Miracle-Gro - 55 gal Dual Chamber Tumbling Composter

As an engineer with manufacturing experience, I was surprised with the design of this unit. I'm sure many buyers will find putting it together frustrating, so here are some tips, numbered according to the assembly instructions: 4- The Part J connectors are no longer color coded They'll all black now. These are also difficult to clip in place with just your fingers. A rubber mallet helps to tap them into position. 8- The idea that the ends clip easily into place with downward pressure is a pipedream. On my unit, half of the receiver holes in the two Part A pieces were blocked by injection molding residue. I had to punch these out individually and remove the plastic shards left behind with needle nosed pliers. Otherwise the prongs on the ends of the panels would not seat into the slots in Part A. Getting all the prongs to click into place ultimately required using two woodworking clamps to hold the ends of each panel in position while I slapped the outside of each part A with a rubber mallet to seat the prongs. I can imagine the average Joe or Josephine trying to push down as depicted on diagram 8 and just getting frustrated. Stiffer panels, better injection molding and more accurate connector dimensions MIGHT help, but I suppose at this price point that's too much to ask. 22 – Be sure the part H pieces on each end of the unit are similarly aligned before you insert the screw shown in step 24. Otherwise the supports won't be positioned correctly. Once you've dealt with these issues, the unit looks fine and appears sturdy enough, though time will tell. The reviews on this site are not encouraging in terms of long term use. Note to MiracleGro: Your customers would benefit from a bit more accurate construction and better instructions and you'd likely get better reviews and fewer returns. Just saying.

I'm an avid gardener and have been wanting to have a compost bin. I was fascinated with the tumbling so decided ti buy this product but in less than 6 months, the stand holder got distorted due to the weight. It can't tumble anymore as the bins itself are sitting on ground as you can see in the photos! Not recommended for large amount of soil. Waste of money!

Smaller than I thought it would be but just right for me. I agree with other reviews that it seems a little flimsy for the price, we'll see how long it holds up. All in all, I'm satisfied so far.

We've had this item for about a year. It works mostly as advertised. Easier to use than our old top fill composter, but suffers from too cheap materials. The plastic body is light, and the modular design makes it easy to ship. But the retaining clips that hold the bin together are the only thing holding the bin together. And somehow four of the twelve have gone missing, leading to some leakage at the unsecured seams. Possibly worse, the axle the bins rotate about is sagging in the middle, with each bin at about half capacity. A more minor issue is the flimsyness of the access doors and the poor fit to the opening. Every time they are opened they fly off the track, and despite how easily they come off, they are equally difficult to reattach.

Easy to assemble and just the right size for a single or two person household.