We're now running two hotbin composters

[@jenkitching43]

Good video, Eli.👍

[@Quickcrop]

Hi Eli & Kate! Hope you're both well. Love your review videos - they are always informative and entertaining too. Happy composting!

[@eliandkate]

Thanks so much! I was chuffed that this time around I could post a link for folk from Ireland. That was always a bone of contention :D

[@ronaldandsusanshaws-growing]

👍👍👍, Great video Eli and Kate, Take care.

[@charliehoos9773]

Thank you Hot Bin. I’m excited to see how this works for Eli. I would love to start making my own garden soil without weed seeds

[@eliandkate]

and it saves you a fortune in buying compost

[@gordonanderson698]

@@eliandkate It's an expensive product, but for creating mulching compost it will pay for itself within a couple of years, hence why I could justify it

[@eliandkate]

@@gordonanderson698 my original kne paid for itself multiple times over. I seemed to be the only person in my street who had a supply of compost over lockdown 😀

[@gordonanderson698]

@@eliandkate I live in Marywell, a small village just north of Arbroath. My mum is quite wasteful food wise, so I often scavenge her food waste and attach it to the rack on my Brompton. I've also scavenged grass from the roadside after the council cut it

[@christinebrooks6364]

Great video on comparing both hot beds and lots of pros and cons 🙂

[@eliandkate]

I'm interested to see how the next few months go and if the new one feels different to work with or not.

[@eliandkate]

If you enjoyed today's video, please take a moment to click subscribe and join our community and consider sharing far and wide to help others who might be interested. The link to share is: kzbin.info/www/bejne/hZjChmeIabeEnrs

[@niallgardens]

This is cool! Looking forward to seeing how you find the MK2 over time! 👍😃

[@eliandkate]

You and me both! Hope it might really help keep me in compost this year :D

[@JBNat]

Great stuff Eli, good luck with the new bin! 😁

[@eliandkate]

Hoping it'll be easier to keep everything right this time

[@samanthaellis1586]

Love the shears idea!! Thanks Eli, I’ve been loving my Mk2 Hotbin (bought in January this year) & have had some great results, so your tips are really useful 😁

[@eliandkate]

Great to hear! I've had a love hate relationship with my bin over the years, hoping having the two of them going is going to really up my compost game :D

[@BazGriffo]

Love your videos on Hotbins Eli..

[@eliandkate]

there are going to be a few more as things are definitely getting exciting

[@TOSHROSEWELL]

Great review Eli and well explained,ps I still use my steel worm which is the same as the one you have hanging on the fence but only now and then and straight down the centre of hotbin to allow more airflow and it seems to work for me,they are great and I would not be without them,best wishes 👍

[@eliandkate]

Yeah mine has been really useful for when I mess up and the bin gets too wet. Great for aerating it and helping it dry 😀

[@chrisivens3413]

I really struggle with getting bulking agent. I’ve got a few hedges and when they need a trim it helps with the aeration. Otherwise, I risk having go anaerobic quite often. I stir often just to try and help it.

[@eliandkate]

I was using wood chip from the local store for a bit

[@chrisivens3413]

@@eliandkate I’ve been keeping an eye out for free surgeons in my area and ask for a big bucket full of the stuff they’ve chipped. Also, the park maintenance people have now said I can take from the pile of wood chip they’ve been making in the local park. Worth asking, I say.

[@eliandkate]

👌

[@wjm1319]

FYI: A good source of browns if you don't have enough paper waste or cardboard - wood pellets as sold for pellet stoves/grills. They work best if you soak them first because that breaks them apart & fluffs them up into a coir-like consistency. But they're cheap-ish and readily available - at least here in the States. (My worms like them too, by the way, when they need a bit of bedding bulk). Just make sure they're pure pressed wood & don't have any glues (most are because people grill with them).

[@eliandkate]

Oh I that a common thing jn the states, to buy materials for your composting? It's not something I've ever considered, I'm more rhinking about just composting waste.

