Steaming Compost

[KB3GZW]

I have been composting for years now and I have never had a compost pie that steamed. I live very close to a mulch supplier and EVERY morning there piles are steaming. I add kinds of things like food scraps, plant clippings, grass, leaves and and other kind of brush. I soon will be getting chickens and I plan on putting the manure in there with it. What's the deal with no heat?

 

[patandchickens]

If your pile isn't heating up (much), it's most likely either too small, or things are added too gradually, or it's too dry.

Stuff will still break down in a cold (so-called) compost pile, it just takes longer, and you can't count on seeds or pathogens being killed.

Pat

 

[KB3GZW]

I would suspect I add things to gradually and don't give enough water. The bin it is in is about 5x6x4 and it is about 2/3rds full. So I don't think it is to small. That is over the winter, during the summer I add the grass clippings and I bet it gets pretty hot after I add those. I just never checked that.

 

[poppycat]

Well chicken poo and used bedding will help get the temperature up. Once I started adding the litter from my first four chickens it really improved the quality of my compost.

A compost thermometer is a fun tool too you can see exactly where things are and they don't cost alot of $$.

 

[KB3GZW]

Ya I looked around for those on the web. they look like a meat thermometer, but LOTS longer.

I wonder if there is a place locally that sells them?

 

[patandchickens]

Enh, shove your shovel in, pry an opening big enough to get your arm into, and *feel* how hot the middle of the pile feels. If it feels HOT as in 'Yeow I Don't Want My Hand In There' hot, it is roughly hot enough to kill weed seeds etc... if it doesn't, it isn't.



Pat

 

[sparks]

YIKES!!! 37 degrees today and when I turned my compost it was STEAMING!! for the first time in about 15 years. Kudos to chicken manure from my deep litter method. What a great day!:dance

 

[MissPrissy]

We have a cart full of chipped apple wood from a downed tree we ground up. It rained 2 days before we could empty it. On the 3rd day when the sun came out and I turned out the chips it was all steaming and smelling wonderful!

 

[KB3GZW]

I haven't mowed the grass in a few months and I now remember how hot the grass clippings would be just dumping them out of the bagger. I get it now.

 

[whatnow?]

More nitrogen and most of it at once. I tried to turn my pile while it was cooking last year and burned my skin grabbing a rock out of the middle. It is 4' x 4' x 3'.