Are you a hottie?

So what next, .... I get it up to 140, and then what.??
And how long does that take?
I go away tomorrow, now if only I could put a web cam on my thermometer, then I could watch it while I was gone
By the time I get back on Friday, the thermometer should be up to 140, what will I do then.

I am so excited about this, I am going to head off into the forest today with our bikes and a trailer and haul back bags of leaves.... and start a second pile so I will have NO shortage of good compost this summer

RoOsTeR wrote:I'm always down for Hottie confirmation
Congrats GWN It's an amazing process for sure.
How long is your probe? I would bet if you were able to get it down deep more towards the middle, you would be even hotter.

I agree.

If your pile is 3ft in diameter, you should have an 18 inch probe.

If your pile is 3ft in diameter, you should have an 18 inch probe.

So much to learn, here I go to measure...

GWN wrote:So what next, .... I get it up to 140, and then what.??
And how long does that take?
I go away tomorrow, now if only I could put a web cam on my thermometer, then I could watch it while I was gone
By the time I get back on Friday, the thermometer should be up to 140, what will I do then.

I am so excited about this, I am going to head off into the forest today with our bikes and a trailer and haul back bags of leaves.... and start a second pile so I will have NO shortage of good compost this summer

There's too many variables to find out how long it will take to get up to 140. If the temperature does get up to 140, that's awesome. Just let it go and it may go higher. It will eventually start coming down again and when it hits anywhere between 100-120, give it a turn.

GWN wrote:So what next, .... I get it up to 140, and then what.??
And how long does that take?
I go away tomorrow, now if only I could put a web cam on my thermometer, then I could watch it while I was gone
By the time I get back on Friday, the thermometer should be up to 140, what will I do then.

I am so excited about this, I am going to head off into the forest today with our bikes and a trailer and haul back bags of leaves.... and start a second pile so I will have NO shortage of good compost this summer

Leave it be till it starts to cool off. Probably a week or so. Once the temp drops, turn it.

yep 18 inch probe and 3 foot pile.

I am going to start another 3 footer today, just wait till DH gets up and finds out what we are doing today.....

Lol. Keep him on his toes

Leave it be till it starts to cool off. Probably a week or so. Once the temp drops, turn it.

The OTHER really cool thing I have found is that by putting a compost pile up it essentially kills the underlying wild grass, which seems otherwise impossible to kill
So when I turn over the pile I will just move it over a few feet and, end up with another great area to plant.

Lol. Keep him on his toes

OK he is up and he is on board.
So we are going to start up our own little compost factory here.
I pay 9 bucks a bag for compost for the mels mix and that really does add up.

It adds up real quick! Especially considering you can make better compost for free

As long as you don't mind doing some legwork, free materials is the way to go.

staf74 wrote:Yes I turn when the center cools which is about once every week. I take it all out and replace the least composted items to the middle and take the chopped up weeks kitchen scraps and add that to the middle also. Labor intensive and perhaps overkill but I really don't mind. I lightly hose off every 6 inches or so. People sometimes who turn every couple of days can interrupt the microbial action before its able to heat up sufficiently. In your case, after a week, you really should be at least over 100 degrees which leads me to think you are lacking in something. I posted to your other post for an idea.

I use a commercial barrel composter. I turn my pile daily. I do not check the temperature with a thermometer, but I can assure you that the pile is so hot that I cannot keep my hand in the center of it. My understanding is the pile completes faster if your turn it more often. Manufacturers claim you can make nutrient rich compost in 14 days. I say horse hockey. I've been able to get it to look like finished compost and to quit cooking in 24 - 30 days. But my best product results after aging it for a few more months by removing it from the barrel and dumping it into a "finished compost" pile on the ground. Although the pile never gets hot again, stuff like leaf bits that I can recognize in the compost coming out of the barrel, degrades even further in the finished pile.

GWN wrote:

Lol. Keep him on his toes

... So we are going to start up our own little compost factory here. I pay 9 bucks a bag for compost for the mels mix and that really does add up.

I bought a barrel composter 18 months ago. It has paid for itself already, and I'm in profit. I estimate I have used 75 cu ft of it in my garden, raised beds, and containers. If I had it to do all over, I might just lay concrete stepping stones together and turn the pile manually. I wold have saved a few hundred dollars. But I like the convenience of the drum that I have.

I'm a hottie! I'm a hottie!

We had some trees taken down yesterday, so the compost bins are now completely visible from the road. I was moving my newest! pile, started sometime in 2012, and it is hot, steaming and FULL of red wigglers!!!!!

I checked my pile today; holding at 125F.

gee Martha
Looks like a great party you are having
Hope to join you next week... OK?

The more, the merrier! Come on down!

Seeing all of these successes makes me super anxious to get my new pile started. I can't wait

TTT, what makes me particularly excited is that I never expected to be a hottie. Composting at the restaurant generates enough scraps that chopping everything into small bits would be a deal breaker. Therefore, I figured I would just always be on the 2-4 year plan.

