Hungry Bin trial after 4 weeks - harvesting the vermicompost for the first time!

 The Hungry Bin has been quietly eating our kitchen waste for a number of weeks, now.
So I decided it was time to risk taking off the bottom tray to look at the vermicompost.

I undid the catches on each side, and carefully lowered the bottom tray - half expecting the entire contents to fall out of the bottom - but no! it all worked exactly as the Hungry Bin web site said it would!

The compost you can see on the ground fell out of the bottom tray when I removed it - none has fallen out from the Hungry Bin itself.

Most of the compost in the bottom tray is from the original material I added when I set up the Hungry Bin more than four weeks ago, but there are some worm casts in there as well.The bottom tray fits neatly into the liquid collection tray, normally seen on the ground under the Hungry Bin

I could only find one worm, who was returned to the Hungry Bin to join the rest of the many thousands in there, busily munching away at our waste.

I added the compost to some pots of veg in the polytunnel, as well as giving the plants a feed of diluted worm tea from the Hungry Bin collection tray. I then put the collection tray back underneath the Hungry Bin - two catches which did up really easily.

My Hungry Bin is now absorbing my daily kitchen waste -about a kilo of it every day, plus whatever else I find to throw in to the worms.

I am SO impressed with this wormery!

Hot Bin trial after 4 weeks - first sight behind the compost hatch!

Ok, so I have had the HotBin for just over four weeks. I took these photos on Day 30, first thing in the morning.

So far, I have been very impressed. The HotBin has "eaten"  many refills of material (more than 3 of them a week since the start) of mainly green waste (weeds, potato haulms, grass etc) since I got it.
 

Each time the level dropped down to a settled minimum and the internal temperature settled back down to around 40 C,   I refilled the HotBin to the top.  Obviously as time passed there was more material left in the bottom of the HotBin, so I could put less and less inside as there was less room. But I estimate I have put more than 800 l (ish) of waste, by volume, into the HotBin, which then worked to reduce this material down to coarse mulch consistency at the bottom of the HotBin. In four weeks.


By comparison, the Dalek bin has been refilled once during this period - so has taken roughly 500 l of material ( initial 330 l plus a refill of another 150 ish l)

I have had a bit of a problem with the external thermometer, but as I am getting the internal temperatures and as the material is disappearing at a rate of knots I guess I must be doing it correctly so I am not worried. HotBin are talking to me about this issue and I am getting a replacement soon.

Whenever I open the lid, there is steam and heat! As long as there is a fresh charge of waste to work on the HotBin has kept at a steady 55 - 65 C  inside - it usually takes 3 days for the temperature to drop to around 40 C - by which time the HotBin needs (and gets)  a refill.

But after four weeks the partially composted material was building up inside the HotBin, so I decided to open up the hatch and take a look, with a view to possibly removing any material which had composted enough.

I undid the two ratchet straps which help to hold the front hatch in place

having first put an old, split compost bag down to catch any material which I took out.

hatch open for the first time in 30 days!

I must admit I was surprised to see how well the material had already composted down.

Slugs on the inside of the hatch - they get everywhere!

As always my henny "helpers" appeared to see what was going on

See how much mulch grade compost has been produced! In a month! I removed 3 buckets full of material, it was rather wet and a bit coarse to use as compost just yet, but perfectly acceptable as a mulch and if put in another bin, would make good compost within another few weeks. Which is what I am going to do with it.

I did find it a little difficult to remove the material from the bottom of the bin for two reasons. I found it physically hard to get the stuff out because of the other material above it. I also was concerned about cutting into the bin itself with my spade.

The Hotbin, three quarters empty again, waiting for a refill.

Which it got, of all sorts of stuff including bindweed ( I love watching the bindweed cook and go black inside the HotBin!)

By comparison my (larger!) Dalek compost bin , filled at the same time, under the same conditions and with a mixture of the same material, had produced a very small quantity of mulch quality standard compost. But the rest of the material in the bin was not decomposed very much at all. I removed less than a quarter of a bucket of usable mulch compost in the bottom of the Dalek bin.

Now do not get me wrong, that is very good going for a Dalek compost bin, in high summer I expect to get usable mulch from one of these in around fourteen weeks - but not in four.

So - the HotBin is yet again really impressive. I put the material I removed from the bottom of the HotBin into the Dalek bin, and personally I think that is what I am most likely to use the HotBin for, as a very rapid means to process huge volumes of compostable material and convert it into a much smaller volume of mulch grade compost. This can then be either used or put into a Dalek or other compost bin to complete the process - if you want finer, more mature compost.

And by the end of my afternoon outside, the Hotbin had already reached 55 C internally. And by the next afternoon it was up to 68 C.

Truly a "Hot Bin"

Hungry Bin update after 3 weeks

Here at Compost Mansion we generate a kitchen caddy full of waste every couple of days from our kitchen - tea bags, coffee filters and grounds, veg peelings and assorted bits of cardboard all go in there. The caddy lives in the corner by the sink, next to the sink. Typically, we empty about 5 kg of compostables out of it every few days.