[@wjm1319]

@@eliandkate Not common, no. But can be useful if you just don't have what you need when you need it. I originally bought the pellets to try to grow some mushrooms. Learned I don't use mushrooms quickly enough for that. So was looking for other uses for the rest of the bag. Found they work marvelously in my compost & for my worms.

[@eliandkate]

Fab 😀

[@michaeld.3779]

Good morning, Eli (Good evening in Scotland right now). Your new bin looks like a winner, and so much thicker than the $99 bin that I bought from Amazon. As far as the squeak goes, that will go away once you open the lid a few hundred times🤫. Being new, it’s going to squeak a bit at first. Today, I opened your video before I was fully awake, and you sounded more “Scottish” than in some of your previous videos. I had to lean closer to the screen, so as to translate😳.

[@eliandkate]

Ha ha ha. It is entirely possible. My accent changes sometimes when I'm around other folk 😀

[@jamesx2703]

The prices have shot up again! £225 they now want for the mini. I think it was 170, then 200 a few months ago :/ will definetly be going second hand for my 2nd hotbin

[@eliandkate]

Kind of to be expected, the price of everything has rocketed

[@cindynielson4231]

This seems to make it easy for the end product. No turning or adding water necessary? TFS

[@eliandkate]

I have to confess, one of the reasons I bought the original bin. I found my original compost bay was just too much heavy work for me.

[@gordonanderson698]

@@eliandkate No need to water it either, the bin is so hot that water evaporates from plant and foot matter

[@gordonanderson698]

haha, *food*!

[@eliandkate]

God yeah, steam facial when you open it.

[@pennyhewitt8801]

Just got my 2nd bin too set up 1 week ago. Great video. Out of interest did you record your results after 3 months? My old bin needs a bit of tlc as I have had it 10 years ! And I am now learning where I have been going wrong ... my compost very wet 😂 little bulking agent and paper. Nothing wasted but now very keen to get it right 👍🙏

[@eliandkate]

@pennyhewitt8801 not sure what you mean by recording but Ive videoed compost stuff fairly frequently though I can’t imagine it’s particularly interesting 🤣🤣🤣 This is the compost coming out of the bin: kzbin.info/www/bejne/pWPdfYZroqxpjpo I’ve learned over the years with a hot bin that you really do need to learn how to compost with it in particular. It’s nothing like the marketing says, I’d say it’s actually more work than regular composting but also, you need way more brown than you think. Otherwise it really does get quite wet. But it definitely does churn out mulch quickly!!!!! 🤣🤣🤣🤣

[@pennyhewitt8801]

@@eliandkate thanks. I was just putting stuff from the garden into bin and although rotted down quick it was wet and sticky fine for bean trenches. However I have a huge garden and wanted to " process" more and not have such a huge pile end garden. We gave 1/4 area. Glad ii have found your channel 😀

[@eliandkate]

ah ha :D Gotcha Oh yeah loads of brown is the key A hint too... I've found cardboard works way better than paper. It doesn't do that stodgy thing :D

[@mstainthor1947]

oooo New bin Glad I am not the only one who cuts things up with the hedge shears (I think I even have same type), I may be insane but at least I am not alone - although I lso use mine for ..... the hedge I know there have been a couple of comments about expense, and I know Mr Niall has built one form polystyrene, which probably works well for indoors - well shed/greenhouse and away from cats and their claws. But try and build one that is robust, substantially cheaper and works, I don't think is easy (I am just finishing off my second homemade one)

[@eliandkate]

Hedge shears work sooo well Yeah these things aren't cheap and if you are happy with standard compost bins you can go down the much much cheaper options like the dalek bins and such. It has taken me years to get really comfortable with my hotbin but I don't think I'd switch back now. Once you've got your process down, they are amazing.

[@purpleleaf553]

hi I’m looking at getting one of these but don’t have grass do you know if it will still work with just food waste and veg plant waste?

