Composting all THIS Plus WOODCHIPS & Grass in a Tumbler Composter

In this video, I experimented by composting several organic materials simultaneously to see how long it takes to break down hardwood woodchips in a tumbler composter to make humus compost for the garden?
Tumbler composter in the video: www.easycomposter.com.au/ (not sponsored)
Rolling Sifter: rollingsifter.ecwid.com/ Compostyng (yes, it's spelt wrong deliberately) for 10% off.
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Self Sufficient Me is based on our small 3-acre property/homestead in SE Queensland, Australia, about 45kms north of Brisbane - the climate is subtropical (similar to Florida). I started Self Sufficient Me in 2011 as a blog website project where I document and write about backyard food growing, self-sufficiency, and urban farming in general. I love sharing my foodie and DIY adventures online, so come along with me and let's get into it! Cheers, Mark :)
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#compost #gardening #garden

[@Selfsufficientme]

G'day Everyone! This time of year is probably my favourite because you guys in the northern hemisphere are well into spring, and here in subtropical Australia, we are heading into our best time of year (autumn/winter) for growing traditional veggies like brassicas, lettuces, and tomatoes. In other words, almost the whole world is getting into it! Good luck to you all and I hope the next 6 months are going to produce bumper crops of fruit and veg! Thanks for your kind support... Cheers :)

[@gertruidasnyman7672]

Arm in cold weather

[@gertruidasnyman7672]

great

[@earthkeepinggreen7763]

Thank you! A code for 10% discount. Compostyng

[@freedom_born]

Just waiting to throw some girls outside. 12/12 light hours now are perfect for budding. Greetings from Redbank Plains, Mark.

[@junewrogg6137]

Rich looking compose! Was that a Pumello tree or Grapefruit? Looked so pretty.

[@jjgarnham]

The algorythm has not bumped up your videos to me for ages! Was so nice to watch this and see you're still the same style and delivery. Don't go changing, Mark you are the best.

[@douglaspearce1187]

I applaud your dedication, Mark. 18 months to make a 15 minute video. If one had 20 or so tumblers like this one could get a substantial amount of compost for a large veggie garden or market garden enterprise. Much easier than turning over several large traditional compost heaps. Cheers from South Africa

[@whiskeyinthejar24]

Chicken composting is cool. Letting chickens do as much work as possible.

[@raynierllewis2827]

@@whiskeyinthejar24 yes I was wondering what about adding some chicken manure to the wood chips

[@B01]

Ok for that scale a pile is a better option, this is more for home gardeners to keep everything neat and tidy. Those who have cow manure on their land and various other animals or animal inputs shouldn't be much concerned with a compost pile, being the point lol

[@alan30189]

Much slower, too. Composting on the ground is much faster, because soil microbes and earthworms will work their way deep into the mix and break it down much faster. It’s definitely more work, but you can build a bigger pile and have better results, quicker.

[@VanderlyndenJengold]

I appreciate the effort. I'm also looking at his tumbler and thinking how I could make one. I was thinking large blue barrel, reinforced to keep shape and accept the support part that has to turn.

[@jaqmackie]

Only a gardener could be so happy making compost. Too true 😊 me too

[@scoobydoo5447]

You can buy all the fancy tools and gadgets, but nothing really beats a good old fashioned pile on the ground.

[@davidb9708]

I think adding some existing garden soil to mix at beginning would introduce beneficial soil microbes a help speed up decomposition.

[@juliussigurorsson3509]

I think you have to get one full shovel from the actual forest floor soil and put into the compost. To introduce all the bacteria and fungi needed to break down the carbon. You might pick up some with the gras cutting, but deep shovel - at least 10cm down and mix with the compost helps.

[@dianelyons3033]

HELLO FROM GEORGIA, USA. LOVE YOUR VIDEOS. THANK YOU

[@Selfsufficientme]

G'day Diane! Thank you and all the best :)

[@deadshot8077]

I have a two-sided tumbler, I spend 12 months feeding one side and then 12 months feeding the other side. Turn it at least twice a week. It works for our small vegie garden and the amounts of paper waste we produce (not much). We get a good bucket of quality compost every year. Thanks Mark!