I think what did it for me is that I got a really long (13") drill bit. I was hoping it would break up the food, which it did not do at all. But I think just aerating the pile on a frequent basis, because it is so easy with the cordless drill, is what has made the difference.

I am, with difficulty, going to refrain from posting more "happy dance" emoticons!

I am, with difficulty, going to refrain from posting more "happy dance" emoticons!

Oh But why?

I think what did it for me is that I got a really long (13") drill bit. I was hoping it would break up the food, which it did not do at all. But I think just aerating the pile on a frequent basis, because it is so easy with the cordless drill, is what has made the difference.

Now that is darn clever, I have tried, "retroactively" to pound posts into the pile for that reason, unsuccessfully... It Just has to be done at the beginning..... THAT IS unless you happen to have a 13 inch drill bit.
My pile got to 111 today which I find totally unbelievable, lets see now I rebuilt it on friday??
I have to go back and figure this out.

OK I just went back and checked and I rebuilt the pile 2 days ago.
I read that you could get it up this fast, but to be honest really did not believe that I could.
It went from 78 to 111 in 2 days. I just cannot get over how incredible that is. (sorry if I seem to be going on and on about this ) :fall:

TTT

Seeing all of these successes makes me super anxious to get my new pile started. I can't wait

Whats holding you back?
I was so excited about my first pile, I built another one today. Went into the forest on our bikes and large garbage bags. Gathered leaves and also found a big pile of sawdust and came home and built another pile.

I am thinking that the reason my first pile went to 111 today is because suddenly it felt pressured because now there are two piles.
Gardening is so wonderful and it is so great to have someone to share something so wonderful with..

I mean lets face it everyone else thinks you are nuts talking bout this stuff.

GWN wrote:

I am, with difficulty, going to refrain from posting more "happy dance" emoticons!

Oh But why?

I think what did it for me is that I got a really long (13") drill bit. I was hoping it would break up the food, which it did not do at all. But I think just aerating the pile on a frequent basis, because it is so easy with the cordless drill, is what has made the difference.

Now that is darn clever, I have tried, "retroactively" to pound posts into the pile for that reason, unsuccessfully... It Just has to be done at the beginning..... THAT IS unless you happen to have a 13 inch drill bit.
My pile got to 111 today which I find totally unbelievable, lets see now I rebuilt it on friday??
I have to go back and figure this out.

I have one of the rods from a broken cattle panel that I stick in my compost pile. It is about 4 ft long and I can jamb it all the way thru my pile. Last time I turned it a couple of weeks ago I pushed the rod in and also pushed in a piece of PVC pipe. Nearly daily I have been taking them out & putting them back in a different spot. . After the 1st couple of days the rod was burning hot to touch in the middle(at that time my 6 inch thermometer read about 130). It is still hot now, though I can comfortably touch it. I figure I

ll turn it one more time when the rod is not longer warmer in the middle.

martha wrote:I think what did it for me is that I got a really long
(13") drill bit. I was hoping it would break up the food, which it did
not do at all. But I think just aerating the pile on a frequent basis,
because it is so easy with the cordless drill, is what has made the
difference.

I am, with difficulty, going to refrain from posting more "happy dance" emoticons!

Using a drill for compost aeration is awesome.

GWN wrote:

TTT

Seeing all of these successes makes me super anxious to get my new pile started. I can't wait

Whats holding you back?

Well my finished compost is sitting in my compost bin waiting till this weather dries out a bit. I have to dig out some of the screened topsoil from my boxes so that I will have room to add my mix. I can't really do any new composting till as early as next week.
I would love to start another pile while I'm waiting but I really don't have the room for another bin. I thought that maybe I could just get a 55 gallon trash barrel to hold my finished compost so that I can start a new pile but there's no way my compost will fit into just one can....I made too much. If I don't have the room for another bin, I certainly won't have the room for 2 trash cans for holding purposes.
After I get my boxes filled and planted/seeded, then I can start on my next batch of compost. This time I want to be smart about it and gather all of the ingredients in one shot instead of doing the add-as-you-go method. My goal this year is to crank out finished compost in less than two months.

My goal this year is to crank out finished compost in less than two months.

So I am hearing that the rise to 140 degrees is only a preliminary step, then it takes 2 months for a fully finished compost?
What about putting all your finished compost in large garbage bags?

GWN wrote:

My goal this year is to crank out finished compost in less than two months.

So I am hearing that the rise to 140 degrees is only a preliminary step, then it takes 2 months for a fully finished compost?
What about putting all your finished compost in large garbage bags?

Typically if temperatures are high enough for a long enough period of time, compost should be finished in 2 months or so.

I honestly wouldn't have the room for a bunch of bags either. I sifted the compost the other day and I have a pile that's just a little over a cubic yard.....that's a lot of compost.

It's no big deal really. I'm anxious to get my next batch started but I am giving some thought into taking my current bin apart and making one of those circular bins out of hardware cloth or is it chicken wire? Heck, I forget.
If I do take apart my current bin, then I could use the hardware cloth from it to build anti-bunny fences to go around one of my boxes.