Hotbins

That’s a brilliant    .A great way to find out if a hotbin type system works for you.
Now wracking my brain, wondering if I’ve got anything that would be suitable and I could join you in the experiment.
Any chance of a link to how to use/treat a hotbin . Just in case I find something usable   .

Here ya go!! I'm studying it as we speak...............

https://www.hotbincomposting.com/blog/do...entre.html

I had a couple of other ideas but decided to go with the wormery version.
A wheelie bin (would probably need a drain tap and they're too tall for me to reach inside if I have to stir it).
A dustbin (didn't have a spare one).
The big square plastic compost bin that's in the bramble patch and came from freecycle. Thought about lining it with polystyrene sheets or insulation boards - if I had any!!
A builder's bag, with insulation boards in side to make a "box". Saw this on youtube - but I don't have the insulation.

...................but I had a wormery that I use to store chicken feed and a roll of bubble wrap from my neighbours when they moved house. - so that's what I used.
Wormery also has an inner base plate to drain any liquid and a tap. Also, some ventilation holes in lid.

Thanks for the link, I’ll have a look at that. I was wondering about a wheelie bin. Might be able to get my hands on a big plastic barrel with a lid, I could convert.

I've just 2/3rd filled my bin. No idea if I'm doing it right but we'll see. Its got rid of some garden stuff I don't need.
Bottom "twiggy" layer are suckers from the bottom of the plum tree. Added layers of lemon balm, mint, kiwifruit, grapevines, floor of chicken run. shredded paper, nettles and comfrey - all cut into 3" pieces.
........nearly forgot the kitchen waste - 2 banana skins!

It would probably be good to add extra layers of bubblewrap if you get some more VC. I bought a hot bin last year when at a show. The main reason was that the heat would kill any weed seeds. So far, the temp gets high in the summer (50C+) but not very hot in the winter. I put everything in now, including cooked veg from the kitchen but in the winter nothing that could potentially create seeds. I find what I extract from the bottom is quite wet so I just load it into a black dialek and I'll leave it there till next year now. I'll try using some this autumn when planting out onion sets and garlic. Then in the spring with potatoes, more onions cabbage family and squashes in fact everything except roots.

Thanks Mark.
Would it be worth moving it into the GH as I'm sure I could find room somewhere?

I'd see how it goes where you have it for now. If it doesn't get hot enough you could may be.

Hello Veggie, how did your hot-bin do over the summer? For me the hotter it is outside, the hotter the contents of the bin get. At the moment it is 40C but at the ight of summer it was touching 60. I kept topping it up with weeds and kitchen waste mainly. Whenever I took stuff out, it was quite wet and not much like compost so I've been putting it in a dialek and am hoping it will mture for use in Spring. My main hope is that it should be reasonably weed free when I come to use it.

No idea what the temperature of the compost has been but it has been composting well with the levels dropping quickly. Its in the shade most of the day so might have been better in the sun - but I grow things there!!
I give it a stir with one of those 4 pronged aerator thingies when I remember! It does seem quite wet but there's no liquid coming out of the drain tap.
Having the bin outside the kitchen door has made me dump stuff into it, instead of taking a walk down the garden to the far end heap so I'm sure to make more "compost" than I would have otherwise. Not convinced that I generate enough waste to justify buying a proper Hotbin though.