Our Story

The Garden HotZot was created to solve the issue of my wife, a Master Gardener, Landscape Designer, and Plant Nerd, spending hours weeding each week. I wanted a better solution.
I sought an organic, fast, easy, and safe way to kill weeds. One morning while making espresso, I accidentally hit the wrong switch and a hot water jet hit the counter, leading to the idea for the HotZot. I bought used espresso machines, disassembled them, and created the first prototype. After numerous versions, the HotZot became a hand-held machine that kills weeds with hot water jets.
The HotZot makes it easy to kill weeds individually without harming desired plants or leaving toxic herbicides. At a target retail price of $200, the HotZot is a game-changer in the traditional gardening market.

Meet the Founders

Michael Peterson
​Co-Founder
Michael@hotzot.biz 

Michael has had a lot of life experiences – including teaching 7th and 8th grades, home builder/contractor, IT consultant, and finally – inventor.  Tinkering has always been a part of his nature, from rebuilding lawnmowers as a kid to kitchen remodeling as an adult.  Put a skill-saw in his hand and he whistles while he works.

The HotZot is a natural extension of his need to fix problems.  Watching Bonnie’s face on her way out to weed the garden (3-4 hours weekly) was all the encouragement he needed to build a safe, fast, organic alternative to Roundup or weeding by hand.  His original prototype looked like the love child of Steampunk and Rube Goldberg, but it worked.  The original prototype of the Zot reduced weeding time from 3-4 hours/week to 1 hour/week of point-and-shoot ease.  Many experiments and prototypes later, we are ready for the next generation of the Zot to emerge.

Bonnie Bruce
​​Co-Founder,  Owner of Celilo Gardens  
Bonnie@hotzot.biz 

Bonnie is a landscape designer, a gardener, a professed plant nerd and the unsuspecting motivation behind the birth of the HotZot.  After years of weeding her own garden by hand and listening to the complaints of friends and clients, it was her grumbling that motivated Michael Peterson to take things into his own hands and invent the HotZot.   

Having been focused on environmental issues for decades, her emphasis has always been on organic gardening and sustainable design strategies. The HotZot was a natural next step. 
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Which proves that when one is listened to, really listened to…whining works. 


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