So, I know that you master composters think I should have skipped the tumbler and just used a layering method, but honestly I had a previous shoulder injury that has really been aggravated by all the digging and such this summer and fall doing the veggie patch and flower beds so I requested a compost tumbler for Yule. I went with an 80 gallon sucker that has two bins. One that’s working and one to fill up while the other one is cooking. This will be much easier on my shoulder than doing a lot of turning with a pitchfork and such. Anyway, since I don’t celebrate xmas (for anxiety reasons) Dad had it shipped directly to me and yesterday it showed via UPS but I was advised to deny the package for damage. We had heavy rains the last 2 days and it looked like UPS threw the box in a puddle and the cardboard was all squishy and the top had come open. The good news is I will have a new one by next week that I can assemble right in time for my gardeners visit. He weed whacks, does my grass and tree trimming (it’s too much for me with the size of my yard). So I can have him put all the green waste and leaves in the compost when he’s here. It’s pretty cool cuz the new composter has a marker so he will know which one is working and which one to fill. I’m so excited to make my own compost!
Oh your going to love making your own teas then down the road! FWIW 2 cups of compost , 2 cups of EWC , a dab of molasses, tablespoon of Kelp and maybe some rock dust in a painters bag makes 5 gallons of tea enough for about and acres worth of application ! Which brings to the point is I’m not charging enough for my 5 gallons of tea at $15 lol
5 gallon bucket 3-4$
A good air pump ( I use an aqua pump) 30-35$
Air stones 2-3$
Sounds like your on the right track! @happy for ya @Meesh it might be a money making opportunity for ya as well!
No darn it! 5 gallons for 15 bucks! Holy shit! That’s what 300 gallons when diluted?
Also, I bought some xmas tree branches today at Trader Joes for like 2 bucks that I’m gonna throw in the blueberry bush. Pine trees aren’t exactly common around here, but we do have an abundance of Palm trees! lol So I figured, the branches they sell for x-mas decor would work just fine. The bush is a dwarf so it’s only in like a 3 gallon pot. I should have plenty.
The dilution thing is more of a carrier concept than anything, if ya can spread 5 gallons mixed in 100 gallon over a certain area it would be the same as 300 just a more diluted product but same amount of microbes would be applied regardless you’d be saving more water if that makes sense.
I might add that it’s best to spray compost teas towards evening close to or at sundown on the plant as in foiliar applications because UV rays from the sun can have a detrimental effect on microbes when their trying to make there slime to adhere to leaf tissues! Hope this helps!
Wish u 
luck with that. Only advice I can give is make sure it’s in the sun, away from strong wind, and chop the stuff you put in as fine as you can manage. Some boiling water, onion skins, & chicken shit will get it going, but I had terrible luck with one and recently smashed it up to recycle it. 
Alright damn it! It’s been 6 weeks since Epsoma went down in the blueberry plant. Tested ph today. It’s still in the mid 6’s. Put a shit load more in there and top dressed with pine needles. I also threw some down for the new gardenia as @Tinytuttle says it can do with more acidity to help iron uptake. Also looked it up and said while not as low of a ph as blueberries it doesn’t mind a 5.5 to 6 ph soil. Getting conflicting info on the internet about when to fertilize the blueberry. I think I’m not supposed to until it’s actively growing and not in the dormancy state. If anyone knows for sure, please clue me in. I also need to buy measuring cups specifically for the garden, I have measuring spoons already. Need to throw some epsom salts in my rose bushes according to my book on roses.
I watched quite a few YouTube reviews and such on the compost tumbler I’m getting seems pretty good and easy according to the testers. Also, I thought the sun didn’t matter in those as the microbes do the cooking?
Yes & no… ish. 
It depends on the climate and the size of the pile(mass). I.e. a huge compost pile will happily cook in snowy places if it’s big enough, but a spoonful in on the steamy jungle floor 
won’t ever hit 130 deg. F… so there’s a minimum mass to generate lots of heat… of about a cubic yard. I’m not sayin’ you can’t get it to work (at all), but I gave one a lot of TLC in the hot sun & it still sucked #$%&^(*( 
If your using something like a broadcast then its best to do in the fall so while it is dormant, the fertilizer has a chance to break down so its available to the blueberry when it wakes up though if your using tea’s and foliars, wait until it wakes up and starts growing again
I’m pretty sure 40 gallons is more than a cubic yard. At least I hope so. lol
@MomOnTheRun Thanks! Haven’t bought my blueberry fert yet. I guess I should decide on what I want then pretty soon since it’s almost winter. lol
Keep in mind there is a max application rate for fertilizer/ amendments per year might do damage if overdone … its takes along time to swing ph up or down in soil , remember ph is logriitmic so ph of 5 is 100 times more acidic than 7ph but baby steps need taken it might take a 1.5 years
Crap! I followed the bag instructions, but it didn’t tell me it had a max. Oh well, if I kill the damn blueberry, guess I’ll have to buy a new one. sigh
I’ll LITFA now and wait and see what it looks like when it comes out of dormancy
That’s what the fertilizer companies goal is they want us to apply more and more and more on … there loooking for the repeat customers.
I had to look it up
40 Gallons (u.s. Dry) to Cubic Yards = 0.2305
I’m still rooting (HA!) for you though. 
I have absolute faith after watching several YouTube’s on my exact composter
Okay y’all… I believe you can see the pic of it in post 161. That round leafed plant in the middle grew to like 6 feet tall and had trunks like trees. I thought it was part of the cover crop seed mix that I threw out there from build a soil. Either it was in the seed mix or I had some dormant seeds in the veggie patch before I rototilled it, but those mofo’s looked like gigantic weeds to me so I literally sawed them down. It got dark by the time I finished sawing, but since I see some seeds on there I’m assuming that I shouldn’t put them in the new compost tumbler or I will spread weeds everywhere. If it really is a weed.
I’m gonna have to go dig up the actual roots tomorrow as I simply chopped them down. My question is I guess… Are they weeds? And if not, should I just leave them in the veggie patch to break down on their own until spring, compost them or trash them?
those look like they’ll grow back, ime…just look hardy.
they look like a giant version of Mallow/cheeseweed or even like a castor-bean, but either one i’d eliminate.
maybe send the pic to buildasoil & ask them if that funky thang is in their mix or if it’s an interloper…
I should email them once I get a pic when it’s light again. I didn’t have any major weeds like that in the veggie patch for years, just the pain in the ass bermuda grass. I have seen smaller versions of this thing here and there that I’ve always pulled out.