[@deadshot8077]

Good advice, but I don’t want to buy corrugated cardboard, and we don’t use very much paper. You gotta keep it balanced!

[@grandmothergoose]

I've been waiting for this video for a very long time, not for the composting of woodchips, but to see that easycomposter compost tumbler in action and Mark's opinion of it.

[@MatthewHarrold]

I harvested another 55 litre garbage bin of finely sifted rich compost (and pistachio shells) from my bins today. First time since Christmas. Hundreds (maybe thousands?) of little red worms devour ripped up cardboard and kitchen scraps. No smell. I just started making biochar and mixed 15 litres in with the compost. Hopefully the fish tank water worked for inoculating the charcoal. So much fun making compost. $0.02

[@wildlifegardenssydney7492]

🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥👀

[@andrewrivera4609]

I agree with the idea to put some black soil to add microbes to work, I think that putting the wood chips in water for a couple of days is convenient, of course paper or cardboard is ok, if you added some worms in would also help in accelerating the decomposition. Hey Mark, it's always a great pleasure to see YOU BRO, THANK YOU , GOD BLESS YOU.

[@Handles_AreStupid]

Pro tip: You can spread compost further by mixing in some builders sand in with it. This would help keep it free draining, while also bulking it out somewhat.

[@Lamarth1]

Forget the tumbling composter - I gotta get me a tumbling sieve!

[@jamesmclay9075]

Wow, lots of time and effort went into this one. Great to know, I always wondered how long this would take, and it’s great to see how good it came out! Starting to really see the benefits of those compost tumblers, really should go get myself one. Thanks for another great video!

[@Selfsufficientme]

Thanks James! Yeah, it took longer than expected and a lot of time to make this video, but hopefully, people find it interesting and helpful. Cheers :)

[@rickjay4639]

Thanks Mark, I collect 100 pounds of coffee a week. That adds up quick. I built a compost using 500 pounds of coffee plus approximately a 5'×5' pile of wood chips. Took a year to break down turning one time. Lovely stuff. I am surprised that you and some of the other gardening KZbin'ers aren't using composting worms? In that pile of composted woos chips I put just two pounds of red wigglers and for the last year I've been pulling about 10 to 20 pound of worm castings every 4 months. Sorry for the long post.

[@earthkeepinggreen7763]

My favorite composting is with red wiggle worms 😊

[@k-link2353]

Greetings from toowoomba Mark, when im composting I reserve a small bucket full of completed compost for the next load going in. That way the beneficial micro-organisms can get to work faster :) and it smells fantastic

[@mybootscamewithoutstraps]

I just tossed my wood chips into a big pile on the backyard and let the bugs and weather do the work. From 2023 summer to 2024 early spring, most of the pile is broken down, teeming with bug life, and very usable stuff. It's pretty neat to see this work so well when the black tumbler composter is a pain in my butt and gets left alone, handling 1/20th the amount of chips.

[@jodeemonckton1251]

Weeee!! It’s so good to be able to make your own compost and soil. Good to know how long it might take. It goes to show you, you need a fair bit of compost going all the time to really make it worth while. I have 4 tumblers going at once and I’m finding it’s still not enough. Thanks for sharing Mike. 👍 (sorry but there’s no green thumbs on offer here😂).

[@RobC1999]

What this told me is it isn’t worth trying to compost wood chips. Grass clippings, kitchen and garden waste compost much more quickly.

[@nancypeplau9747]

Last summer while composting in my tumbler, I added one shovel full of soil from my garden to the composter… my luck there were earthworms in the soil…. They helped break down the compost really quickly! Best thing I ever did! Good video. Ark. Happy gardening.

[@N1ghtR1der666]

I get worms in my tumbler without ever adding soil, only free kitchen scrap, got me wondering if worms can fly :D

[@diannewest6162]

I like that you do short and long term projects 🎉

[@urspecial2me]

Watching your enthusiasm about all things in the garden is infectious. Love it!

