Anyone have any experience with the Vitamix Foodcycler or Lomi?

[popmom]

I see them for sale on Marketplace sometimes, and it's tempting. The newest Vitamix holds 5L. I might start a sinking fund for one of those.

We compost leaves and stuff in the backyard. Right now I toss a lot of my veggie scraps into that pile. I also have a small worm bin on my back porch. The worms are kinda frustrating. All of it is a very slow process. I know the Lomi and Vitamix don't produce a completely finished compost. I was thinking I could add it to my worms and let them finish it off. 

One of the things that is particularly appealing to me is being able to compost meat scraps and even some small bones. Just seems like it would make really good fertilizer. 

If you have one, do you like it? I am particularly interested in the quality of the compost compared to manure or other commercial products. 

Edited January 17 by popmom

[Clarita]

4 hours ago, popmom said:

One of the things that is particularly appealing to me is being able to compost meat scraps and even some small bones. Just seems like it would make really good fertilizer. 

The Vitamix Foodcycler doesn't compost meat scraps or small bones. For meat scraps when it does that you can't just put it in the dirt so I don't know if it's different if you are putting it in your worm bin. Basically if you put the processed meat scraps into the soil it just reconstitutes and attracts flies and maggots (I accidentally did that on my first batch). Then in terms of bones, the instruction booklet says don't do it.

I do like my Foodcycler because it's convenient. I can stick my giant vegetable food scraps in there and turn it into something I can just toss into the garden. I have no idea how good of fertilizer it is compared to other options. 

[popmom]

6 minutes ago, Clarita said:

The Vitamix Foodcycler doesn't compost meat scraps or small bones. For meat scraps when it does that you can't just put it in the dirt so I don't know if it's different if you are putting it in your worm bin. Basically if you put the processed meat scraps into the soil it just reconstitutes and attracts flies and maggots (I accidentally did that on my first batch). Then in terms of bones, the instruction booklet says don't do it.

I do like my Foodcycler because it's convenient. I can stick my giant vegetable food scraps in there and turn it into something I can just toss into the garden. I have no idea how good of fertilizer it is compared to other options. 

which model foodcycler do you have? The one I was looking at said you can add small cooked bones from poultry. It may only be the newest model--the Eco-5--that will take bones. It was in a CNN review/comparison that I read that. --compared to Lomi. 

Edited January 17 by popmom

[Clarita]

1 minute ago, popmom said:

which model foodcycler do you have? The one I was looking at said you can add small cooked bones from poultry.

Now that you remind me, that might be true. If I remember correctly there was a bunch of rules surrounding bones and then I just said to myself no bones.

[popmom]

Just now, Clarita said:

Now that you remind me, that might be true. If I remember correctly there was a bunch of rules surrounding bones and then I just said to myself no bones.

that makes sense! I wouldn't want to tear the thing up, so... I can see how it might be more trouble than its worth--to do bones. 

About the meat... I would definitely add it to my worm bin, and they would break it down into mature compost that wouldn't attract flies. Well, sometimes the flies get in my worm bin even now--without me putting meat into it. I just have to be careful to cover my scraps with shredded paper. That usually keeps the flies from finding a place to lay eggs. 

[SHP]

My understanding is that these dehydrate rather than compost.

[Corraleno]

I was looking into those last fall, but then my trash company announced that customers could start putting food scraps, including bones, in the garden waste bin (which is free here), so I didn't bother getting one. But I thought this was a really good comparison of the two products by someone who had both and tested them pretty thoroughly:
https://www.cnn.com/cnn-underscored/home/vitamix-food-cycler-vs-lomi-bloom-composter

Edited January 17 by Corraleno

[popmom]

Good article. I’m definitely intrigued. Currently looking for a secondhand Vitamix. 
 

I get that it’s a glorified coffee grinder/dehydrator, but there’s no other way I could incorporate meat scraps in my compost. That plus it would accelerate the whole process meaning more finished compost by spring. 
 

I’m really skeptical of most commercial fertilizers and soil products now. Last year I bought some supposedly organic potting mix, and I found broken up pieces of pencil with blue paint. Not the end of the world, but what else are they putting in there? I don’t trust that Black Kow and other manures don’t have Grazon in them. 
 

I’m so glad I checked this thread before going to bed. I was thinking…I bet EM-1 would make the process go even faster (microbial inoculant). And I remembered I had 2 gallons of the stuff on my back porch. I’m lucky it hadn’t frozen. 
Anyway, the EM-1 would help with any smells when it “reconstitutes” in the worm bin. Or in the compost pile.
 

Edited January 17 by popmom

[SHP]

14 hours ago, popmom said:

Good article. I’m definitely intrigued. Currently looking for a secondhand Vitamix. 
 

I get that it’s a glorified coffee grinder/dehydrator, but there’s no other way I could incorporate meat scraps in my compost. That plus it would accelerate the whole process meaning more finished compost by spring. 
 

I’m really skeptical of most commercial fertilizers and soil products now. Last year I bought some supposedly organic potting mix, and I found broken up pieces of pencil with blue paint. Not the end of the world, but what else are they putting in there? I don’t trust that Black Kow and other manures don’t have Grazon in them. 
 

I’m so glad I checked this thread before going to bed. I was thinking…I bet EM-1 would make the process go even faster (microbial inoculant). And I remembered I had 2 gallons of the stuff on my back porch. I’m lucky it hadn’t frozen. 
Anyway, the EM-1 would help with any smells when it “reconstitutes” in the worm bin. Or in the compost pile.
 

Why are you so set to compost meat? I have composted for years and never included meat for so many reasons.

As mentioned above, it dehydrated. You can bury it but when it rains or snow melts it will rehydrate and isn't better than just grinding it up and burrying it.

[SHP]

 

[popmom]

1 hour ago, SHP said:

Why are you so set to compost meat? I have composted for years and never included meat for so many reasons.

As mentioned above, it dehydrated. You can bury it but when it rains or snow melts it will rehydrate and isn't better than just grinding it up and burrying it.

I'm not "so set". But if I can for the same price as a Lomi, then I will...because it's another way to reduce waste going to the landfill for one thing. And bones and eggs shells and seafood shells add calcium and other minerals-- the more variety, the better to feed my soil. I have very poor soil, and I've struggled to improve it. Trying to get good soil for raised beds hasn't been easy either.

If I add the dehydrated, ground up meat to my worm bin (as I mentioned above), the worms WILL fully compost it. What ever the worms consume will become "castings" which is a fully composted material that will not magically "rehydrate" into a meat product in my garden.

I think if I can find one secondhand for cheap, it is a worthwhile experiment for my purposes. Maybe I'll be disappointed. Maybe it will be more trouble than its worth. Maybe it will work better than I expect. I read a lot of the "low star" reviews today to try to get more details. That helped.

Edited January 17 by popmom

[popmom]

@SHP that video... It didn't say anything that I didn't already know. But thank you for sharing your perspective. 🙂

Edited January 17 by popmom