[Geordie]

I have a couple of dalek type compost bins that I adopted when I took over my allotment in February. I have been adding to these over the last few months.

Today I opened the hatch at the bottom of one of the bins and took a few spadefuls out and it is very wet and smelly.

Having read around the subject I think there may have been too much green material in the bin so I am intending to empty the whole bin, mix it up with some drier material and leave it to see if it improves.

Does anyone have similar experience and if so what did you do..?

[Mr Rotavator]

I add carbon to mine as you want to get a balance with nitrogen: newspaper, shredded cardboard, cereal boxes and bonfire ash helps. I also mow all the material I add, excluding the food waste I put in. Regular turning helps the rate of the composting process, empty your bin out and refill it once a month or so. This is Monty's recipe from Gardners World and it works very well. Finally, you want the bin in the sun as the heat gets it going along with some chicken pellets and some pee 

[viettaclark]

This year's compost wasn't doing so well so I tipped it out and there were thick compacted layers of coop lining newspaper that OH had chucked in. (Tut!) Ripped it up and mixed it all up and bunged it back with some water and within a week the heat had caused it to reduce in volume by a half!
The secret is to get a good mix of browns and greens (not too dry/wet) and turn it regularly. I put the chicken poo in mine which helps.

[backyardbodger]

Had to re-do a whole bin that had 'gone green' like this.  Layered into a new bin with very small twigs, ripped up newspaper and cardboard.  You may want to wear a clothes peg on your nose though...

[Ivor Backache]

http://www.klickitatcounty.org/SolidWaste/fileshtml/organics/compostCalc.htm

This is something I found on the internet last year and if the link does not work search this site for 'compost mix calculator' and lower down you will see that DD has but the shortcut.

Use the drop down menues and select what you compost and enter a unit. I put 1 cuft.
eg. vegetable waste and also newspaper and change the volume until you get a final analysis of 25-30. Enter different materials and experiment.

All my yearly newspaper is put in the compost heap during the growing season when green waste is highest. It is surprising how much paper is needed to achieve the right balance. One bag of vegetable waste and a bag of horsemanure requires 7 bags of newspaper.

I keep refering to it and I get excellent results. See what you think.

[Axe]

have you been turning them to get air inside?...lift the composter off the entire composting material...then fork it back inside to get air through it.

[snails2go]

I managed to get hold of a regular supply of used coffee grounds - added to the compost bin done a great job helping to keep it nice and crumbly

[SkipRat]

Personally I dont like using Dalaks to complete the full compost cycle I find they cool down to much in cooler weather. I tend to use them as wastebins, then when one is full it then goes on my main heap. This has three functions to my mind 1st is that I dont have to keep uncovering the main heap of its carpet coverings to put a shovel full of material into, and secondly when emptying the full dalak, it is going in the main bin as a substantial layer. I have been known to take a cut of comfry put a 3 inch layer in the main bin, add the full dalak to it then put another 3-4 inch layer of comfry on top this really gets the bin heating up (comfreys a great activator). and thirdly it is getting turned over and air added to it to encourage all the good stuff that makes the compost.

[Grubbypaws]

I agree the Dalek type bins really dont work at all well. I have 2 that I cant get rid of so thank you Skiprat for your suggestions as to how to use them; at the moment they just sit in the corner of the garden irritating me.

I have never bothered covering my compost bin with carpet; does it really make that much difference? My main problem with compost is it getting really hot and then drying out. When OH turns it over my job is to stand there with a hosepipe.

[SkipRat]

[

I have never bothered covering my compost bin with carpet; does it really make that much difference? My main problem with compost is it getting really hot and then drying out. When OH turns it over my job is to stand there with a hosepipe.
[/quote]

Covering your compost bin does help keep the heat in, and also stops the rain leaching any nutrients out

[bigben]

I find the darlek bins work really well when it is warm. I found my pallet bin was letting in enough light and was not heating up enough to kill stuff off so it just grew. I now start stuff in the darleks and then once it has cooked a bit turn it into the pallet bin. Anything left in the darlek at the end of the season I remix with grass and green stuff to restart the following year.

[Dandelion]

It's taken me a few years to get the hang of daleks - I have produced my fair share of smelly wet compost over the years, and have either:
Left it out in the air to dry out a bit then mixed it with scrunched up card and other brown materials in and put it back into the dalek
Used it as a mulch
Dug a bean trench and hidden it in there!
It has depended on the weather and the time of year.
When I did a course on composting I was surprised at the proportion of brown material which can be put in with green stuff - I now put more woody material in and sieve it out when the compost is ready, and as a result the compost is much more useable.