[@olyman63]

Amazing show thank you for sharing this with us. Great to see you again. Have a great day and happy gardening.

[@michellereichart8252]

Hello Mark from East coast North Carolina. Great experiment and presentation. I been watching your video for 3 years. Always informative. Ty

[@virginiarocks]

This was very interesting, thanks! And I like that rolling sifter as well. 🎉

[@user-eq2gw2lu6l]

Hello fro Canada - You are an amazing fella. I am not a gardener but I still find your videos informative and fun. Bless you and your lovely family .

[@trevorstewart8]

Hi Mark. I'm avid gardener of both veg and my wife does flowers, roses mostly. I have 5 strategic sited "Dalek" or pyramid style bins which I load with various food scraps, garden trimmings and lawn clippings and these are left to mature with no turning. After 6 months I have been getting excellent compost which is benefitting my garden in a closed cycle. I do sometimes add a handful of blood & bone and the lid is left off so that the bin gets the natural rainfall here in "rather humid" Auckland, NZ. The number of bins, sited in pairs, makes collecting convenient and means I always have compost in store. Once composted I load the bounty into the extra bin and put the lid on so the rain doesn't dilute it.

[@wildlifegardenssydney7492]

👏🎯

[@sandramorton5510]

Thank you Mark for the tumbler video. I live in Florida USA, compost works faster in the heat of summer and using grass clippings. The winter is a long slow process. I have a large plastic compost bin I bought 15 years ago, hard on the back to turn.

[@timcoates3821]

I have had my tumbler for nearly 20 years. Great product.

[@MrHadrian71]

Nice experiment Mark! Time, time, and more time! Nice piece of kit for a garden. For me the "Hügelkultur" method gets the job done for my wood chips! Same deal takes time and I let the beetles and fungi do the work! But a nice lesson and good end product! Thanks for sharing!

[@Selfsufficientme]

Love the Hügelkultur! Cheers :)

[@dontcarejustwatchvid]

What an excellent video with an insane amount of effort over a year plus! Thank you so much for the info! You may have saved gardeners several months and months of time!

[@JJones-gw9vy]

You're such a genuine guy. Thank you for all of the work you put in this, which was quite literally at least a year-and-a-half's worth of time. And greeting from the Northern Hemisphere! Happy fall-growing season to you down there sir!

[@camsmeltzer9388]

Thank you for your videos!! Your garden is amazing!!

[@sarahcarter1352]

Have been looking into buying a tumbler so will watch with interest.

[@Shawntheconstructionguy-xe2tv]

thanks for adding the USA measurements in there for us over on this side. Cheers!

[@merseystardust]

Hi Mark, Your tips on tumbler composting are so helpful! I’ve been adding to mine since the start of the year, it’s coming on great! Many thanks, Charlene from Glasgow 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿

[@OrganicMommaGA]

We have a compost tumbler with 2 sides that works well, but one reminder to anyone who buys one - Place in a fairly level spot! It's sketchy to turn a full one on a hill, especially if it's been "forgotten" for more than a month. That 1st turn of a full composter, with everything clumping together, would have been comedy gold if it wasn't myself trying to keep the contraption on its legs! Thanks, Mark for showing us your experience with something similar - I love tossing everything that doesn't go to my chickens in our composter and making great food for our garden.

[@rohantherockwiththerocketh7871]

Good video Mark, I've just recently been given a tumbling composting bin and started to put it to use with kitchen scraps. Now I only have a few bibs and bobs left until I have a good fruit and vegetables backyard. Have a ripper mate!

[@spraymantis8998]

Great video mark, love composting and have never used one of these tumblers. Great stuff!

[@juliamorrisey5541]

I have been composting for a while, but it is an open compost pile and takes a long time to fully break down. I just received a tumbler as a gift. Thank you for this info.

