Miracle-Gro Dual Chamber Compost Tumbler (2 – 18.5gallon /70 Liter)

Ordered this as it seemed to be a pretty good size. It's smaller than I wanted BUT, the 2 separate containers actually will make it more productive compost process. I like that each side can lock into place. I am not sure the door is really strong but we'll see how it does over the winter. The directions were on my phone via a code. It was helpful for me, but I can see some people wanting a hard copy (you do have an option to print). Assembly was smooth and the 2nd barrel went much faster than the 1st. I thought everything was well labeled and straight-forward. After my last one broke, I did not want to spend a lot of $. I think for the value this should last a few years and that works for me!

Update: I’ve used it for one season and obtained compost! This turned out to be a good size for a family of 2.5. Amazingly did not attract vermin despite the fact that I set it out next to our woods. As expected, it does leak “compost tea” so I would recommend against putting this anywhere other than flat ground. While it didn’t attract vermin, it did attract beneficial black soldier fly which are great for compost and largely stayed in the bins. We never noticed a smell, even when I accidentally forgot to tumble the contents for a while and it went anaerobic. Bumping my review up a star as a result of an overall successful season. Ordered this product and it came missing all of the connectors needed to assemble. The manufacturer wouldn’t replace so I had to initiate a return and replacement w/Amazon. When the replacement arrived it came with all the parts but a completely different set of gloves for some reason. Assembly was easy in theory but hard in reality because so many of the pieces have to be brute forced together. Sometimes they would snap in easily, and other times I’d get two pieces that seemed to be manufactured a bit poorly and it took a lot of effort to get them to work. And if you make a mistake at any point have fun trying to disassemble anything. Once assembled, it’s not as smooth or functional as I’d hoped. The locking pieces have already fallen off after less than one week of use. The “aeration holes” let things like coffee grounds, sawdust - and I’m assuming the compost itself - fall through, which means this isn’t suitable on a patio. Overall it’s fine. I think it will do the job. But for the price I’m not sure it’s worth it over the cheaper options.

When I purchased this unit, I debated between this size and one of the smaller single units. I did not want an oversized bin sitting in my backyard. After using this mid-sized dual bin for 6 weeks, I can say it is the perfect size for our small family. We feed it kitchen scraps daily and both bins still have plenty of space for more. Being able to rotate the bins helps to keep the food scraps composting at a fast rate. We started the compost process with some brown material from our yard and then feed it food scraps daily. You can see and feel the compost process as there is a good amount of heat in the bins. We plan to use the compost in our raised bed garden after composting is complete. Assembly is straight forward and took about 1 hour. The quality and sturdiness is good and I expect to get many years out of it.

Easy way to compost. It’s a compact unit with 2 sides for continuous composting. Will suit a 1-2 person household well to not have any down time.

Ok it will work for kitchen scraps. It’s barely waist high. The doors don’t slide without some serious prying ( pinched fingers twice). It tumbles well. But the lock on one side fell multiple times. I think if you want a small composter say for a patio it may be ok. It’s not heavy duty plastic so you cannot put too much in it. Miracle gro could certainly do better. For the price the value is not there. I’d recommend a better purchase. It’s a pain to put together. Once it is together returns are really not an option as you’d most likely break it before it would come apart. It’s too bad I was hoping that this would be great

