Smart Pots Compost Sak Fabric Composting Container

At first this was the perfect composting option, then we noticed holes at squirrel height, so our dogs are also snacking now.

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.

Generous in size and substantial. I wish it had been made with a box seam on the bottom, but it soon sits flat when material is added. I've read from others to tip it over when it's due to be emptied. I'm not looking forward to that. But this is an inexpensive method to deal with the fall season's bounty of leaves, much superior to other temporary methods I've tried.