[@Jay-oz2rr]

G'day Mark. Love your humor and knowledge. You're my favourite youtuber. Cheers from Tassie👍👍

[@Anita-ol4hf]

Wonderful video Mark thank you; I've been composting for 3-4 years one barrel similar to your that rotates and a flat; I understand by watching many videos in different parts of the world that there is no need to sift out the particles that haven't fully broken down eventually they will over time! Sifter not in the budget! No worries...Thanks you again for always good content; pray all is well with you and all your loved ones. Watching you from Colorado USA.

[@jerrygebhardt4045]

Hi again Mike. With all of the material on your ranch, you have a lot of green material. Just like, a front loading watching machine, I think you overloaded it. Jerry from Anaheim, California USA.❤

[@bethb8276]

I would love to see the experiment of one tumbler in the shade and one in full sun! I hope you do it! Thank you for teaching me so many gardening lessons.

[@gardeningfishingjimw9364]

G'day Mark, hope you and the family are well; all good down here with my Birdie beds growing heaps of tomatoes, onions, celery, brussels sprouts, etc.etc.... When I have composted during the years I have never worried about the hard bits in the compost; they just go in the garden as well and slowwwwwwwwwwwwwwly break down over whatever timeline they wish. Now I am setting the beds for my Winter crops one by one and hopefully I will have enough compost for this season as the Spring/summer prep always includes mushroom compost for an extra bit of zing.

[@nunyabusiness863]

Thanks for this follow through. Composting wood chips requires patience and i always suggest a separate pile for wood chips because of the time it takes. Have a great season!

[@havrix9002]

Another great video! I love that your videos are always about something normal gardener would do or try not just people with a small farm. I would also like so see the same mix but in a pile to see how that would change the speed of the compost. I always do a pile because i like to have the worms and other insects but of course having a soggy bottom can always be a problem. Keep up the good content!

[@batpherlangkharkrang7976]

Hi.... Mark nice to see you Love watching your video gardening and growing vegetables bye

[@kurniyantobuang6012]

From Malaysia, I love all of your video sir.. may you be granted with great health all the time..

[@nicholasbrunning]

I'm living off grid in Tassie, appreciate the insights.

[@dorothyxu4033]

Thank you for the experiment, perfect timing. I’m chopping a lot trees to replace the, by natives. that helps me decide use fresh wood chip just as mulch

[@malibu90265]

Love you, Mark. So fun!

[@chuck6290]

18 months! You are extremely patient! :)

[@smas3256]

Cheers Mark. From East Coast USA. If we were prepared for such a mild winter we would have planted cool weather crops all winter. We had so many downpours we have to start plants indoors. We keep our composts in the shade behind the shed respecting our neighbors even though it never smells. No manure or meats or oils. A skunk visits our garden in the summer keeping our neighbors out. lol. We do set up determents for skunks too. Great video experiment on composting wood chips. Thanks.

[@tassiegirl1991]

Hello Mark this was well worth watching. I bought luckily a second hand turning composter and it is so slow I’ve given up. So I was thrilled to see your experiment even in the QLD heat it took for ages. I thought I was stuffing it too much but watching you No. But clearly the answer was it took much longer than expected. At 80 this week and no lawn clippings in our garden I think I will just give up.

[@chrisholdread174]

I love the hand cranked sifter gadget. I use an old fry basket as a sifter.

[@diannetroeth-telfer1148]

Really enjoyed this video. Helped me to decide how to compost and what to buy to do this Thanks

[@Colinking2127]

I've a tumble composter and have exactly the same issue. It takes a long time to rot down and is only fit for use as a mulch. During our UK winter, it seems to stop working due to our cold temperatures. Another good video. Thank you.

[@Tony-op6xf]

Love the Easter egg in the first minute. I saw that!!!

[@sandy-rr1by]

I put the sifted chunks back in to continue the process. I love having a tumbler!

[@garulusglandarius6126]

I’m surprised you’ve not built an industrial size tumbler yet Mark. Excellent as always 👍🇦🇺🇬🇧

[@levenscott645]

As usual, a useful video. Thanks, mate.

