Are black compost bins the best?

[ecogirl]

My teacher says that black compost bins are the best because black attracts sun to go onto it and the sun helps the compost trash to build into compost.:cool: So are black compost bins the best?

[MoniDew]

ooooooooo, I'm glad you asked this question - I need the answer, too! THANKS!

(Hubs said if I wanted to try composting again, I was going to have to do it in a barrel. He didn't like my previous attempts at all. :( )

[ecogirl]

lol, come on gardengirl! Please give us an answer or anybody else?

[plantoneonme]

I have a black plastic compost bin, Miracle Grow brand, and it works pretty good. I have composted the old fashion way with just a pile and now with the plastic bin. My husband insisted that since our yard is so small that I get the bin and he found it on clearance for only $30 (usually $100). I started putting in yard waste in April and continued throughout the summer. I turned mine every 2-3 weeks and by the end of summer I had about 1/3 full of completed compost...a full bin will yield about 1/3 when compost is completed. This fall I not only filled this bin to the top, but I started another pile in the garden which I will turn under in the spring. I want to expand and make another bed next spring and will need more compost than the bin can hold. The only problem I found with the bin was that it needed to be watered at least once a week since it has a lid...even when it rained a ton in early summer the contents got too dry.

Anyway, if you want it for looks it is ok. If you want to make a lot of compost, the bin may not be large enough. In order to make compost faster, you need to turn either way, bin or pile.

Kim

[MoniDew]

thank you for some great information!

[ecogirl]

Thanks for the great information! I think I might use a bin for starters just to see what its like! But thanks for the great information!:)

[leydaleon]

Well.. here my scientific opinion... lol

I don't think blacks is the best... they simply keep the sun out from worms that don't like it and keep the warmer since it absorbs the most of energy. not like white that reflects it the most.

My worm bin is blue (typical rubber maid ones)... I guess the darker the color the better in keeping the warm inside... So far, mine has worked perfectly fine!

Those are my 2 cents... Hope it helps...

[gardengirl72]

I have thought long and hard on this one. I paint my raised beds black so that I can get a jump on the growing season with warmer soil faster. However for container plants I use shiny galvanized metal to reflect the sun (the don't dry out as fast).

I am going to say that if it is kept indoors it doesn't mater at all, and if it is out doors I would say it then depends on the size of the bin. A large one would benefit from being black, but I usually use a wire bin anyway so that I can move it around.

I am going to say officially that in a cold climate it would work better, and in a warm climate it would be a disaster. I'll ask Mark Highland his opinion.

[J-Bird]

In a warmer climate like mine, I actually use two different bins, both in the shade of my south fence facing north. I have one black round that I recieved FREE from our town and the other, a slatted square bin with a screened top that I built from cull-pile wood from my nearby home improvement store. (usually available early Saturday mornings in the lumber section for 50 cents a piece... all pre-cut to 4 foot)

I'll try to add a picture here for you to see what I'm talking about.

Even in a warm climate the black bin does great but I do need to be mindful of keeping the moisture high in the summer time by popping the lid off and spraying water in it till it starts coming out the bottom. I do this once a week when I put the recyling bin out at the curb just to keep it part of a routine I am already committed to.

The slatted one also needs a good soak every now and then on the same schedule in the summer but because of its size, usually all I need to do is use my fork to turn it over a few times each week.

The slatted bin gets only my chicken doo, their soiled bedding, and grass clippings if I have any. The black one gets everything else including worms.

[MoniDew]

This is all such valuable information. I had worried that in Oklahoma, in the summertime, it gets insanely hot. It might get TOO hot, with a black bin. The chemical reaction occurring within is generating a lot of heat also, so I might be killing little wormies in there if I'm not careful. I may just take the two bin approach to this myself: A wintertime, black, starter bin, and an open chicken wire, summertime, finisher bin. Or some such combination.

I have been looking at homedepot.com, etc., for composting bins (nothing in the stores this time of the year. all christmas stuff in the garden section right now.) But I haven't yet purchased anything while the jury was still out. Gonna have to commit to something soon 'though.

