SMART POT12120 Compost Sak Fabric Composting Container

I bought this bag in anticipation of chipping tree branches. I filled it to the very top and within 1 week, it was over 100 degrees. It peaked at 140 degrees. The pictures show the quick progress of one month of composting in this bag. My traditional compost bin never got this hot before and is a slow process. I would definitely recommend this bag as it is affordable and effective.

I am a master composter so I came into this method with some knowledge. I have a small lot/big house situation but we have lots of organic matter and no real options. Tried bokashi but not sustainable for me. We bought a big lot to build so I have my compost saks there. I now have 3. These saks pretty much defy what I know. I mix chopped food scraps - usually a 2 gal pail at a time - with old leaf debris that has broken down over time on the lot as my carbon. I do not use 4:1 ratio. I usually use 1:1 or 1:2 at most. I get coffee grounds from home or Starbucks if lucky. I do add compost activator or sometimes composted manure if lucky. When only half full, I am reaching temps of 130-140 degrees. My newest bag at less than 1 ft depth of contents was 110 degrees yesterday. This is incredible and defies what we usually think and that is that we need lots of volume. I started my first sak in December. That bag was totally finished by May 1. You will know when it is finished when it stops generating heat. This bag has been sifted to get 50 gallons of compost. The rest is lovely mulch that I put around garden plants. Water: I usually use 4-6 gallons of water per sak to water every 1-2 days. Sometimes only 2 bottles. Depends. I am on a canal but cannot use that water for compost and stay organic. I have lots of empty 1 gal vinegar bottles around as I use that for laundry. I keep an empty 1 gallon bottle under kitchen tap and catch all the water that would go down the drain. The amount of water waste is incredible you will discover. I haul those over to my lot. I use regular size pitch fork to turn. Be careful with this ,obviously, but I have had no problem. You will notice the compost closest to the fabric dries out first. Because of this, I turn that into the center when I fluff the compost to aerate. I cannot say enough good things about the Compost Sak. It will continue to be my method even when we finally build on that lot. BTW I have had one incidence of flies and one of ants. Both were due to inattention for short period. Ants were due to lack of water; flies due to insufficient carbon - and laziness on my part.

I'm a beginner composter. I got this item because it seems like it would be a good thing, as i built an area in my yard for composting but it was way too big. So far I have been frustrated with this item. All the pictures I've seen made me think it had some sort of structure to hold it up since it is multiple feet tall. Well that's wrong. its just a floppy piece of fabric, which has made it kind of a pain in the tail to fill. I'm always putting things in without help (like dumping in my mowed grass from my mowers bag or taking the shred bin from my amazon shredder to dump cardboard in) and it's annoying because the sides flop down and cover the pile if I don't hold it open. If I do hold it open then I'm trying to maneuver something with one hand (whatever container that holds what I'm dumping in) that would be significantly easier to do if I was using two hands. I've also had trouble stirring the compost because I want to use both hands on my pitchfork but can't because I have to use one hand to keep the bag open. I give the bag positive marks for weight, ease of opening and assembly...I just wish I had known it was just some floppy fabric. I'm gonna stick it out this season with the two I bought, but I'm strongly considering something else (or attaching it to the t posts I put in the composting area) for next year if it doesn't get less annoying.

I have done just about every kind of composting, and I've used various compost bins -- tumblers, in-ground units, open-bottomed on-ground units, Geo Bins, bokashi composting, etc., and I could not believe how quickly this sak heated up my compost. While I used to live on a farm and had plenty of room for my extensive composting operation, I moved to my elderly parents' condo to assist them a couple of years ago. I've been so frustrated at not having a place to compost and having to throw out food scraps. I couldn't take it anymore and started bokashi composting a few months ago, but then I didn't really have room to bury the bokashi, as you're supposed to when it's done with the initial cure. So I bought a big plastic tote, drilled holed in the lid and around the top, and mixed the semi-finished bokashi-composted kitchen scraps with some garden dirt and carbonaceous material, added a bit of compost starter, and it seemed to be working, but it never warmed up that much. I even thought my compost thermometer was broken. Then I got the Compost Sak, transferred the contents of my compost bin into it, with a bit more carbonaceous material, and within hours, things were really cooking, and the temperature got into the 120-130 range at last. I don't even have my Compost Sak sitting in the sun, which the manufacturer recommended. It just looks like a tidy bag of leaves, folded over, and isn't attracting any attention. Works well for my purpose. (I wouldn't mind if it were a bit taller, and a proper lid and handles on the sides to make it easier to move.)Some of the negative reviews make me think the people simply aren't experienced composers, and that's ok, it can take awhile to get the hang of it. It's good to remember that there is no one composting system that works for all people in all circumstances, but this one work great for me, living in a condo with only a small patio with a few pots of herbs and veggies to call a garden. By fall, I'm going to have a lot of nice compost to mulch the landscape plants and my patio pots with.UPDATE: I just came back to this review, I guess I forgot to submit it. This really needs a lid that can be latched or zippered shut, and some handles on the side, because it becomes very hard to move when full.