〒 2026, Compost - Drum Method, The Tikun Project

Make Your Own Compost - DRUM Method

Please READ Section 1 before you proceed.

Drums come in all colors and similar shapes but THE most important thing is that the one (ones) you buy are ALL OPEN TOP.

You can choose between 30 liter, 60 liter, 120 liter and 200 (220) liter - but whether the company you are buying from has all of these in the décor you desire is something you must check before buying. OK?

30 liters == 8 gallons
60 liters == 16 gallons
120 liters == 32 gallons
220 liters == 58 gallons

Method ↟↟

This composting method is exactly the same as the BAG Method but this time you are using a Drum (or Drums) and your water may evaporate much faster.

Keep at least 6 - 8 inches - or - 15 - 20 cms) of water in the top of your drum.

Some drums do not seal properly and evaporation may become a problem.

After 3 months, make sure that the lid is NOT ON properly so that the water does evaporate because what you want is the soil, not the soup.

So long as your drum is in sunlight during the day and it is over 25C (77F), then the bacteria will multiple prolifically and they need to be immersed in water in order to do so.

However, once they have converted the carbon plant material into "soil" (compost), they no longer need this excessive amounts of water so at this stage, let this evaporate.

WARNING

You DO NOT need Loamy soil (which includes sand and clay) and this is a BS marketing strategy to sell you cr*****p soil and make more money from junk like sticks, wood chips, garden refuse, sand and clay ALL of which you plants DO NOT NEED.

Wood chips and sticks can absorb valuable nitrogen from your soil and deny access to this valuable element by the plants for months and even decades.

Of Note:

I am not talking about wood chip mulch, I am talking about wood chips IN the soil.

Sawdust ↟↟

It should be noted that sawdust will also absorb nitrogen from the soil and the second point is that sawdust will become compacted if it is not mixed into the soil properly.

However

However, there is a trick I used to use with wood chips.

Take the "Nodes" from the roots of your legumes and/ or clover and pop them into a blender. Add 50% water and 25% nodules.

Blend and then add this to more water and the add your wood chips.

You will need at least 100 grams of nodules per kilo of sawdust.

There should be enough sawdust to absorb ALL of the water.

WARNING ↟↟

Wood (including wood chips and sawdust) "May" come from stock which has been treated with some anti-rot or anti-termite chemicals (or even "sump-oil" (mainly in rural areas).

For example, chromated copper arsenate (CCA) (the green stuff) is often force-fed into softer woods like "Pine" and this poses a health hazard (political way of saying dangerous) when handles with unprotected hands or if kids play with anything made from this wood. + ("Arsenic Treated Wood")

HDPE Drums ↟↟

Why use the drum method you ask?

These drums are made from HDPE (high density plastic) and thus they do not "shed" microplastics as easily as plastic bags.

Nor do they releases chemicals like bisphenol-A which soft plastic bags do and this is because HDPE (High-Density Polyethylene, Resin Code 2) plastic does not contain Bisphenol-A (BPA). Seems like a logical reason.

And whilst it is easier now-days to "Detox MicroPlastics" , they can still cause lots of damage because they have been found in human "cells" MicroPlastics in human cells and even in the "brains" MicroPlastics in human brain cells of some patients (who have obviously died). + + + +

These microPlastics continue to release chemicals like Bisphenol-A and its chemical relatives into your body and some of these are endocrine disruptors or worse.

And now you know why I personally use and prefer "Drums".