empty it.
Thanks, I do have one of the pails - I am actually looking to learn more about the big composters that you plug in.
If only there was a cheaper way to throw things onto a trash heap!
Had three, because they kept breaking. Not so ecological. Also they drip smelly juice so it had to go to garage. I love the concept. Execution is awful.
I’ve seen the ceramic pots made by Oggi at Big Lots for $20. For me it’s cheaper and easier to line a stainless steel bowl with a piece of folded newsprint and throw my compostable kitchen scraps into it. After dinner I take the bowl out to empty it into my garden compost bin. It’s not the prettiest sight on my kitchen counter, but it works.
You can get the same countertop compost pails regularly cheaper (about $25 for white) from Amazon here. I’ve got the Norpro one and it works great. No deal here woot.
We bought our Nature Mills Composter last Nov. 2012. I think it is one of the coolest gadgets we have purchased over the years. We are vegetarians so lots of veggie scraps. Also we have a small vegetable garden and flower garden that reaps the benefit of the composter. My indoor cacti have grown crazy since I gave them a taste of our homemade compost! The only thing I would suggest is READ the manual and don’t over fill it and it will work like a dream. No mess, no smell if you FOLLOW the directions. I highly recommend Nature Mills and I do love Woot!
I got one from woot more than 5 years ago and it has finally given up. I really liked having a composter in the kitchen and am tempted to purchase a replacement. Mine was not one of these models, but the concept is identical.
One thing they don’t mention is that the compost makes great ice melt in the middle of winter, better than salt and good for the grass in the spring.
Thanks for the reviews!
Don’t have experience with these. The “Death Star” Composter I have in the back yard has been working fine. I got it from woot, I think $200, on the 'zon for $240 now.
Pretty hard to justify any savings for me. Sorry, Woot. The eComposter ball I got was also way more fun to put together, and gets more attention than this one would.
Years ago I bought an older model of the NatureMill and it worked pretty well until my MIL came to visit, ate about 7 clementines a day, and put all the peels (nearly whole) into it and turned it into a rancid cesspool that would never stop stinking. Now it sits outside, unused and sad. I would use it for the food scraps and then toss it into the big outdoor compost bin that I also mix ground up leaves and shredded paper into, and it worked well, but avoid meat/fat at all cost, and that includes orange/citrus oils. Carefully follow the directions and it does churn out amazing compost in a relatively short time.
I too had this happen more than once. I used the garden hose (once the ground had thawed) and cleaned everything out, then followed the original start instructions. Worked well once again. Our biggest disasters were banana peals because they were too stubborn.
I put banana peels in mine daily with no issues. I even made banana bread and put in like 5 at a time. I do cut them up though, since they are stringy.
Citrus is very difficult to compost in general and probably isn’t well suited to these
wondering it these pellets would be safe in the garden…
They are basic sawdust and are fine in the garden. I needed more sawdust and got them from a friend, but had to make sure he wasn’t using treated lumber.