RE: [compost_tea] Hot compost
Elaine,
Here’s his starting recipe:
1/3 cow manure and rotted grass
2/3 woody material, yard waste mostly from shredded trees and branches
When the pile cools, he plans to add a 1/3 volume of his own peat and
spray
compost tea while turning. The pile will probably heat up again. When
finished, the compost goes
through a massive sifter to remove any stone and large particles.
The compost pile sits wall-to-wall on the floor of a five-sided barn,
one
side being open for access. Air pipes under the pile run about
8 hours per day. The compost is now about 140º F.
Judi
What causes heat in a compost pile?
So, if the pile is still hot, how can the pile not have biology still
going in it?
Yes, at 165 for long times, some of the beneficials have likely been
harmed.
So addition of beneficials again, when the pile gets down around 145,
would be good.
But I just couldn't resist the lesson for folks - that heat in a compost
pile requires active, living, growing, functioning bacteria and fungi.
But, for this compost pile, the take-home message is - too much high N
added to begin with, and the pile went anaerobic. I'd love to know the
starting recipe, and can bet that the N that was added was way higher N
concentration than was believed.
Elaine
Received on Tue Jan 18 2005 - 23:15:37 EST
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: Tue Feb 07 2012 - 14:15:44 EST