I have been re filling the Hungry Bin with assorted kitchen and garden waste every day, a little and often is the best way and I have been adding a couple of inches of food stuff for the worms everyday, as suggested by the  Hungry Bin parent company in New Zealand

This was the view inside the lid of the Hungry Bin on Day 20 of the trial.I added some more assorted  kitchen and garden waste from the kitchen caddy and some of the packaging hay I recieved in my order from Rocket Gardens.

I have now owned a Hungry Bin for 3 weeks and am still delighted with it, despite the warmer weather recently it does not smell and it can handle a lot of kitchen waste.  I have also been using the "worm tea" from the tray at the bottom - diluted 10:1 with water  ( until it is the colour of weak tea, no milk, no sugar) the plants in the polytunnel love it

Next time I will hopefully be reporting on opening up the tray at the bottom to harvest some vermicompost ;-)

HotBin trial - the first week.

 Ok, so I have had the HotBin in situ for just over a week. I took these photos on Day 9, first thing in the morning.

So far, I have been very impressed. The HotBin has "eaten" 4 refills of mainly green waste (weed, potato haulms, grass) this week. Each time the level had dropped down to about a quarter full - (about 50 L)  I refilled the HotBin to the top.  Which means the HotBin has consumed approx. about 600 ish L of waste, by volume, reducing this material down to coarse mulch ish consistency, now sitting in the bottom of the HotBin. In a week.

Even if I removed this partially composted coarse material from the bottom of the HotBin and left it to continue to compost down in the open (or in another bin!) , the HotBin would still have dealt with a staggering amount of material in a week compared with a conventional composting bin - so on throughput of material alone I am impressed.

Whenever I open the lid, there is steam and heat!

As long as there is a fresh charge of waste to work on The HotBin has kept at a steady 55 - 60 C  - it usually takes 3 days for the temperature to drop to less than 40 C - by which time the HotBin needs  a refill.

The Dalek, by comparison, has about 100 L of waste remaining in the bottom of the composter from the original 330 L of material I put into it a week ago. The temperature has dropped from a hot 65 C,  4 days ago, to a steady 30 C. This is really good work for a Dalek composter - I am impressed!  But it is time for me to refill the Dalek, so it can heat up and get going again.

I am going to transfer the partially composted material from the Hotbin into another, empty, Dalek composter - so I can continue to see exactly how much material the HotBin can eat in a week.

I am enjoying this! But then, I am Compostwoman...

Hungry Bin update - Day 9 and the worms are thriving :-)

I have been re filling the Hungry Bin with assorted kitchen and garden waste every day, a little and often is the best way and I have been adding about an inch of food stuff for the worms everyday, as suggested by the  Hungry Bin parent company in New Zealand

This was the view inside the lid of the Hungry Bin on Day 6 of the trial.

And this is the same bin two days later,  - I did not feed the worms on Day 7 as I wanted to get an idea how much the level would drop over a couple of days.

It has dropped by several inches, and the worms have eaten a lot of the material.

 Scraping aside the surface, uneaten layer we see a lot of rich, dark vermicompost. Lovely!

I added some more assorted  kitchen and garden waste -  or as I prefer to think of it - valuable organic worm feed for my wonderful worms;-) 

And shut the lid.

I have now owned a Hungry Bin for 8 days and I must say I am delighted with it, it does not smell, it can handle a lot of kitchen waste, it reduces the waste rapidly and the worms are certainly working hard. I am also very pleased with the "worm tea" I am getting from the tray at the bottom - diluted 10:1 with water  ( until it is the colour of weak tea, no milk, no sugar) it is a fabulous feed for my plants.

Will report back in another few days.

HotBin Trial Day 5 and 6 - with added Dalek!

Day 5, Tues 10th July 2012

12 pm
Ambient Temp 22 C



Hotbin had to be refilled to the brim as it had slumped to less than a quarter full and the internal temp has begun to drop rapidly to  less than 40 C - so I filled it up to the top with a mixture of weeds, grass and card, with a few handfuls of wood chips as bulking agent.

Found a slight issue when I tried to close the lid - if any debris gets on the flat surface...

The lid wont shut!

Easily fixed, though - just clear the debris away :-)

Dalek has slumped by 45 cm from the initial max fill level.

Internal temp in middle of surface layer 56 C - still working on initial charge of material.

Lots of steam.


