Re: Are you a hottie?

Too Tall Tomatoes 11/30/2011, 9:17 pm

I don't remember if I posted this elsewhere on this forum and if I did, please forgive me.....I'm getting forgetful in my old age.

Anyway, I was outside today and decided to remove the tarp from the compost pile and I wanted to poke around. I used an old broomstick to get some aeration going. I don't know how long it takes for air to raise the temperature of the pile but the steam was practically billowing out of the holes that I poked in.
I was surprised and that's when I realized I HAVE to get one of those compost aerators.

**RoOsTeR** 11/30/2011, 10:56 pm

Too Tall Tomatoes wrote:I don't remember if I posted this elsewhere on this forum and if I did, please forgive me.....I'm getting forgetful in my old age.

Anyway, I was outside today and decided to remove the tarp from the compost pile and I wanted to poke around. I used an old broomstick to get some aeration going. I don't know how long it takes for air to raise the temperature of the pile but the steam was practically billowing out of the holes that I poked in.
I was surprised and that's when I realized I HAVE to get one of those compost aerators.

At first I wasn't sure, but now I am convinced. YOU LIKE PLAYIN IN POOH! rofl

Too Tall Tomatoes 11/30/2011, 11:10 pm

nKedrOoStEr wrote:
Too Tall Tomatoes wrote:I don't remember if I posted this elsewhere on this forum and if I did, please forgive me.....I'm getting forgetful in my old age.

Anyway, I was outside today and decided to remove the tarp from the compost pile and I wanted to poke around. I used an old broomstick to get some aeration going. I don't know how long it takes for air to raise the temperature of the pile but the steam was practically billowing out of the holes that I poked in.
I was surprised and that's when I realized I HAVE to get one of those compost aerators.

At first I wasn't sure, but now I am convinced. YOU LIKE PLAYIN IN POOH!

The fumes must be affecting my brain Are you a hottie? - Page 2 262465

**RoOsTeR** 12/1/2011, 7:55 am

Mine is buried in snow this mornin...I am going to temp it this weekend. We are having a really cold snap right now, with overnight temps dipping into the single digits. I will give it a few days and temp in the middle area just to see how warm my pile is actually getting while its sooooo cold Very Happy

Too Tall Tomatoes 12/1/2011, 11:00 pm

This may sound crazy but I'm thinking about getting one of those wireless thermometers to keep tabs on my compost pile.
That way I can just look at the readout in my house and I won't freak out the neighbors when I go out there with a flashlight at 1am

**camprn** 12/2/2011, 6:39 am

Too Tall Tomatoes wrote:This may sound crazy but I'm thinking about getting one of those wireless thermometers to keep tabs on my compost pile.
That way I can just look at the readout in my house and I won't freak out the neighbors when I go out there with a flashlight at 1am

I was thinking of getting one of those for my bee hive...

**RoOsTeR** 12/2/2011, 7:59 am

This may sound crazy but I'm thinking about getting one of those wireless thermometers to keep tabs on my compost pile.
That way I can just look at the readout in my house and I won't freak out the neighbors when I go out there with a flashlight at 1am

You know what TTT, I have a remote thermo set up thinking

Its for the smoker. It has 2 probes, one for the meat temp and one for the temp at the grate (cooking area).
Here is what I got:
http://www.cookware.com/Maverick-Remote-Smoker-Thermometer-ET-73-L1268-K~MAV1006.html?refid=GX15784244755.Maverick%20ET-73~b&gclid=CKmf7b-446wCFQrGKgodh08zpQ
Maybe I will give it a whirl this weekend.

staf74 12/2/2011, 9:05 pm

Interesting. With all our various locations, temps, ingredients, variables etc.... It's amazing how close the posted temps are. Mother nature little micro-organisms really know how to adapt eh.

Keep posting my fellow hotties Very Happy

With that wireless gizmo nKedrOoStEr, you will enter into a new category...

SMOKING HOT !

okay...okay...predictably cheesy I know.