Thanks for the great discussion on this topic, everyone!

[craftpals]

Hi Ecogirl!
I bought my compost bin from the town and it's black.
I've seen people using a garbage can for a compost bin and it works just fine.
What I find is that my bin is not big enough and I can't give up anymore of my garden space.
So, what I do is I bag grass clipping, leaves etc. in a dark garbage bag and leave it in the sun.
In a couple of weeks I dump in my bin. It's really stinky then.

My dream is to have a three-bin composter but that has to wait another couple years. :)

Here's some plans for a two bin one.

http://www.lowes.com/lowes/lkn?action=howTo&p=LawnGarden/compostBin.html

[ecogirl]

Hi Ecogirl!
I bought my compost bin from the town and it's black.
I've seen people using a garbage can for a compost bin and it works just fine.
What I find is that my bin is not big enough and I can't give up anymore of my garden space.
So, what I do is I bag grass clipping, leaves etc. in a dark garbage bag and leave it in the sun.
In a couple of weeks I dump in my bin. It's really stinky then.

My dream is to have a three-bin composter but that has to wait another couple years. :)

Here's some plans for a two bin one.

http://www.lowes.com/lowes/lkn?action=howTo&p=LawnGarden/compostBin.html

I thought the bin isn't supposed to stink? Oh well:o

[craftpals]

Right Ecogirl.
Only the stuff in the bag stinks.

The stuff in the compost bin is fine. :)

[Sinfonian]

Frankly, I don't think it matters what you compost in, as long as you compost. That said, those black bins are good for cold composting, not so much for hot composting, mainly because it's hard to mix it up to aerate it.

I use a two-bin pallet constructed system. It was cheap and would have been a three-bin system if I had more room.

Mine are 5x5x3 which allows for essentially big piles inside the cages. Good for fluffing and adding browns and greens with some water to keep the heat going.

Here's a pic of my bins the last time I added, fluffed and folded.

http://i255.photobucket.com/albums/hh152/sinfonian_barelytone/IMG00850.jpg

As for the reason for it stinking. Likely the bag of clippings smelled because of too much greens and not enough browns. Too much nitrogen leads to release into the air. Shame, it'd be much better into the compost. Solution for the nitrogen smell is more browns.

The one time my bins smelled (my son asked if we could move his swingset away from the compost), it was because I didn't have enough air in it. Thus the reason I regularly "fluff" or aerate the bins.

[plantoneonme]

Monica, In Michigan we often get temps in the low 100's and the compost bin actually looked like it was smoking at one time...wish I had thought to take its temperature. The worms will move into cooler parts of the compost if it becomes too hot so don't worry about them. The bottom of the (outdoor) composters are open and the worms can come and go as they like.

Kim

[MoniDew]

I just got my composter! YEAH! I assembled it by myself and have got kitchen scraps started in it already!

I chose one designed for kitchen scraps, since that's mainly what I compost. As the stuff composts, it drops down a bin, until it's done - at the bottom. Looks like this:

http://i172.photobucket.com/albums/w10/MoniDew/599c53fa-5749-452c-a8a6-ea16447745e.jpg

Now I just hope I can make it work. Wish me luck.

[ecogirl]

That compost bin looks stylish and expensive! How much dd it cost? Any way good luck with the new bin


ecogirl

[MoniDew]

WWWWWWWWWWWWAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY too much! which is why my husband had a meltdown. way, way, way too much!

Here's the link to Home Depot (http://www.homedepot.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?storeId=10051&langId=-1&catalogId=10053&productId=100643898), where I purchased it. (Off season! You'd think they'd lower the price! But NNNNNNNNnoooooooooooo!)

Next big project is the pavers and the raised beds. He seems enthusiastic about that one, tho'. Go figure.

[shebear]

I like my Shepherd bin. Instead of turning the pile, I pull the bin over it and put it next to it and then shovel the old pile back into the bin. That's much easier than trying to turn the pile inside the bin.

I have four going now and they should be ready this spring.