Tumbleweed Composter
Tumbleweed’s patented vertical tumbling composter design and stainless steel center rod create an aerobic action which can produce up to 8 cu ft of quick and odorless compost in as little as 21 days. Handsome patented design is environmentally friendly and measures 46 in high x 26 wide x 34 deep and holds 58 gallons.
User Ratings and Reviews
4 Stars Tumbleweed composter
Very well thought out project. Easy to load and tumble the bin. Plastic bin has two openings with easy open large covers. My only reservation is that the supporting frame is a bit light and may rust over time. Other than that, it is a very good design and product.
5 Stars Great Product - Buy 2!
We have just gotten our second one. This is a great product because we can just push to tumble instead of using a shovel or rake or special compost turner. Since we both have back problems that just didn’t work.
It works real well even in the shade. We have ours on the north side of our house (in CA) so it takes longer than four weeks, but it still works. It does get fruit flies and other insects and worms, but we haven’t had problems with rodents or raccoons, which do live in the area. If you don’t put meat or fat in it, it doesn’t smell like food, it smells like dirt, so mammals aren’t attracted.
However once you get it filled you do need to let it sit and compost without adding anything else (it helps to keep turning). Then you need to find a place to store the compost and to move it, which was too strenuous for us. So our solution was to buy two, one for storage, one for putting new stuff in. The second one doesn’t take up a lot of extra space because they both use the same space to rotate.
So start with one, then when you find out how easy it works you’ll want the other one.
We ordered ours through Planet Natural and it came quickly and in good shape. It’s real easy to put together (but you do need 2 people) and not that heavy when empty (about 30 pounds).
4 Stars Tumbleweed composter
Easy assembly. Doesn’t take up much yard space. Works great. Kinda hard to tumble when full.
4 Stars Remarkable Idea!
I originally ordered this product from the Tumbleweed company (in Dallas) and I will say that I did not have a good experience overall in terms of shipping. After almost three weeks of the initial order I discovered that the composter had already made a whole trip back to Dallas before it got to me again. According to a representative at Tumbleweed, UPS had lost the package and because of that it was returned to the sender. She re-sent it via FedEx and I received it within 3 days as promised. FYI…
Now, about the actual product…the construction is amazing! Its a simple design (i’m a 28 year old man, by the way) but it will take you a little time. There are roughly 18 srews and non-slip nuts that you must use around the circumference of the barrel. This is to attach both ends to make it whole. Only tools you will need is a cross tip screw driver, space on your floor, and maybe pliers. Outside of that step, the rest was easy. I was very impressed with its size. I mean, its not yet full but once done I realized that the inside is huge! My wife was even impressed with its size and design and she’s not even into this kind of stuff.
I decided to purchase this to complement my red worm bin. There are seven people in my household and we produce lots of garbage. Between the worms and this bin, I feel this is enough space for our output. The bin is made of a very thick and sturdy shell which does a superb job of absorbing and retaining heat. We live in Florida and we just had a cool (high of 80 deg) front for an entire week. While that’s not the hottest it gets here, even after the sun had set on evenings the inside of the bin was very warm.
There is not much in the bin now, but the tumbling action is so simple my 6 year old son could muscle it. My kids thinks that its some toy so keep that in mind if you (the adult) get to lazy to tumble it. This is mandatory, by the way. We have it in the back yard where it gets full sun all day and we give it a turn after placing compostables in it. On each end you will find a pair of neatly designed removable lids where all you have to do is twist and remove. I’m a believer that no rodents will be able to access its contents because it does suspend off of the ground about 6-8 inches. I am concerned about the metal legs rusting. I will periodically wipe them down with WD-40 to combat this issue.
Other than the rust concern and the fact that its not yet full, i’m glad I spent the $200+ for it. I don’t know about the “compost in as little as 3 weeks” because I add to it on a daily basis. I’m not too concerned with the quick results that it advertised because it already lives up to the heat part. All you need to do is keep up on the other ingredients; moisture, browns, and greens. 4/5 only because I do not yet have complete compost. 22 Oct 08
4 Stars one year and still composting with the tumbleweed
I have used this device for one season. Over all, if you don’t have a lot of space, I think is a good product.
This does what it says it will do. But I agree with the other posts, that if you are adding little by little (which most of us do, otherwise we all would have a large 3 bin compost heap in our back yard) it takes a lot longer than 3 weeks to compost.
Has been sturdy and has lasted through a winter without cracking. Does get heavy and difficult to turn if material is wet inside (after a rain vents in top let water in) and if it freezes no use in turning because the material stays put in the bottom of the barrel. I have started covering the top vents with larger bucket to prevent water getting in from snow or rain as the material can really get waterlogged which can cause composting problems. Additionally, for cold weather areas, the lid has frozen in place a couple times when it gets subfreezing but is not a big deal.
One other issue I have found, particularly if you compost grass clippings, is with the turning motion creates balls of partially composted grass and these seem not to compost all the way through. So you have to break them apart with a weeding fork or by hand.
I am proud to say, however, I have made a new raised bed in the back yard and have filled it with about half compost and half topsoil and it looks great and was much cheaper to fill. We will see how the vegetables taste.
Over all I would buy this again, I think it has advantages over the non tumbling designs and is fairly well priced for a tumbling composter.