Day 6
Wed 11 July 2012


Ambient Temp 18 C

Hotbin  has begun to warm up already. Level has significantly decreased since the refill yesterday/

 


 

Internal temp using probe, as before, in middle of surface - 46 C
Lid Temp 35 C


Dalek

Internal Temp in middle of surface layer 60 C
Internal temp at edge of surface layer 50 C

 Material slumped down by 50 cm from initial fill level.
Steaming and bin feels warm to touch from outside


 

Dalek Composter trial Day 1 to 4 (for comparison with HotBin)

I thought it would be interesting to compare how a more "traditional" composting bin worked, with respect to the HotBin. I started the Dalek bin at the same time as the HotBin. and used roughly the same materials. Dalek is a 330 L capacity bin, as offered for a discount by most Councils in the UK. The HotBin is 200 L in capacity.

Day 1 
06/07/12

I set up a Dalek black plastic compost bin with base plate close to the place where the HotBin is being trialled.

I obviously had enough traditional composting material available to more than half fill the Dalek, so got it going straight away. I used a mixture of week old material from an existing compost bin, fresh weeds, cut nettles, grass, hay, guinea pig droppings and paper scraps. I filled the Dalek bin up to the top with this mixture. This is the same sort of material I filled the HotBin with.

Part filled.









 2 hours after I filled the bin. the internal temp was 20 C, external temp was 18 C. Much the same as the Hotbin, just a few feet away.

I put the lid on and kept it in place,  apart from taking readings.








Day 2
07/07/12

The bin level has dropped very slightly

Ambient temp was 20 C
Internal material temp was 30 C.
A good temp rise for a Dalek bin filled wiith compostables..

Day 3
08/07/12

Level of material dropped slightly more to around 20 cm from the max level at the top of the bin.

Ambient temp13 C.
Internal temp with thermometer inserted about 10 cm into material in middle was  40 Celsius.
At the edge of the bin the internal temp was 25 C .

No obvious steam or heat was noticable.


Day 4
09/07/12

(readings taken at 11am)

Ambient temp. 16 C
Dalek contents have slumped by ~ 30 cm from the max level
Internal temp middle of material @ 10 cm down into material  50 C

Feels hot when the lid is removed. Steaming gently now!

 At 6pm the internal temp. was still 50 C in the middle, @10 cm down and the internal temp. at the edge, @10 cm down was 40 C.

Getting going now!

HotBin Trial Days 2, 3 and 4

Day 1 (recap) Fri 6th July 2012

HotBin filled with a mixture of week old material from an existing compost bin, fresh weeds, cut nettles, hay and guinea pig droppings and paper scraps.



The ambient temperature was 18 Celsius when I filled the bin mid afternoon on a sunny but cool period during a showery day. After less than an hour the top temperature gauge read 40 Celsius ( reading the air temperature at the top of the HotBin) and the top layer of material inside the HotBin was at 25 Celsius.

Day 2 (recap)  Sat 7th July 2012

After 24 hours it had all slumped as the the material started to decompose.

After 24 hours the top layer of material was at 40 Celsius and the lid thermometer read 50 Celsius with an ambient temperature of 20 Celsius.

According to HotBin, this is a "textbook start"


Day 3 Sun 8th July 2012


Contents now steaming gently and when opening the lid I could feel a blast of warm air on my hands,
When taking readings the ambient temperature a cool 13 Celsius  and it was dull and rainy - not very summery weather!
Lid thermometer reading 45 Celsius.
Internal thermometer ( inserted about 10 -15 cm into material same reading regardless) at 50 Celsius.

Day 4 Mon 9th July 2012

11am.
LOTS of steam on opening the lid! Material slumped even more.

Internal temp at 60 Celsius!Yay!

Ambient temp. 16 C
Lid temp 48 C
Internal temp middle of box @ 10 cm down into material 60 C

(readings taken at 1100)


At 1800 the internal temp. was 65 C in the middle, @10 cm down and the internal temp. 2 cm from the edge, @10 cm down was 62 C.

It's hotting up in there!

Hungry Bin update Day 3 (07/07/12) and Day 4 (08/07/12)

I was quite worried on Day 3 - the deluge continued here and the worms were obviously convinced that they would be drowned if they stayed in the Hungry Bin so followed their instincts and tried to move up and away from danger- but the lid contained them.

I was concerned that the deluge would fill up the collection tray with rainwater and I would lose all my lovely worm tea, but NO! the design obviously keeps rain from falling into the collection tray - which is good.

Despite having had a lot of rain overnight! This wheelbarrow was next to the Hungry Bin.

I added some more material, about 800 g of mixed kitchen caddy waste, a small amount of cooked food and some roll roll tubes with compost inside which had held some bean plants, but they had been eaten off to soil level by slugs.

When I went back later the same day the tubes were full of worms all munching away.

Day 4, I added a about a kg of assorted waste, paper scraps, chicken droppings, weeds and tomato leaves from the plants in the polytunnel (I had been removing some of the lower leaves to let in air to the plants)which had been sitting in a bucket for a few days

I had a look at the waste and saw lots of worms busily working away with none in the lid so I think they must be happy with their environment.

See how quickly those cardboard tubes have disintegrated!

I laid some cardboard on the top surface so the worms had somewhere to hide under, and closed the lid for another day.