Making a compost 'bin' using old tyres

Is it possible to stack a few old car tyres on top of each other to make a compost bin ?

It would be pretty easy, almost certainly free of charge ... so what's the snag ?

I worked overseas and they actually used old tyres, filled with earth, to stabilise slopes. We don't make use at all (as far as I can see) of tyres in this country. They just clog up the landfill sites.

thanks for any input !!

 

I think I'll just get some pallets after all.

I could make a 2 or even 3 bay 'composting station' and maybe use one just for leaf mould.

I suppose I better hurry, the leaves are starting to fall now.

Regarding leaf mould .. I have quite a number of black bags full of leaves from last year ... should i add them to my new leaf pile, or maybe just dig them into the soil in the spring. By that time they'll be 16 or 17 months old.

 

Can you still see leaf structures in the bags Willie ?

 

I'll take a look tomorrow .. they are behind the greenhouse and it's dark and scary outside now

 

And full of slugs and spiders

If you can't see much of the leaf structure then save it for the spring and dig it in. Might be some benefit in putting some layers in the new leaves, i.e. it'll have mycelium that can get to work on the new ones, but that'll happen anyway over time.

 

Re. pallets used for making compost bins?

I was under the impression that you needed the heat to build up, pallets are full of wacking great holes.
I've lost count at the number of old pallets that are appearing on the allotments, they take up loads of space being about 5 ins thick all round, and the stuff just falls through the holes, goes dry and crispy.
Cant offer a cheap alternative,but just wondered what gardening guru started all this?

 

Some pallets haven't got the slots in them, they'd be better.

 

Why wont tyres work? I get that they're not that wide diameter-wise, but stacked together you could get a lot of volume. I'd have guessed that it would be ideal. The tyres themselves providing nice big pockets for air to circulate, bugs to move into etc, all while trapping moisture, and I expect it would really easy to shuffle it about as needed too, as you could just kick it over and rebuild it.

That's all in theory. I've never tried it. I would be tempted too though. Tyres are easy enough to get for nothing, and if it doesn't work as a composter, there are many other potential uses in the garden. One such use is for growing spuds, where you start off with one tyre filled with earth, plant spuds in it, then as the spuds grow, instead of earthing up the conventional way, you just keep adding another tyre filled with compost.

Or, I've seen planters made out of tyres, fill of flowers.

Or, if you have kids, they come in really useful as components of play areas.

 

I managed to get hold of 4 'dumpy bags' today ... those big bags, which builders get sand and stone delivered in.

I think I could you these, at least initially, especially for the leaves, which are obviously starting to fall now.

I've been looking on Youtube for tips on compost bins, and I think the pallets actually make too large a bin. It would take over a year to fill it, so it won't generate much heat. I may, in the end, just pop in some 100 x 100 posts and construct a decent looking bin / bins.

I'll cut off the bottom of one of my dumpy bags, if I use it for compost ... but would it be OK to leave the others bags whole, when using it for leaf mould ?

thanks

 

I've composted in whole dumpy bags, no need to cut the bottoms out. Makes it easier to empty if you can hoik the whole bag around.

I stick 4 iron poles in the corners to keep it upright and open.