Where Do I Take My Bulking Agent From
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- čas přidán 7. 07. 2024
- As requested I'm explaining today where I take my bulking agent from. I am pretty self sufficient and I never needed to buy any bulking agent. I hope it'll give you a few ideas and opens up a conversation. If you would like to share your bulking agent sources it would be great, please let us know in the comments what is your secret.
Hi Beanie, still watching your vids pal, keep em coming !
I'm lucky enough to know a place in our local woods which a large dry pile of wood chip has been left after copicing, so a couple of visits up there and I'm stocked up for 6 months. And if I ever run out, then the willow tree next door sheds its leaves all year round, so nice dry ones are a decent substitute.
I've had a successful summer with my hotbin, it's up to temp and producing damp, but usable compost. It may be a coincidence, but since one of your subscribers mentioned that putting mouldy and stale bread in every mix, my hotbin has been much more efficient.
Oh ,and by the way, did you see the young couple on Gardeners World using a hotbin ? It's good that it got a mention. They can be difficult at first, but I think once you find a good system that works with the materials you have to hand, it can be very rewarding ! Take care m8
Good to hear from you Paul. That is great news with the hotbin. Yes, there was someone who gets stale bread and cakes for their hotbin and as you say it is all about finding the methods that work with what you have. No need to hold back on the bulking agent, I am sure a few reading this will be very jealous. I did not see the hotbin on gardener's world so might have to look that up on the iplayer to see what they said. Looks like you have become a grandmaster of the hotbin well done.
Hi Beanie, thanks for this video and the one about leachate v miracle grow, thanks for putting the time in to the experiment and its good to know that the leachate works well as fertiliser. I did store some leachate but it started smelling and going bubbly, the container may not have been airtight. Ive also had lots of tiny white insects floating on the top of leachate that I drain off. So for now Im just diluting and using it straightaway.
Like you I have avoided buying any bulking agent since the first bag was used up. I do find that if I put the compost on as a mulch then when it dries out or starts to get incorporated in the soil I can pick out the woody bits and re-use them. I also use woody prunings and collect any semi rotted wood that I find when Im out for a walk. I agree that if you dont have a wood chipper then best to cut up wood a bit at a time - I managed to get tennis elbow a few weeks ago and I think it was from too much pruning!
Keep up the good work
Thank you, Margaret, I just store the leachate in old washed-out plastic milk bottles. I don't leave in the sun or warm places and just store outside with the lid on.
Like you I collect the dried wood from the compost/mulch in the garden when weeding. Some of it I think you could reuse 3-4 times. Yes, the hotbin can be demanding on the hands and wrists and too much chopping can be painful.
The things we put up with just for a bit of compost. Thank you for watching and hope all is well with your hotbin and your tennis elbow.
I’m surprised that you don’t have a shredder, I use mine a lot! Makes life so much easier, but then I do have a fairly big garden, I’m struggling to get enough grass at the moment, waiting for my neighbour to cut his lawn, might even offer to cut it for him, so yrs I’m hooked on hot composting now, look forward to more videos please.
No space or do we need it. That is what the boss said so I will just have to settle with RSI in my wrist from so much cutting. There are times when I would just love to have one though. It is amazing how you can get so hooked on these HB's.
Thanks Beanie. I have an allotment near me, and just outside the gate there's an area where local companies drop off their woodchip. I felt a hard-to-justify amount of joy when I found that stash as I had been worrying (probably also more than my wife could understand) about how to source enough bulking agent.
Also, have been binge watching your videos over the past weeks because we've had a massive hotbin temp slump. It's been playing on my mind all flipping day. Finally back up to temp this morning, and something I did was to remove the soggy charcoal bag in the top of the hotbin - I think maybe it was actually stopping air movement but I'd be interested in one of your hotbin mini experiments on going charcoal filter - free...?
Anyway, thanks so much. You're helping a bunch of us not to lose our minds with these things. :)
Nothing better than finding free wood chip. When the hotbin is not playing ball, it really can bug you. The charcoal bag is an interesting one. I know some have removed them with better results but then I guess you risk bad odours attracting vermin. I see the hotbin company do sell spare ones on their website so maybe having a dry one in stock could be an idea. I think this would make a great video for people to see so watch this space.
With rain and steam from your hotbin this should be something that the hotbin company must have looked at and I have only had real problems when the weather is very cold or there is an issue in the hotbin. Have you dried the bag and put it back and if so, has it made any difference?
Thank you for watching and leaving the comment I think there may be a few people that may be thinking of taking out the charcoal bag.
I need to start storing bulking agent like you in shed. Maybe letting it dry out properly will help my very wet mix. Whatever I do seems to result in very wet compost. Never have got it dry! I do have litres of leachate though!!!
Hi Kate, do you think it is your household waste that is wet, or do you think you are not adding enough paper. Since the weather has cooled down, I am getting lots of leachate from my large hotbin. I do have quite a bit of stuff in the shed that is dry that I mix in with my mixtures. if you are still keeping things hot then I guess there is no need to worry.
@@BeanieComposter it must be the household waste and garden bits being so wet as I add loads of paper and card. I dry out tea bags and coffee now as thought it was that but I do have a large garden so prob add more greens than I should. I do have darleks too so add a lot of garden bits to that to slowly rot down. I Tun at between 40 and 50. Get higher when I can get it drier oddly!
@@kateg730 I think you are doing well running at between 40-50c. I find my large one is wet at the bottom but have not been adding as much paper as I should. You seem to be doing everything right. I guess I just have more stored dry waste as we have no cold composters here. Also, grass is being cut twice a week so that adds a lot of moisture.
Hi Beanie, thanks for the informative video - I'm out of bulking agent and looking for more! I'm currently experimenting with mine - The Megazorb is going great and I've found that for me it can take small amounts of hay which is helpful. Now I'm just hoping the grass will grow a bit more so that I can put it in my hotbin!
Also: You're approaching 1K subscribers.... Remember me when you reach 1M! lol
That is good to hear the Megazorb is working. I am sure this will help a few people out. I think it will be a long time until 1k of subscribers. One thing that is great is we all seem to help each other out. Even your comments will help out so thanks. Grass here now is nice and lush again.
Hello, Great video very informative !! My hotbin is not hot at all at the moment don't know why I am putting everything that I should be in it.Thanks for sharing this video
Hi Joanna, Is the hotbin Full? Has it been running hot? Let us know what stage you are at and what it has been doing in the past and we can try and help you out.
@@BeanieComposter Hello, It is 3/4 full and it has not been hot since I emptied it.
@@joannapocock6055 Maybe if it is a fine day and you have time you could take the hatch door off and see what is going on. I would imagine you have a blockage where the air flow is restricted. Do you give it all a good stir up with each feed? I am doing an experiment in the mini no stirring and that is still cold after one week whereas the large one that I give a good stir is doing well. You may have clumps of grass/paper that is restricting the air flow. Let us know your thoughts.
@@BeanieComposter I have never cleaned the air holes out so I think you may be right the air is not circulating I do stir it every time I open the bin. Thanks for all your advice I will wait for a nice warm day and go out to clean out all the holes in the bottom if that fails then I will get back in touch with you.
@@joannapocock6055 Thank you. Looking forward to hearing how you get on.
Is there any advantage to buying bulking agent from the Hotbin company?
Not really just expensive and no different to any wood chips you could get for free from where a tree has been cut down and there are loads of wood chips. All that bulking agent does is create pockets of air for the bacteria that does not break down as quickly as all the other waste so that oxygen is able to flow through the hotbin.