I'm really pleased with this. It's my first attempt at composting, and this has made it easy. Assembly was no problem at all, and it's very sturdy. I did have to reconnect one of the legs once; not sure why it came apart but it didn't cause it to fall and I wouldn't have noticed if I hadn't looked down. Maybe an animal tried to get into it but if so they did not succeed. I've been using it for a couple of months and have almost filled the first chamber. I don't know yet how long it will take to get usable compost as the shredded paper I've been using for "brown" material doesn't seem to be breaking down very well. My biggest surprise has been that I don't notice much odor at all. I was prepared to hold my nose when I opened it, but it just hasn't been an issue. I don't use any meat or dairy scraps, just vegetable, fruit and plant scraps, coffee grounds, etc. along with dryer lint, cat hair, etc. In addition to tumbling, I do use a long stick to stir the contents a little. Update 11-20-22 At 3 months in, I "harvested" my first compost today! It was such a wonderful feeling, spreading nice rich compost around my trees and on my flower bed. I've already filled half of the second bin. The first one taught me some good lessons about what breaks down well and what does not. Dryer sheets definitely do not, even when torn into pieces. Most of my "green" material consisted of banana peels, coffee grounds and vegetable scraps. No meat or fat. Most of my "brown" material was also from the house: dryer lint, cat hair, certain packing materials, used tissues, etc., all torn into smaller pieces before adding to my kitchen receptacle. My trees are all oaks, and oak leaves do not break down well, so I'll probably keep using household waste for brown material. The best lesson I learned is that if I can't easily tear it into pieces manually, it's definitely not going to break down quickly enough. No twigs or branches. No corn cobs. Also, I used a lot of shredded paper for my first bin and that took a long time to break down. I had to pull some of it out as it just didn't break down at all, so I won't do that again. I've considered buying another bin just for things that take longer but maybe I'm getting too obsessed. LOL

UPDATE May2023: The broken J-connectors looseness continued to be an issue so I super-glued the junctions to stabilize the panels... problem solved. I needed the gloves to do work in the yard and discovered they are BOTH LEFTHANDED... sturdy thorn-resistant on the palm surface for one hand! The dual-chamber tumble composter arrived Apr 4 and was put together the next day. Assembly is not too complicated but the J-connectors were really difficult to install. Mine were not solid as shown, but actually toothed on the ends, so theoretically they should compress a little. I bent & stretched them as directed, but they barely fit into the slots.There were two extra but several broke off an end tooth which means everything held together well enough for assembly. but the junctions wiggle. I'm concerned the panels may separate when there is actually the weight of compost material in the chambers. I've contacted the Miracle-Gro support to purchase more J-connectors but no one has replied. I can't even find a mention of a "composter" product on any Miracle-Gro website so unsure how this product is supported. I may have to just secure the connections with super-glue if the company does not respond. Otherwise, the dual chamber composter is just about what I wanted. Each chamber should hold enough kitchen waste for several weeks so alternating sides would give enough time for the compost to mature. The construction material is plastic but seems solid. The drums spin easily and doors are secure. I would purchase this item again if the construction issue can be solved.... maybe use hot water or a heat gun to make the connectors pliable during installation.

This truly was not difficult to assemble, but it does require good hand strength. If you go online and follow the step by step picture guide it is very easy to follow and get the assembly done in a reasonable amount of time. Make sure the small brackets that you hold the pieces of the barrels together with are in as far as they can go or your barrel pieces will not stay together. I laid them flat on the floor to put together, which made it a bit easier. Putting the small brackets in is the hardest part and it is harder if you don't have much hand strength. I recommend placing something solid under the area you will have to push on (this support helps the brackets go in easier). Then I pulled them up on their side very slowly to attach the first side of the barrel. After that, the rest is easier. ***NOTE: Please make sure that when doing anything with the 2 panels that have the yellow & green doors on them that you follow the instructions EXACTLY as far as what directions they need to go in. If you don't the composter will not be able to function at all. This is a great composter so far. It was very light to move to get it outside where we wanted it; I did it alone, even going down a few steps. So far it seems to be really solid and I am hoping it will hold up for a number of years. The venting holes are small enough so that it should really focus the heat good and cause the composting to work fairly quickly. The really small holes also prevent pests from getting into the compost barrels, which is very good. Do expect such things as flies and maggots to be present because that is natural with decomposing food scraps. ****I really feel this is a great investment for multiple reasons, 1) Reducing garbage 2) Gaining Organic fertilizer 3) Reducing what goes to garbage dumps 4) Increasing recycle material that is actually recycled