Blackwall compost converter

[notgreenfingers]

Hi my council have the 220L version of these for £19.98 buy one get 2nd half price. What are peoples opinions of them? We're just starting out with the garden so over the next few months there'll be lots of weeds/cuttings plus usual kitchen waste. Like the idea of having a hatch at the bottom

[Guest]

If prettyness wasn't an issue I would just go with a pallet construction. However for a garden I think they are the better option. I have just bought 2 of the 330l as there wasn't a vast difference in price. I also have rodent issues so at least I can cover the bottom with mesh.

[Kristen]

I've got a couple (if not that make / model then similar, which my Council did as a subsidised price).

You'll be the winner of the best composter of the year, in my book, if you get compost out of that trap door at the bottom!! but don't let that put you off.

My suggestion would be that when the bin full is "done" you lift the Dalek off the top - its cone shaped so comes up easily enough, but I have to shoulder-barge mine a couple of times to loosen it - and then put anything around the outside or in the middle that is still stalk-y, back into the bottom of the bin's new location (alongside) and off you go again.

Two lets you be filling-one and composting-the-other.

I think they are good as you get a flying start. Other than that you could strap three pallets together, stood on edge, to form three sides of a cube and use that instead. Units on Industrial estates have to pay to have their rubbish taken away, so will usually let you have pallets for nought as you save them muck-away costs. But if you want something that keeps everything looking neat and tidy, and don't have hidden out-of-the-way spot for a compost heap "pile", then Daleks do that job well.

Forget about the trap door at the bottom though ...

[Nannysally99]

I get on well with ours, although I think two would.be better if you have a large garden

[Hazel at the Hill]

I second everything that Kristen says about the daleks - especially about the little hatch in the bottom. I have four at the Hill on the beds (see pic) and just fill them up as I go, whichever one is nearest to me at the time.



Each winter I do the 'dalek dance' grasping my 'partner' firmly round the waist and give it a wriggle until the top comes off, then spread to compo over the bed, move the dalek up a bed and chuck anything un-composted back in for another go.

[Kristen]

I think I would resent the space that the Dalek takes up at the end of each bed ... rather than out of the way & under the trees as mine are ...

... but I certainly wouldn't resent being able to just lift-off and rake-over the bed - instead of having to barrow the waste stuff FROM the plot TO the compost bin area AND back again when composted !!

Lovely photo

[Hazel at the Hill]

I think I would resent the space that the Dalek takes up at the end of each bed ... rather than out of the way & under the trees as mine are ...

... but I certainly wouldn't resent being able to just lift-off and rake-over the bed - instead of having to barrow the waste stuff FROM the plot TO the compost bin area AND back again when composted !!

Lovely photo

Yes, I was initially resentful about the space they would take up, but the daleks will allow me to dismantle to horror of the overflowing and out of control pallet bins (that you can see near the shed), and I will have room for an additional bed there. Job for this Spring.

The advantage of not having to move the compost, just spread it about was the clincher!

[notgreenfingers]

Thank you for your input plenty of food for thought

[sparrow100]

I've got 3, plus a hotbin and find they are fairly quick to compost. I'd get the biggest ones you can. They are like greenhouses, never quite big enough...

I agree with Kristen, lovely plot you have there.

[Guest]

Hi just incase you bought or are going to buy you might want to check out this thread http://www.growfruitandveg.co.uk/gra...ouncils-2.html the council/get compositing sites are more expensive than evergreen who they are in partnership with.

[DannyK]

Be prepared for rats, especially if using kitchen waste.

One tip I saw was to put bin on a slab to stop rats. Don't bother they just gnaw their way in through the plastic!

You may also need to rest a slab or something heavy against the hatch to stop badgers and foxes pulling it off.

[Guest]

Be prepared for rats, especially if using kitchen waste.

One tip I saw was to put bin on a slab to stop rats. Don't bother they just gnaw their way in through the plastic!

You may also need to rest a slab or something heavy against the hatch to stop badgers and foxes pulling it off.

If that is aimed at my rodent issue. My rats aren't persistant - I live in the sticks and I have loads of mice and am aware there are rats. It is a case of being sensible and not making things an easy, comfortable target and helping to increase their numbers. I have one blackwall composter and they haven't touched it nor have the grass snakes. The fox does wonder round but just normally decapitates the odd mouse or rat. Touch wood - the fox doesn't much fuss about my birds. It is all part and parcel of where I live

[Kristen]

I like my compost bins to be on bare earth - worms etc. can migrate in / out of the heap.