Really Wet Compost...do I need to remove it and start again?

[GillyMurray]

I checked my compost for the first time and its really wet...the bin is running at 40-60, I have read the reason which is that the food waste is too wet and I'm not adding enough cardboard or bulking agent. Do I I need to remove the wet compost and start again?

[Spadelessade]

I'm sure there are a lot of people on here with much more experience than me, but if it was me, I think I would try and incorporate some more cardboard, perhaps also shredded paper, and yes bulking agent, but Is it possible for you to do that without having to empty the bin - I guess it depends how much you've got in there? Perhaps if it's all at the bottom and hard to reach, is it worth trying what someone posted on here which was to tape the lid down and put the bin on its back - you can then get at the stuff behind the removable hatch thingy, and perhaps incorporate all your cardboard etc that way? Just a suggestion, I'm still a novice myself!

[Hotbin Pros_and_Cons]

Did you try to remove it and start again? Mine is quite wet. Its also hopelessly matted and wedged in there. Photos of what looks suspiciously like fresh peat coming out of these things are, well ....

I also think its a shame (though probably unavoidable in this design) that you can't completely lift the thing off the compost but must, instead, dig and claw it out inch by inch as best your back, knees and patience allow with potting trowels, stanley knife on the flower stems etc., and if you're lucky the odd stab of a conventional fork.

[MandyC]

I had the same problem initially but I kept adding shredded cardboard and paper - to the point where it was 100% more than the other ingredients added and it all come good. Also the compost/mulch is a little wet when it comes out not dry crumbling soil. I have been using mine since January and have taken my first harvest. It took me from January to March to get it hot but that was due to the lack of grass clippings and me underestimating how little food waste I have. Some weeks its just grass and shredded paper/cardboard - chicken pellets and some fish blood and bone the the a sprinkling of food waste/peelings (lots of ripped up teabags) I am doing fine. I accept on the weeks where I am not adding lots I am only running int the 30's but with grass I top 60 deg so I am well happy and surprised that I never get over half full as it does break down so quickly. Hope this post may be of some help to someone.