GREAT GREEN SYSTEMS 180 Litre Compost Tumbler Instruction Manual
- June 9, 2024
- GREAT GREEN SYSTEMS
Table of Contents
GREAT GREEN SYSTEMS 180 Litre Compost Tumbler
CONGRATULATIONS ON BUYING YOUR COMPOST TUMBLER The following instructions will detail how to assemble the Maze Compost Tumbler. It should take around 2 hours to put the compost bin together.
INCLUDED COMPONENTS
Check to ensure you have everything needed
INSTALLATION INSTRUCTIONS
FEATURES
DIMENSIONS
WARNINGS
-
WARNING:
BEWARE OF CATCHING FINGERS IN GEARS -
WARNING:
BEWARE OF CATCHING FINGERS IN DOORS -
WARNING:
DO NOT ROTATE BARREL WITH DOORS OPEN -
WARNING:
WHEN RATCHET IS UNLOCKED, STAND CLEAR OF HANDLE AS IT MAY SPIN FAST OR IN THE REVERSE DIRECTION -
WARNING:
ALWAYS ENSURE COMPOSTER Is ON DRY, LEVEL GROUND
HOW TO COMPOST
Brief guide to get you started
Why compost?
Composting is a noble art with a very long history in sustainable food
production. More and more, people are motivated by the desire for healthy
soil, healthier food and smaller environmental footprint. If all food waste
was composted, food grown in our farms and gardens would be healthy, tasty and
good to eat.
How to compost
Making compost is just like making a cake. We need the right ingredients in
the correct proportions and mixed properly. We also need to get the moisture
content and aeration right. But unlike making a cake, we don’t have to be too
precise about how we mix things. In simple terms, we are managing a balance
between stuff that is easy to break down, and stuff that takes a bit longer.
This is most easily understood by calling the easy-to-breakdown stuff the
‘green’, and the harder-to-break-down stuff, the ‘brown’. A 50/50 mixture of
green to brown is a great place to start for successful composting.
Simple steps
- Collect kitchen scraps in a kitchen caddy or indoor composter. It will speed things up if you chop this waste where possible.
- Add the kitchen scraps to composter with some ‘brown’ scraps at similar time-frames. Try to chop up or shred the brown waste as well if possible. If using the divided option start by adding to one half only. Use the door with the ‘+’ symbol to remind you which side is being filled.
- Turn the composter at least 2-3 times a week. When adding waste always give it a few turns.
- Keep adding until full (or too hard to turn) ensuring to keep the consistency right. Once the first side is full, start filling the other compartment. Make sure to swap the doors so now the ‘ ’ door is on the side that you just filled and the ‘+’ is on the empty side.
- You will know when the ‘ ’ side is ready when the contents look and smell like soil. Once it is ready, rotate the opening to the bottom, place a bucket or Compost Cart under and then slide the door open to let the compost fall out. You may need to help it come out by using a trowel to scrape it out
- Once empty swap the doors around again and start filling the empty side and repeat
What to compost
Table 1 below gives you an idea of what is green and what is brown. Table 2
gives you some idea of what else you can / cannot put into compost. For best
results chop or shred greens and browns before adding, and make sure the mix
is moist, not wet. Remember, we want to blend green and brown 50 / 50 by
weight, not by volume.
Green and Brown compost inputs
| Green | Notes |
|---|
Green leaves
|
Good to use
Grass clippings
| Great addition when mixed well; can become smelly if not mixed
Green weeds
|
Avoid putting in seeds or runners
Fruit or vegetable scraps
|
Good to use
Cut flowers
| Good to use but chop up into 100mm lengths before adding
Cooked food
| No chunky meat, cheese or very oily wastes (e.g. fine meat or cheese like
leftover spaghetti bolognaise is ok)
Cow, horse, pig, chicken manures (not dog or cat)| Good to use. Dog and cat
manures can harbour diseases so best not to use.
Lucerne hay
|
Good to use
Blood and bone or dynamic lifter
| Use only if you have too much ‘brown’ materials. Sprinkle lightly and make sure everything is kept moist.
Brown| Notes
Brown leaves
|
Good
Dead grass or weeds
|
Good
Paper and cardboard| Good
Mulch, Sawdust, Hay or Straw
|
Good to use if you have an imbalance of ‘green’.
Dos and Don’ts
Do not use:
| Cooking oil, dog or cat manures, chunky meat or cheese, bones
---|---
OK to use:
| Egg shells, wood ash, bread, milk or juice past its ‘use by’ date
How to use compost
This is where you get rewarded for your attention to your compost bin.
Composting can take anywhere from 8 weeks to 24 weeks to mature and be ready
to be applied to your garden. Compost that you buy from shops is usually quite
fine because commercial composters screen the material before sale to remove
the chunky bits.
You are encouraged to do the same as you will most likely find large particles
such as twigs or mango or avocado stones still not broken down. It is a simple
process to remove these by hand and put them back into the compost to continue
breaking down. Compost can be surface applied or dug into the soil. If you are
applying compost to an established garden or under fruit trees, you really
have no choice but to apply it to the surface as you can’t easily dig it in.
If you are applying compost to your vegetable garden, then you want to dig it
in.
Useful Additions For Your Compost Tumbler
55 Litre Composting Cart by Maze
The Composting Cart makes light work of collecting ready-to-use compost from
your Tumbler and transporting it around your garden
Bokashi Bran
A composting accelerator comprising a dry mixture of bran and molasses
combined with bacteria, yeast and fungi.
- 0800 731 2572
- sales@greatgreensystems.com
- www.greatgreensystems.com
References
Read User Manual Online (PDF format)
Read User Manual Online (PDF format) >>