plastic box or barrel composter?

[leafylady]

Any good recommendations for a plastic box or barrel composter? Are there any features that I should look for?

I have a small house and a small yard, with lots of rodents and rabbits outside. Any regular compost heap just looks like an eyesore, so that's why I'm looking at these plastic ones. I saw one in the Garden Supply catalog that looks easy to get into, top and bottom, holds 12 cubic feet, and but costs about $90 with a rodent screen.
Any thoughts?

I'm not building any wood compost frames. Don't even try to convince me. It will look like an eyesore too in my small area. I had one before and finally had to get rid of it.

[darlindeliasmom]

right now I'm not too fond of our barrel composter. We must be using it wrong, bwecause it's just FULL of mice and I think a rat! We have one of the black plastic cubes, which we have had great success with for like 10 ytears, with no animal problems and no smell. this is our first winter with the barrel, and YUK!
I'm gonna do some work to see what we're doing wrong. I think it's just not "cooking".
Anything in Gardeners supply is good by me. I like the one with the peaked roof. Also the barrell ones ( the ones that go end over end) are very difficult to turn; I have to get DH to do it.

[leafylady]

I think the one I'm looking at has a low peaked roof. They call it a pyramid style composter. It mainly looks like a big black box, but part of it is pyramid shaped. They do sell a rodent screen for an extra $10. That might be worth it.

Thanks for the input on the barrel composters. I'm a wimp, so from your description, I would not enjoy trying to roll it around. And the last thing I want are rodents living in it: Some of our less fastidious neighbors have big rats hanging out. I'd like the rats to stay away from our place.

[eirrak]

ever consider worms?

If you're planning on just composting kitchen scraps, I'd recommend giving vermicomposting a try. We do it in our basement and there is no smell and it's a fun project. You don't need to buy a special kit, just a couple of big plastic containers. There are directions on the web.
If you're composting yard waste I'm no help because we have a big secluded yard and a big ugly compost pile. We did look into making a rotating barrel composter, though. Again there are directions on the web. You can seal it enough so that rats etc. don't get in, and with it rotating you can get the good stuff quicker.

good luck.