Hotbin composting

has anyone here actually ever got their heap 'hot'? it seems impossible for me

 

mine is rotting very fast .... I have it in full sun for most of the day and keep the lid on.... when I take the lid off, there's loads of steam

it's 1/2 full now and i turn it twice a week ....

the chef and a local pub is supplying me daily with a box of vegetable scraps (I maintain the pub garden) ... I add 50% cardboard (shredded) ....

I will need another bin very soon and hope that my 1st bin will be ready by late autumn ... I don't use any accelerators or any water

 

all seems a little over complicated to me, the cycle of returning to the soil stuff you remove from the soil as nature intended need not be rushed or use resources to transport hot bins and additives around the world. just let nature take its course. and wait.

 

we all know that ... we are just trying to figure out how long to wait

 

Till its ready

 

Its not just the "how long to wait", hot composting will kill weeds and seeds too, if done right.

Waiting is only an issue at the outset. If it takes one year to rot you have no compost for the first year - but thereafter you have the same amount, every year. If you hot-compost you get compost in a couple of months (allegedly!) but you have to keep on hot-composting to keep the supply up.

I've given up trying. I just heap everything up, let it get on with it, and use it after a year, or two, when its ready (or more commonly when I have a project that needs it, particularly if I am hiring a JCB as that and a dumper is the easiest way to turn heaps the size that mine are!)

 

After reading your post Kristen I have some realy strange images going through my head try to visualise the size of your compost heaps.
If you did use a tumbler to speed things up I would imagine an 8 cubic mtr readymix lorry.

 

Now there's an idea ... I'll do a search on "eBay" for one

 

success?...
i turned my pile today and to my suprise it was pretty hot in the middle, but only in one particular spot... could this mean some creature (other than frogs, toads, and various insects and crustaceans) is living in my compost heap? a rat, perhaps...?

 

It will be bacteria if its hot, or fungi if its VERY hot. Those temperatures will drive rats (and worms ... ) out of the heap, and make the composting process much quicker ... if you can maintain the temperature (by having sufficient material to add, and being able to turn the compost regularly) then that should speed it up - but you'll get the same end result either way - although high temperatures will help to kill weed roots and seeds.