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“Made-It-Myself” Rotary Compost Sifter
“I used the mixing drum on an old pull-type concrete mixer to build a low-cost rotary compost sifter. Works great,” says Quinton Tschetter, Oskaloosa, Iowa.
“I store the compost in one of the hoop houses we use to grow flowers and vegetables for sale. It stays dry and is always ready to use when we need it.”
He used 1/2-in. rerod to weld together a cylinder-shaped frame and wrapped 1/2-in. hardware cloth around it. Then he bolted a round steel plate over the open end of the mixer drum and attached the frame to it. A long handle is used to tip the drum from sifting to dumping position. The drum is rotated by a 1/2 hp. electric motor mounted on back of the mixer.
“I set the drum at a 45-degree angle over a wheelbarrow and dump the sifted compost into it, or just let the compost pile up on the floor and use my loader to pick it up. Once the wheelbarrow is full, I dump the load into a hoop house or one of the raised garden beds in our back yard,” says Tschetter. “I use a garden tractor to move the cement mixer around, although it came equipped with a handle so it also can be moved by hand. I tip the mixer in the opposite direction in order to dump out any chunks of compost that don’t get sifted,” notes Tschetter.
Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, Quinton Tschetter, 2379 Hwy. 92, Oskaloosa, Iowa 52577 (ph 641 660-9765; Qct1944@gmail.com).


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2021 - Volume #45, Issue #1