**RoOsTeR** 12/2/2011, 9:48 pm

We shall see what my temps bring. Here is my forecast for the next week:
Weather at a Glance
Weather Station
The Landings, Johnstown
Elevation
4887 ft
Station Select
Now

Overcast
Temperature
25.5 °F
Feels Like 20 °F
Wind(mph)
4.9
Sunrise / Set
7:04 AM
4:33 PM
Moon
First Quarter
More Astronomy
Tonight
16 °F
Snow
70% chance of precipitation
Tomorrow
25 °F
Chance of Snow
70% chance of precipitation
Tomorrow Night
7 °F
Partly Cloudy
Sunday
27 | 5 °F
Chance of Snow
20% chance of precipitation
Monday
20 | 0 °F
Partly Cloudy
Tuesday
31 | 16 °F
Clear
7-Day Forecast - Hourly Forecast Tomorrow is forecast to be Much Cooler than today.
Current DataToday's AlmanacExtended ForecastRadarSatelliteWebcams
Regional Forecast for Central and South Weld County
Tonight

Partly cloudy early in the evening...then mostly cloudy with a chance of snow overnight. Snow likely early in the morning. Snow accumulation up to 2 inches. Lows around 17. North winds 10 to 20 mph with gusts to around 30 mph after midnight. Chance of snow 70 percent.
Saturday

Snow likely in the morning...then a chance of snow in the afternoon. Snow accumulation 1 to 2 inches. Storm total snow accumulation of 1 to 4 inches. Highs in the mid 20s. North winds 10 to 20 mph with gusts to around 30 mph. Chance of snow 70 percent.
Saturday Night

Partly cloudy. A 10 percent chance of snow early in the evening. Lows around 6.
Sunday

Partly cloudy. A 10 percent chance of snow in the afternoon. Highs in the mid 20s to lower 30s.
Sunday Night

Mostly cloudy with a 30 percent chance of snow. Lows around 6. North winds 10 to 15 mph.
Monday and Monday Night

Mostly clear. A 10 percent chance of snow. Highs in the lower 20s. Lows 2 below to 2 above zero.
Tuesday and Tuesday Night

Mostly clear. Highs in the lower to mid 30s. Lows 11 to 15.
Wednesday and Wednesday Night

Partly cloudy. Highs in the lower 40s. Lows 15 to 19.
Thursday and Thursday Night

Partly cloudy. Highs in the mid to upper 30s. Lows 11 to 15.
Friday

Partly cloudy. Highs near 30.

It gets hard to keep things cooking in this weather, but I am willing to give it a go for conversation sake lol.
Hopefully my remote temp. gauge will give an outside air temp (or close) and a pile temp. In the snow pale

BackyardBirdGardner 12/2/2011, 10:20 pm

Now, as an egomaniac.....errrr, man.....I had to take the meat thermometer out and see the "official" temperature of the Pile of Pleasantry. Air temp about 38. Pile temp about 56.

Told you I was a luke-warmy.

Too Tall Tomatoes 12/2/2011, 11:54 pm

nKedrOoStEr wrote:
This may sound crazy but I'm thinking about getting one of those wireless thermometers to keep tabs on my compost pile.
That way I can just look at the readout in my house and I won't freak out the neighbors when I go out there with a flashlight at 1am

You know what TTT, I have a remote thermo set up
Its for the smoker. It has 2 probes, one for the meat temp and one for the temp at the grate (cooking area).
Here is what I got:
http://www.cookware.com/Maverick-Remote-Smoker-Thermometer-ET-73-L1268-K~MAV1006.html?refid=GX15784244755.Maverick%20ET-73~b&gclid=CKmf7b-446wCFQrGKgodh08zpQ
Maybe I will give it a whirl this weekend.

I had a single-probe Maverick when I had my Chargriller offset a few years ago. I have no idea where it got to. I gave up using the smoker shortly after I got it. I tried learning the art of smoking but I just couldn't get a handle on it.
But that's the kind of thing I was talking about. All you would have to do is somehow fasten that probe to the end of a stick and shove that in the compost.

**Furbalsmom** 12/3/2011, 1:51 pm

BackyardBirdGardner wrote:Now, as an egomaniac.....errrr, man.....I had to take the meat thermometer out and see the "official" temperature of the Pile of Pleasantry. Air temp about 38. Pile temp about 56.

Told you I was a luke-warmy.

BBG - You need to buy your wife a new meat thermometer.

