Compost: Berkeley 18 day [hot] method

sanderson wrote:Jealous, jealous!!  Just be careful not to take the fans or whatever they are called.  I guess the reproductive part. Just woke up late today and still on first cup.

Why would that be? I have never gathered seaweed for the garden so I'm completely in the dark :-)

I figure that the ocean is the depository of trace elements, both good and bad. Our soil is stationary so we don't get alluvial floods to recharge our soil of these trace elements. So, adding a little ocean product brings our soil back a little bit to the primordial "sea soup" condition. I distributed that one compost pile among all the boxes/pots.

Our kelp/sea weed is different looking from the East coast kelp. Put a bag of ice on it if you aren't collecting just before you drive home. By the time we got home, the whole mass was dripping with giant slim (elephant snot as someone called it). Being in the city, I had to dig a hole in which to pour and cover the stinky rinse water.

Don't dry it. I regret doing it. I couldn't crumble it, so I tried an old fashion meat grinder. Nope. Ended up cutting it with a butcher knife and even that wasn't easy. Tough stuff. No wonder the sea otters anchor themselves to it for sleeping.

Have a wonderful time.

So I'll harvest as we're heading home.  It will go in bags in the back of our truck.  I have a chipper shredder so if I cut it into 12-18" pieces it should chop it up for me without wrapping around the core (an issue with viney type things).  

Good to know your experience.  I haven't been to the beach other than in San Diego, so I don't know what kind of seaweed we have beside kelp.  I'll look for smaller things if they're around.  

Smell is no big deal on 5 acres and where the compost pile is, the prevailing wind is always away from the house.  It is right next to the dog run so they may not like it much, LOL!

Just got back from the rental. Double bag it or use 5 gallon buckets with an inside garbage bag.

If it seems to binder up your chipper shredder, add lots of leaves or hay or something so it doesn't get in a gooey mess.

Photos and legal stuff:

http://arcadianabe.blogspot.com/2012/03/rules-for-foraging-on-public-land.html

http://arcadianabe.blogspot.com/2012/05/kelp-and-other-seaweed-snacks.html

https://nrm.dfg.ca.gov/FileHandler.ashx?DocumentID=80256&inline=1

We had a Fish and Game truck drive by us when while we were collecting washed- up sea weed and had one bucket. We we either near Grand Ave or Pier Avenue entrances (entrances for camping, RVs and AVTs. So, you shouldn't have any trouble collecting the washed up sea weed.

Enjoy!

I didn't see your post until this morning as we were already gone. However, I brought 3 large 50 gallon trash bags and simply filled them until they were getting too heavy to lift. I picked up the seaweed that was up toward the high tide level and had already started to dry a little bit.

They didn't turn to slime on the drive home - probably because it's almost winter. 2/3 got laid right on top of a new bed I'm making that will compost in place all winter and 1/3 got chopped up and mixed into the compost pile I started before I left.

Its temp was at 140 when I got home last night. I added some more straw along with the seaweed and was amazed at how quickly there is nothing green showing in the pile (the chipper shredder material breaks down so quickly). The whole pile was green and tan when I left and it's already well on it's way to dark chocolate brown.

Composting is such fun

I Googled "southern california seaweed nuclear 2014" for articles about kelp along the pacific west coast and the possible radiation affects from the nuclear disaster in Japan.  Some scientists are worried and others are not....just something to think about I guess. I'm holding off on my decision to use kelp until I do a bit more reading.

Also here are the Kelp Harvesting Laws in Calif: http://www.dfg.ca.gov/marine/kelp.asp

25*F outside (along with a 20-30mph wind), but it's a cozy 135*F inside the most recently turned compost pile.

Tis a balmy overcast moist 13 oC here in the UK @ 13.45 hrs . 
I took the lid of one of my Dalek composters to find  zillions of worms & worm eggs plus a few fruit flies .
  You could feel the warmth of the composting materials on your face as the lid came off.

Please keep the frost over your side of the pond

Plantoid

I had to smile at your compost heat and finding loads of worms. Congratulations and Bravo!

I'm going to have to watch the temperatures on my pile all day today with 160 this morning less than 24 hours after turning it.  YIKES!

What do you suppose causes it to be too hot?  Too much water?  Too much manure type material?  I've gotten up to 150 with just leaves and grass, but never higher.

160 degrees is okay for day 5, but I have to watch to make certain it doesn't climb higher or it will kill off the microbes we want to be composting the material and only anaerobic microbes will survive the heat.  

I'm not certain what is making it this hot.  This pile is probably 40% fresh branches with green leaves, 40% horse manure and 20% kitchen scraps, coffee grounds, seaweed, and straw.

The new compost is hovering between 155 and 160.  I've been checking it every couple hours.  I think it's peaked.

5 large wheelbarrow loads from the last batch of compost have now been spread on new gardens for next year.  It didn't need to sit a week since it's going into gardens that are being put to bed for the winter.  I covered a swath about 3 feet wide and 25 feet long, 3-4 inches deep.  To finish the beds they will be covered with 8 inches of mixed straw and wood chip mulch that will continue to break down over the winter.  

