Cooking Compost
 

Just checked a new pile I made yesterday and its smoking at 144 degrees. Wont need it till next year, but at least it will be ready.

Coil some hose in it and heat some water
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Yah. Hey check out skippylures.com if you haven't already
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Guys an artist
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at what temperture does bacteria die off in a compost pile?

depends on how much material is on top....
in some places huge piles of wood chips steam all winter

I wonder if you couldn't heat a hot tub with a big compost pile
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Bring one over Nebe, we'll give it a try
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A big feed trough for horses makes a nice cheap hot tub
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Water-logged wood trough, or an old soap stone trough.
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The bacteria and other microscopic good guys don't really die from the cold as much as go dormant/hibernate until the temps rise to a more hospitable level.
As long as the bacteria have sufficient air and good starting temps, they can compost all winter, even under snow cover.
The only "but" is that the compost normally gets turned on a regular basis to promote continued activity. Once the top freezes and gets covered with snow (this IS New England , after all!) you won't be able to turn it.

Well, in any case, you'll have "gardener's gold" come spring and your plants will be thankful for it!!

160 degrees yesterday and today
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Added to the pile yesterday, and the temp still shot right up to 154 this morning. When I checked temp of pile the outside temp was 36 degrees. I am agravated that I didn't have another four inch, five foot long pcv pipe to stick in the middle. Aenerobic piles takes longer to become compost, but it should still be ready for spring in the garden. Two other bins have pcv pipe loaded with holes coming from the ground up, which provides nice aeriation to the pile that surroun ds the pipe. I will be piling up material inside those six foot tall bins today.
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when your material pieces are not small enough...........
you have smaller surface area for the bacteria to digest it

i've made great compost in 3 weeks to finished perfection
you could hold up two hand fulls to your nose and barely smell it
or it smelled sweet rather than foul....

this required turning it however every 3 days
and yes i had 4 inch pvc perforated drainage pipes
providing fresh air to the interior of the pile....

All the brown/leaves have been chewed up by the lawn mower, which helps quite a bit. I dio use an organic compost starter, as well as a mixture of amonia 8 oz., cola 12 oz. can, and a beer 12 oz. can mixed together and sprayed on every layer.
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and you added grass clippings and alternate thin layers of soil too i'd imagine....?

Here is a good read

http://whatcom.wsu.edu/ag/compost/fu...emperature.htm

Yes
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ok, then you've got all the right ingredients .... for success.
28 degrees coming in on Sunday tho

168 degrees in the pile just now
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Hot tub
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hot tub party at swimmahs

https://screen.yahoo.com/james-brown...000000926.html

Hot Hot Hot
 

Week later after making up this pile it is still cooking up next years compost

I had to check the thermometer yesterday, because its been bugging me that the temp inside the compost pile has stayed a steady 160 degrees. So I pulled out the guage and the temp immediately plummeted, as well it should, because it was no longer inside the pile. I placed the thermometer right back into the pile and the temp went right back to 160 degrees. This is two weeks without turning the pile. Waiting for temp to go down to rewet and aereate, but it doesn't appear thats is going to happening soon.
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over at permies.com (short for permaculture) they are experimenting
with composting for heat.....
and
their Rocket mass heater "STOVE design" is of special interest

I might have found the right formula for that fusion, he he he.
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