[@tinakoziol1690]

Super cool and interesting! Thanks for sharing ❤

[@Thecultivatingcurmudgeon]

Good video! I use the woodchips from my chipper as a cover for paths. Layed on to of cardboard seems to keep weeds down and breaks down over about a year. I should really dig the paths up and use the compost 🙂

[@jacquisouza5008]

I always enjoy your videos. I too love to compost. But I'm broke so I use metal fencing and pile it in there then after a year I pull the fence up and let the chickens in to finish the job. They are good little helpers. I also have a compost wheel like you and I bought some compost starter for the first batch. Its basically worm eggs and it turned the food scraps into compost super quick and the chickens had a nice snack.

[@stuartbatcheldor5978]

Thanks Mark for your time and perseverance in bringing this information to us. I have often wondered if my making of compost on the in an unused portion of my garden bed was as effective as using a tumbler. My wife swears by her addition of worm wee to the garden too. I wonder if by adding it to compost , the process of decay would be sped up?

[@cherylsmyth1698]

Thanks!

[@sandy-rr1by]

I've had a Mantis Twin composter about 20 years, still holding up well. When it gets dry I add a little water. I also have a bin.

[@camus83489]

tumbler composters are amazingg

[@joshmorales903]

Mark, love your content and it has defiantly been instrument in getting me into gardening! I have a very similar composter and live in a similar climate, south east Texas. One thing I have done that has greatly increased in speed and quality of compost that I produce is add worms to my compost tumbler. In my area red wigglers are native and I use them. I would hope there is an equivalent in your area. Might be worth you trying!

[@wishingonthemoon1]

Thank you for sharing a locally produced tumbler!

[@annavuong2139]

Interesting video, thanks so much for putting the time in for your content. Would you consider trying some kind of vermicomposting system?

[@CharlesLockhart]

Great video,thank you.

[@tallulahbeaverhausen4382]

Simple question : would the decomposition process not be faster with the help of bugs and worms ?

[@Selfsufficientme]

You do get bugs and maggots (soldier fly etc) in the mix, but they do bugger off or become scarce as the organic matter breaks down and stabilises. Yes, I think the same pile in my compost bays or composting bins on the ground with earthworms easy access would compost faster (generally). Cheers :)

[@veggiepatchideas]

Now that was a challenge, Great Videos. Heat is your friend when it comes to compost. Gonna need a bigger spinner! 🙏🙏🌱🌱

[@ChrisGlasgows]

I was waiting for it, and thank you! @12:20

[@gene_takovic57]

Great way to keep material out of the landfill and give it a second life 👍

[@CormacHolland]

Good morning Mark, from North Carolina.

[@crappyvegan]

Fantastic videos, thanks!!!

[@suesmyder]

Happy fal/winter growing down under. We wont be able to plant out until our average last frost date of May 10th. Were from the high plains 65 miles south east of Denver, Co.

[@margaretpollard2179]

🙂 👍 Always good information! Thanks, Mark!

[@davidhauser2665]

3 months in a hot compost, I add water with Molasses after a month to get the bacteria firing up and this also gets the worms involved and it comes out black gold straight into the garden beds!

[@ginac9008]

I tried tumbling compost, wasn’t a success for me. I purchased the inground compost system Compot. I put two into my raised 3 metre garden bed. No work for me just to add scraps and the worms break it down and leave castings in the soil. Fabulous video Mark.