I also turned over the lasagna style layers ofc material on a 4 x 8 foot bed I created in a similar fashion, except without a compost base.  Straw seeds and weed seeds from raw horse manure needs to be turned so they are disturbed and don't continue to grow.  The bed was originally 18 inches deep and is already composted down a couple of inches.  You should see the worms that have moved into this bed!

Tomorrow I turn my new compost and move it into the bin I just emptied.  I'm finishing clean up as much as possible a little each day.  By the time winter hits I should be ready to curl up with my seed catalogs and plan next year

AJR it seems to me that you have too much readily available nitrogen & phosphates by way of using too much horse muck at once & the sea weed . 

The nitrogen & oxygen feeds the bacteria & fungi , the more excess there is  the hotter the pile gets for a while .

If your worried about too high a temperature  , poke a bar /tube down through the pile several times and hose in some cold water down each hole.

You are likely right, planetoid.  However, the heat will be good for burning up all the weed seeds from the horse manure.  It seems to have stabilized at 155-160.

Thanks for the tip, I'm certain that will come in handy in the future.

Ok, I've done a bit of reading about the nuclear disaster in Japan the radiation affect on the West Coast ecosystem, including seaweed. This article basically sums up what most articles are saying with scientific backup. As you can imagine, a lot of testing is going on.

"It will take about three years from the time of the incident for the radiation plume to reach the West Coast, which would be early next year. Recent testing of migratory fish, including tissue samples collected from Pacific bluefin tuna caught off the California coast, assessed radiation levels and potential effects on marine food webs far away from Japan. Trace amounts of radioisotopes from the Fukushima plant were found, although the best available science puts them at levels below those naturally occurring in the environment around us. Natural, or background radiation, is found in many sources, including food items, medical treatments and air travel."

Good info - thanks for continuing to research this. At least this batch of seaweed should be fine then.

My dogs are in love with the stuff. They keep sneaking into my garden and where I laid it as a mulch, they're grabbing pieces and running away to go eat them

For my records:  day 3 and 4 160 degrees.

Turned Nov. 12, base temp after turning, 120, currently 140 after 24 hours.

Scheduled turns:
14, 16, 18, 20, 22, 24

I finally had to cover my seaweed with some plastic fencing laid on top of the fallow garden to keep the dogs out - who would have thought they would want to eat it?!

AJ, a friend just told me she feeds kelp to her cats for plaque control.   I found this about it Seaweed for Reducing Dental Plaque & Tartar in Dogs
You have intelligent dogs!


Meanwhile back in the compost~  Mine has gone into hibernation even in the greenhouse, -15 is just too much apparently.

Maybe I'll chew on some this weekend. I have a dentist appoitment on Monday.
160 & 140?! Awesome!! The dogs even know that this is going to be the best pile yet and want in on the action 

Cal Poly Pomona isn't too far from my house. They have cow & sheep manure mixed and straw. Yahoo!!! Now I should have access to free cow, horse, sheep manures and straw. Hope to start my new pile soon. Busy next week, but hopefully I'll be able to start the pile in 2 weeks.

Turan - that was a great little article. Who knew?! So sorry about you frigid temps, YIKES! We think low 20s is bitter cold around here

GrownSunshine - that's an awesome source.  It will make composting super easy for you.  just mix in anything else you can gather from your yard, garden, neighbors, leaves, kitchen waste and you're ready to roll!

A friend is giving me 2 stage risers that were built out of 4 x 8 sheets of plywood with 2 x 6 sides.  I'm thinking of just drilling holes in the plywood which I believe is 3/4"  How often would you put a drainage hole?   I was thinking 4 in each 4x4 section of the 4x8.  

I bought Peat Moss today, have coarse vermiculite and a batch of compost brewing so I'll make at least one bed up depending on how much MM I'm able to make out of the compost batch.  

My lettuce has been disappearing down out of my in ground beds the last two weeks so I'm going to raise them on some left over patio pavers we have to discourage below ground critters.

Hopefully we get started on Saturday!

Ooops, I intended this to be a new post, but I'm sure you guys will have enough experience to answer my question

I'm so happy for you regarding the seaweed. 140* is a sweet temp.

I may start a partial pile today when DH mows the lawn. Just a few inches of straw and green grass and kitchen waste from the freezer. No leaves so far but they are starting to change colors on the trees. I don't know when I will get a Berkeley pile going.

As far as holes, Mel's states one in the center of each sq ft and one in each of the 4 corners. So, a critter is eating the lettuce? We just finished watching Nat Geo on voles, moles and shrews. Love raised beds in so many ways!

Turn #2 on the 14th, 120 base temp after turning, 140 after 24 hours
                       15th, 150 in the morning, 160 by afternoon.

Turn #3 on the 16th, 125 base temp after turning.

By the way, I just have to say that composting seaweed can be a little unnerving when you live in snake country and you're composting kelp.  I tossed a load over to the next pile and it looked like a snake launched into flight!!!!