You use hers too often in too many objectionable ways. Laughing

**RoOsTeR** 12/3/2011, 2:08 pm

Alright. I finally got out just a few minutes ago to take my pooh piles temperature. I am pretty impressed that my temps are as high as they are. Today is actually the day I need to turn my pile as its been 12 days today. Smile

We have gotten quite a bit of snow in the past 12 hours or so
Are you a hottie? - Page 2 IMG_20111203_113325

As you can see there is little snow at all in the area around the bin. Radiating some heat perhaps? Hmmm. Lets go in for a closer look:
Are you a hottie? - Page 2 IMG_20111203_113317

Are you a hottie? - Page 2 IMG_20111203_113317

Are you a hottie? - Page 2 IMG_20111203_113347

Come on you can do better than that:
Are you a hottie? - Page 2 IMG_20111203_113414

Are you a hottie? - Page 2 IMG_20111203_113421

I knew you could do it!
Are you a hottie? - Page 2 IMG_20111203_113612

Extracting the probe:
Are you a hottie? - Page 2 IMG_20111203_113812

BOOOYAH!!

southern gardener 12/3/2011, 2:22 pm

wow Rooster! Impressive! I wonder if the snow melting on top is keeping your pile moist as well? Interesting too, how the snow is melting on the edges. Keep us posted and keep up the good work! I have a thermometer like that, but don't know if I wanna stick it in my compost, then in my food? Sure would make it easier tho! again, congrats!

**RoOsTeR** 12/3/2011, 2:43 pm

ssshhh, don't tell anybody thanks

Too Tall Tomatoes 12/3/2011, 3:05 pm

Whoah Rooster.....that's incredible! 144F with all of that snow!

Now I'm really wondering if I should let my pile uncovered all winter.

**RoOsTeR** 12/3/2011, 3:25 pm

Actually, if you look closely you can see I have really old holey tarp and a black piece of plastic on top of that held down by a chunk of concrete and branches. So mine is covered more or less. I would also like to add that my pile is pretty cold except for the middle portion. I was about 18" in and 18" down.
Not the greatest cover, but it is somewhat just fyi...

Too Tall Tomatoes 12/3/2011, 4:16 pm

Yeah....now that I look closer I do see the blue tarp.

arla 12/3/2011, 6:56 pm

Well, I just ripped my pile apart today and rebuilt it, since it was fairly mixed I couldn't really do 4inchs of one material, 4 inchs of another, just not possible, but I did add a lot of water (parts of the pile looked like it was becoming mummified rather than composting! So I think it was definitely too dry).

Temperature after finishing was 50 degrees, we'll see how it does over the next week.

How do all you hotties add water to the pile?

Too Tall Tomatoes 12/3/2011, 7:04 pm

arla wrote:How do all you hotties add water to the pile?

I always take a pitchfork and poke the heck out of the top of the pile, then pour the water on from a 5 gallon bucket

**camprn** 12/3/2011, 7:10 pm

southern gardener 12/3/2011, 7:45 pm

we don't get a lot of rain here...so we just hose it down every so often, when we see it starting to come out of the bottom of the pile, we stop. Also check inside the pile and see if it's moist, if so, we don't add water. Not a real science but it works!!

Too Tall Tomatoes 12/3/2011, 9:27 pm

I'm not an expert on composting but I think that if you keep it covered, you control the moisture level. If it's totally exposed to rain/snow, you never really know how moist it'll get.

That's my theory and I'm a gonna stick to it! Are you a hottie? - Page 2 832433

**RoOsTeR** 12/3/2011, 9:48 pm

I have a few simple reasons why I toss a little cover on mine.
First and probably the biggest, is because the mice love the pile. Since the barn kitties know there are mice there, the cats get on top of it while getting the mice. Then the cats like to pooh and dig into my stack!
Second reason is, since its so cold I hope to retain at least a little heat from escaping. Don't know if it works or not, but what the hey. Keeps the cats off Very Happy

Third is because our climate is so dry, and also really windy this time of year, it helps keep the moisture in somewhat.

Also, I water my pile when I turn it. Pull it all out, and as I shovel it back in, I hose it down layer by layer. I feel it gets good coverage that way and the moisture seems to stay in better. Very Happy

staf74 12/3/2011, 9:52 pm

Amazing temp for a pile surrounded by snow!

Great pics and thanks for sharing. I really only cover my pile in heavy rain. I cover with a tarp when needed and stand a stick up in the middle to the water runs off the tarp and does not pool in the middle. It is in the shade though and so that helps keep it moist also. They say it should be like a damp sponge but water should not run out of a handful of it when squeezed.

Turning out to be a fun and most informative thread.

Thanks for all chiming in !!!

Gonna be some great compost added to our gardens come spring.

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