[@reddragon9229]

Good stuff mate

[@countrycraftscustomwoodworking]

I plan on trying this with shavings made from my wood turnings. figure those shavings will be thin enough and have enough surface area to break down faster than twigs and larger chunks of wood. Less volume per wood section should mean it breaks down faster (in theory) Love the video, thanks for taking the time to put this together! =) (edit) should have waited until the end of the video when he said smaller pieces would work faster haha. jumped the gun on this one, whoops =P

[@badajoma]

I have a few tunblers, chook ring/kiddie pool,cold compost bin + bay compost system. All work well in sub tropics here with good turn around time

[@HenrikTorget]

Why not make a metal grid that fits over the opening on the composter. Then you can separate whats finished composting, and leave whant need to compost further. Then you dont need that round separator at all. Just a thought :)

[@deltorres2100]

I live in Texas..I have been doing my compost in 3 large planter buckets for a tree..I have successfully made 2 great looking compost..,out of cardboard.,plenty of kitchen scraps..grass clippings..🌱🌱🌱

[@aarondrury1846]

I own one of these easycomposters... Highly recommend.... I've turned many a bucket of food goop into delicious brown goodness!!

[@elijahsanders3547]

Great video! Thank you again :) I got a couple bags of wood shavings from local wood carvers. Layered them with very wet compost in bags with holes at bottom, poured left over blended soup mixed with water over them a few times, and they are left open in a pretty hot and sunny area for a few hours of the day. Mixed em with my trawell once, they are looking nice and dark. A glove of garlic that was thrown in ended up sprouting :D The soup did draw a lot of ants though. And with some scraps thrown in I did spot some soldier fly larva I think.

[@ericabruton8087]

Love ya work. I saw your composting ring you made to put chicken scraps in. We built one of those hoping for compost......our chickens usually eat everything so alas not much compost for us from that experiment bit we do have a large guinea pig pen which we use dry grass clippings ro cover the floor. Guinea pigs poop alot so when we clean up their flooring it all goes onto our veggie beds. Winner

[@Thingys-Jill]

18 months for a bit of compost -- too much time for me. I'll just buy a bag for $1.98 US. I usually empty out one raised bed by adding it to the rest of the beds that need topping up or the in-ground beds. Then I put a layer of used chicken bedding a few inches thick because my coop gets cleaned late autumn and again in the spring (I do the deep litter method). Then comes winter and in the spring I top off with soil and bagged compost. When it's warm enough, I plant! We just had a hail storm yesterday (the size of marbles!) and it's pouring rain today. I hope my rain barrel doesn't overflow . . . thanks for all your videos. I love watching them.

[@MotosAllotmentGarden]

Another great video

[@unclebubbaknowseverything9143]

Howdy from Texas 🤠

[@deanolivier9008]

I have found that adding in some yeast, whatever you have on hand, will greatly improve your composition time and kick start a compost bin or in this case tumbler. Just some info i wish i had a few years again.

[@MeanOldLady]

We'd had 3, 3 cubic yard/meter wood chip piles from the power company dumped in our yard & our garden's about half the size of yours & it's taken 4 years to go through it all & the soil is nice & black on the bottom without adding anything to the pile. The other 2 have some chicken manure worked in from cleaning the chicken run & coop & they've broken down over 2 years. We had random tomato plants pop up in them last year so we let them do their thing & had double the 'maters.

[@ashj_2088]

14 yes , thanks bro🐰

[@DaveMuller]

".... to see how long it WOOD take" Good one, Mark

[@juliehorney995]

Thanks Mark. We are looking for a metal compost tumbler without a plastic or foam liner. Looks like the easy composter is a winner. Hope they ship to the States?

[@Echo5Mike]

Some tips i have leaned along the way. Basically any tubling process to get that good aeration, such as a had crank or a 55 gallon barrel w/ a hole cut in it. Rolled it right around the yard on a daily basis. Used 2 to 1 mix of leaves and grass clippings. The smaller the particle size, the easier and faster the microbes will decay them. Add grass that has gone to that green powdery mildew, that fungis will feed off the grass and increase the heat of your mix. I even add run of the mill garden variety mushrooms (the ones you find arround your trees). I even added expired pancake mix and rancid flour one time and boy, did that temperature take off well into the 80°C area. Just make sure you mix has propper moisture. 1 gallon of expired milk, or water, in a 55 gallon capacity should be enough. Bonis fact: after 7 days i had a beautifully organic mix of about 90% composting thanks in part by the finer mulched materials. Think coffee ground size. Earthworms help too!