How to make a homemade composter

Compost is a completely ecological natural fertilizer that helps enrich the soil and provide organic matter to the plants in your garden or orchard without having to resort to artificial or chemical fertilizers, less ecological and much more expensive. And the best way to enjoy compost regularly is for you to make your own. How? Making your own composter is very simple and there are many ways to do it, but the most important thing is that it will allow you to recycle your own organic waste and turn it into useful fertilizer for your plants.

How to make a homemade composter with pallets

The composter with pallets is one of the most used due to how easy it is to have this material and how simple it is to manufacture.

To make a homemade composter with pallets , with 4 pallets you can have enough, although it is recommended that they be European certified pallets, whose wooden sheets are wider and leave less gap between the boards. If the pallets that you have obtained are of greater space, you can help yourself with some additional slats to place between the spaces to reduce the space. For the simplest structure you can limit yourself to placing the four pallets vertically, with the part that normally goes up inside, and fix them to the ground either by burying them a few centimeters or with bolts. With some wooden boards you can prepare the lid of the composter , and you already have one of the most basic and simple models to make.

Homemade wood and wire composter

If you have enough space in the garden and you dare to DIY, you can go one step further and make a compost bin out of wooden boards and a wire fence .

1. Create a roughly cubic structure with the wood.
2. Line the inside with the wire so that air passes through the spaces between the wood but the organic matter does not escape.
3. You can prepare several parallel compartments, more or less elaborate doors and even a lid.
4. It is also possible to make it in the form of a drum, to make it rotatable.
5. Another simpler option, but with which the compost will probably take longer to make, is to make the desired structure with wire and then cover the contour with wood or branches and then in the central part you can already put the organic matter.

How to make a homemade composter with a drum

The composters drum are another extremely cheap and easy resource to develop, since only need to follow these steps on how to make a home composter step by step using a drum:

1. Make a series of small holes along the body of the drum, vertically, and on more than one side so that air can circulate through them.
2. Use the top lid of the drum as an access point, to introduce organic matter and remove compost when ready, and to make sure you cover it well during the composting process.

How to make a rotary composter

The bin composter makes it much easier to make a spinning composter from scratch, which improves ventilation and mixing and speeds up the decomposition process.

1. Put your jerrycan horizontally instead of leaning vertically.
2. Drill two holes where the base and the lid were, and pierce it with a metal rod strong enough to hold it when it is full.
3. Then prepare a wooden or metal structure that supports the drum by its support and allows the bar to rotate.
4. Make some holes as we have commented before, and as you will see in the image, to facilitate a minimum of air circulation.
5. Make a lid or door on the body of the drum that allows you to add the organic matter and extract the compost.

If you dare, you can even prepare multi-story structures for more than one rotating compost bin .Image: Recycling and sustainability channel

How to make a construction compost bin

If you have concrete blocks , you can make a very simple composter by simply stacking them on top of each other so that their section is parallel to the ground, thus functioning as ventilation holes. It is a very rudimentary composter at its base, but the concrete has enough weight that it is not dangerous to remove the compost. Prepare a lid with wooden boards or other material at your fingertips, and you have everything.

Another possibility if you have a hole in your land or a pool area or pool that is not usable, is that you use this hole to have a practical work compost bin .

Homemade compost made with tires

The old tires , especially if they are a good size, can also serve as a composter. Follow these steps to make a tire composter :

1. Cut the tires to remove the sides and inner circumference, so that you are left with only the outer rubber layer.
2. Stack them on top of each other to make room for the composting space.
3. In this hole is where you will have to put the compostable materials and you will have to add a lid to cover it and facilitate the formation of compost.

Image: Puri Crafts

How to make a homemade compost for worms

The vermicompost is a particularly beneficial fertilizer for all plants. This vermicompost is the product of the degradation of the matter that some types of worms carry out, being the Californian red worms the most popular and best for this due to their great voracity and speed of multiplication. To make the vermicomposter you only need two boxes or plastic buckets of the same size and follow these instructions:

1. Stack the boxes one on top of the other leaving the lid only to the top.
2. Drill holes in the base and the sides of the upper box, then covering them with metallic mesh that prevents the worms from falling to the bottom, where the vermicompost will arrive.
3. You can prepare some newspaper in the bed of the worms to add some carbon to help them in the composting process.