[@eliandkate]

You absolutely don't need grass, it's all your garden waste. Green and brown and you can add kitchen scraps too. For me grass helped because I don't have a lot of garden waste

[@esmysyield2023]

Dont feel bad. I can literally fit in my pantry cabinet. And there are stepping stools in a couple of places. Lol.

[@eliandkate]

😂

[@jamesx2703]

How do people find enough greens? I have a small garden and live by myself. I'm looking at the getting the hotbin mini but I think realistically ill only have fruit/veg/teabags from my kitchen (a bit dubious about putting other types of food in, meat etc), grass and maybe old plants at the of the season. Might have to raid the neighbours garden waste bins?

[@eliandkate]

That what I have to do James. Spring and summer I have plenty of garden waste but autumn and winter I struggle so I ask my neighbours for theirs.

[@jamiemittermuller6470]

The hot bins are good but there a lot of things that annoy me. The lactate caps is a pain, when you open it to collect the liquid it runs down the front of the hot bin leaving a mucky run down it. Composting worms can’t get out so you have to take the worm out (move them to the worm composter) because they boil to death and they absolutely stink when this happens. The straps are an absolute pain, don’t really hold the front on when it half full. Mine still squeaks after 2 years.

[@eliandkate]

ha ha ha after not having the option to collect leachate - I think the cap will seem like heaven to me. Currently with my old bin, it randomly leaks out the grate on front and clogs it up :(

[@chrisivens3413]

I stick a jam jar under mine as I drain it and make sure it hold against the underside of the threaded bit. It channels the liquid down in to the jar. Much better with the plinth so you can get under better. Originally I was using a drip tray from under a plant pot to get it.

[@jamiemittermuller6470]

@@chrisivens3413 it’s annoying because the hot bins are over £150 which is a lot money to pay and in my opinion should be better than it is. I built a stand for it out of spare wood I had and some strap holders for the straps to keep them tidy.

[@eliandkate]

I'll show you how I get on when it's time 😀

[@sallygiles132]

Do you have to buy wood chips to use, can you leave them out ?

[@eliandkate]

No you don't have to buy wood chips, it's just something to stop it comparing comparing allow for air... a lot of folk use torn up card, chopped up branches etc.

[@Foxontheplot]

Is the base available for the mini hotbin as well ?

[@eliandkate]

Sorry, I've no clue. You'd be beast to check the hotbin website.

[@Foxontheplot]

Will do 👍. Keep up the good work 🙂

[@Whistlewalk]

I donno - I find the squeak just that little bit charming.

[@eliandkate]

Ha ha ha it's gone thankfully

[@dane2487]

I would be scared of rodent damage puting it on the floor like that so use a paving slap and bricks leaving an overhang. 1 year in approx and happy so far. Bit of a mission cutting stuff up small but seems like the best option for small garden IMHO

[@eliandkate]

No probs at all with rodents , nearly 7 years now 😍

[@cherylhowker1792]

I’m guessing the green sive is 4mm and your larger one is 8/12mm?

[@eliandkate]

Of the top of my head, no idea I’ve had them for ages now so can’t remember what they were advertised as

[@kathleensimons7062]

Hi Eli. Do you get maggots in the compost?

[@eliandkate]

hey Kathleen, you shouldn't get maggots in your compost, they would usually be a sign that something is wrong, like you have too much in the way of green and not enough brown. That can cause a wet mess that goes anaerobic. If you are having issues, you might want to add more browns and give it all a good mix to get some airflow in there :D

[@esmysyield2023]

Do you have a worm farm?

[@eliandkate]

No just compost bins. No interest in worm farms

[@ritalr15]

When you start your compost over, add some of the compost to help it start over faster. Or you can use 1 beer 1 soda 1 cup ammonia And spray it in between your layers

[@aceofspades5786]

pub next to me, using beer from when they clear the lines, unsure how this works;mixed opinions on introducing alcohol