Allotment Gardening Advice Help Chat
Chatting => Equipment Shed => Topic started by: Sparkyweb on March 01, 2022, 10:39
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Hi all,
I am looking to get another composter in my garden. I currently have a Dalek style and I am thinking of getting a hot bin one. Aside from the cost, does anyone have any comments on these. I like the fact that you can sit on concrete (which means I am not taking up valuable garden and grass space) and you can add all manner of items including cooked food waste.
I did a search and saw that there was a topic in 2013 and a review by John (but the link didnt work), is there any one else that has gone down this route or can give any other advise.
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I haven't got one, but here's an updated link for John's review, I think:
https://www.allotment-garden.org/product-reviews/hotbin-hot-compost-bin-review/
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I bought one about this time last year. They are pretty good and rot stuff down very fast, without smell or flies.
The compost that comes out is very rich and more like the stuff you get out of a wormery bin. Mine stands on concrete but is raised up on a small stack of paving slabs so I can drain the liquid feed it produces out more easily.
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This is all really useful, thanks very much for the input
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I dont know if anyone is interested in buying one of these hotbins, but I was at the
RHS Flower show at the weekend, they have a promotion of 10% off, which is 20 quid off the regular price of the mini hotbin, normal price £200, take the discount off £180
The 200 liter one is £270, 10% off works out £243, so there is quite a saving
The code is CHEL2022, this is valid until 6/6/2022
I am still thinking about buying one
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I dont know if anyone is interested in buying one of these hotbins, but I was at the
RHS Flower show at the weekend, they have a promotion of 10% off, which is 20 quid off the regular price of the mini hotbin, normal price £200, take the discount off £180
The 200 liter one is £270, 10% off works out £243, so there is quite a saving
The code is CHEL2022, this is valid until 6/6/2022
I am still thinking about buying one
So nice to see this post before ending the promotion, need to take desicion fasterm thank you! :)
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First time since I have had my Hot Bin, (I bought it just after the Chelsea Flower show in May 2022)
I opened it today, it was just a wet mat in there
I havent added any liquids, I havent even been able to cut my grass much this year, its been to hot and dry, it hasnt grown
I have been adding weeds, leaves, left over of food, a few green bit and pieces
Plenty of shredded card board and paper, all mixed with the green stuff (what little there has been )
It just fell out as a wet lump
I have spread it out to dry out in the hope there is something I can sieve and use
I ended up just dumping it back in the Hot Bin, but with plenty of shredded card board and paper, two bottles of hot water to bring it up to temperature
My Dalek bin has been a lot better, yes a bit wet, but there is compost I can use in there (I added Garotta to my Dalek bin, it helps it rot down)
Well here are a couple of pictures of what I got out of my Hot Bin
Well if anyone can tell me where I went wrong, it would be appreciated
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Have you been draining the liquid fertiliser out of it as I think that is a regular task according to my sister who has 1?
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They do need draining out fairly often. Mine has a drain plug on the bottom right hand side of the front.
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No, I havent seen any liquid coming from it at all, the blu cap is fairly loose anyway
In the end I sieved everything out, spread it out to dry, then everything else I put back in the bin with even more cardboard and shredded paper
Stripped off the leaves from my tomato plants, weeds, flower baskets, put them in there, plus some grass cuttings, mixed it all up with the shredded cardboard/paper
Put in two bottles of hot water to help bring it up to temperature
Shut the lid until next time I stir it all up
Just as a note I havent seen any bugs or wildlife in there
Is it too hot for bugs ?
(there are plenty in my Dalek bin, they all scuttle off when I lift the lid)
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Apologies, I have started a new thread about my Hotbin, not sure how to add them together
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Apologies, I have started a new thread about my Hotbin, not sure how to add them together
I’ve added them together :)
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Apologies, I have started a new thread about my Hotbin, not sure how to add them together
I’ve added them together :)
Thank you, its appreciated :D
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No, I havent seen any liquid coming from it at all, the blu cap is fairly loose anyway
In the end I sieved everything out, spread it out to dry, then everything else I put back in the bin with even more cardboard and shredded paper
Stripped off the leaves from my tomato plants, weeds, flower baskets, put them in there, plus some grass cuttings, mixed it all up with the shredded cardboard/paper
Put in two bottles of hot water to help bring it up to temperature
Shut the lid until next time I stir it all up
Just as a note I havent seen any bugs or wildlife in there
Is it too hot for bugs ?
(there are plenty in my Dalek bin, they all scuttle off when I lift the lid)
It does look like it all got too wet and compacted. You need something like bark chips scattered in there to make sure there are air gaps. I often use small twiggy prunings to do the same job. Cardboard and paper soak up liquid, compress down and are not enough on their own.
Once it is up to temperature it will be too hot for most bugs. It is a bit different to a normal compost bin.
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I've put all the stalks from the tomatos in there, plus stalks from other plants, I've never pressed it down to compact it
No twigs or anything like that I can use
It use this thing Hot bin to stir/move everything around so it doesnt compress it
I guess the weight of everything in the compresess its self
Considering how much I put in there over the summer and since I bought it, I am really surprised how much it rotted down I have about half a bucket of compost I can use
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It does take a lot to fill a hot bin and I agree you don’t get masses out. It is like having a worm bin (which I have had in the past). The compost is very rich and more like worm cast compost than the stuff out of a normal heap, so I use it differently. The last lot emptied out a week or so ago was used to top dress cordon apple trees at home. I would usually buy in bagged rotted manure to do this job, so it felt like a little win to produce my own mulch :)
I like mine because it sits out of the way on a bit of concrete at home, doesn’t take much space and takes waste you wouldn’t want to put in a normal compost bin.
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I have mine on a patch of ground where nothing has ever grown, not even weeds, its at the top of my garden
if any liquid was to run out of it, it might fertilise that patch of ground
I was really surprised how much it had rotted down considering all the paper and cardboard that I have put in there
I think the way I found the cardboard was wet or damp was from the green stuff in there, but there has been more paper and cardboard in there than green stuff
I have found stalks of any take a lot long to rot down
But it has dried out and I have sieved it now, I think I'll spread it over my blueberry plants, it might give them a bit of a feed during the autumn
Well, its not going to get much more grass cuttings this year, might thrown in the plants from the hanging baskets, soil and all, then it will be shredded cardboard and paper and waste food
(That really stunk and was awful when it was put in the council collection box, it goes in the Hot Bin and just rots, no smell or anything, it does get a good mixing with the rest of the stuff in there