compost is finally warm

[ina]

Never before has our 1X1 meter compost bin been so warm. We must be doing something right.
After a tip on this board, we got ourselves a compost aerator that shows the temperature inside the compost as well. It's fun. Purple is cold and pink is warm.


Before it's put into the compost


We just leave it sit in the bin


Pull it out to get some air in and check the temperature, this is good and warm.

[ina]

[dibberxxx]

looks like u have sum hot sfuff there  :)

[waggi]

nice and warm mmmmmmmm

[Multiveg]

I bought one of those compost aerators with my naughty seed order which arrived Saturday morning. Took it down the plot - my compost was a bit smelly (not a lot) and wet, so relayered it with newspaper.

[philcooper]

MV,

Did you cover it to keep off the rain we are getting at last?

Phil

[ina]

We usually cover it to keep it from drying out. A couple of buckets of canal water when it looks dry-ish inside. Compost can be quite moist. If it doesn't work, it's usually too dry in my experience.
We don't worry when it's not warm (and up till now, ours has never been really warm), it just takes longer but you'll get good compost anyway but it may take up to a year when cold.

[derbex]

I'm in a bit of a quandry as my current heap has warmed up -but I'm still adding stuff. Should I just keep adding to it, or stop and start a new heap?

Jeremy

[ina]

We just keep adding chopped up stuff on top as the heap is shrinking, every couple or three weeks we mix a bit.

[Multiveg]

We have the dalek things and the lid stays on - maybe we had been overdoing it with the recycled tea.

[Merlins Mum]

wish my compost was warm.  I bought one of those aerators but the compost is so compacted I couldn't get it down very far.  too much grass I think.  I know I should take it all out and include some shredded paper when I put it back.

MM

[ina]

Same happened to me MM. I used a post hole digger to make a hole in the middle to stick the aerator in. I keep adding stuff and pull the aerator up every now and then (and push it back in) to keep it from compacting too much.

[Merlins Mum]

thanks ina

[Multiveg]

Finally cleared out what was in the new zealand type bin system - mainly rubbish, and started a new compost heap, layering it. Checked it at the weekend, and my tip went pink  ;D - I hope that is hot composting then.

[ina]

That's great, when it's pink it's warm, maybe even hot.
Ours cooled off, we added more fresh stuff and now it's hot again, sinking in fast. It feels wonderful to finally succeeded in getting the compost to heat up.

[philcooper]

The 3 ingredients required for compost are:

1. a good mix of greens ("live" vegetation) and browns (straw, dead leaves, shredded newspaper/cardboard)
2. moisture
3. Air

Tales of heaps that require a pneumatic drill to get an aerator in  obviously don't have enough of 3. Soggy heaps have too much 2

The qucikest way to get compost from a given set of ingredients is to turn the heap frequently, this:

1. add air
2. mixes the undecomposed with the composted
3. evens out the moisture
4. allows you to see whether the heap is moist enough and add water/dry material to adjust the balance

Daily turning is the ideal (and why tumbler bins work so quickly) but weekly is great and monthly better than nothing

Phil

[wivvles]

I turned the compost in my black dalek last night - I didn't need a purple aerator to stick in it - I could feel the heat coming straight out of the top!!!

[Robert_Brenchley]

Black daleks get hot every time the sun shines on them. I never turn mine; I just shove the stuff in one year, and take it out next spring. It works, I just have to pick out the odd dock root which is still showing signs of life. The first year or two I had to pick out bindweed as well, but the really big roots are all long gone.

[philcooper]

Robert,

If you have enough bins, that is the way to do it!!

For those with more compost than bins we need it to compost in less than  a year - hence expense on more bins or effort!!

Phil

[Robert_Brenchley]

I've got four, and anything over goes on the latest soil mountain. I'm finally keeping it in the bins this year, so hopefully once I've dug over a section which has reverted to jungle, I can cover the latest one and won't have to build any more!

[ina]

Black daleks get hot every time the sun shines on them. I never turn mine; I just shove the stuff in one year, and take it out next spring. It works, I just have to pick out the odd dock root which is still showing signs of life. The first year or two I had to pick out bindweed as well, but the really big roots are all long gone.

I guess the sun heat helps but I understand that the real composting heat is generated by the composting process itself, no matter what the weather does.