Are you a hottie?

Bob congrats Search for methods to compost the horse manure I have seen a way to hot compost it somewhere.

My monster pile is sinking and heating up, finally. Temp is about 115F currently. We're getting there!

So this morning before I left I shoved a metal tent rod into the pile and just left it there. After a day spent working for the world's largest retailer I rush home and guess what? The end of the rod in the pile is HOT! Now it is dark and I am fighting the urge to go out with my meat thermometer in a baggie and shoving it into the middle of the pile lol. Can this become a compulsion?

Take a look at my avatar and you will see composted horse manure and some other stuff. This used to be my compost station. I needed the pallets for another project and when I removed the outside ones I was left with ten giant soil cubes. I already had squash going in there so added sweet corn and beans. Now all thats missing is the grids

One thing I have found when composting horse manure and spoiled grass hay is that the temps are higher for me. The average when a pile takes off is around 170 F. this lasts for awhile then drops down to around the 140-150 F. range and when it gets below that I figure its time to turn the pile. Usually about every two weeks. Now the question is: When is it ready for use? A bunch of road apples don't break down. So do I just sift them out and or continue the process?
My lovely bride of 35+ years bought me a leaf eater, I am thinking of using it to try and break up the road apples before composting, that is after they have aged a bit out in the toasty sun. Am also thinking of using the leaf eater to break up the grass hay so that it is in smaller sections before adding it to the pile. Has anyone used a leaf eater to chop up long grass? Any ideas?

Gunny ,
The " Road Apples ) break down fairly easy when suitably wet ..

Perhaps give a good watering down some holes you poke into the piles the day before you rebuild the pile .

Then when you rebuild use a hose sprayer to wet well every three of four inch layer of the rebuild , then cover the pile with a plastic sheet to keep the humidity in it .

We did it!!!!! With help from my big girls and my hens, we reached Hottie status today!!!!! I have pics honest, just cannot figure how to upload them. Tab says there is no more space . Kinda sounds like my house lol. Thanks for all the help and advice.
Now the issue is going to be getting enough things together to start my next batch.

minervalong wrote: We did it!!!!! With help from my big girls and my hens, we reached Hottie status today!!!!! I have pics honest, just cannot figure how to upload them. Tab says there is no more space . Kinda sounds like my house lol. Thanks for all the help and advice.
Now the issue is going to be getting enough things together to start my next batch.

Just post the pic in this thread, not in your personal album. There is no space left in the personal albums.

I am following Boffer's most excellent directions, however do not get the copy code image. anyone know why?

Works fine on my end. I still prefer to use an offsite image hosting service like photobucket, which is typically free for most everyday users.

sometimes on my computer it take a bit of time to upload

I can help more with this tonight when I get home if need be. Just let me know

I have lost count of how many piles I have combined when they have shrunk to being too small but still needed more composting time to heat up and finish.  On one such combined pile(s) I put on my gloves and broke up bigger clumps by hand, throwing way big chunks that were too much work at the moment to the side to be added to a newer pile.  That took me about a week and boy was I sore.  Originally I put my piles together in the late fall, early winter last year and had just bits of time here and there during freezing weather.  I was hoping that being put together mixed really well and watered, they would do some good work over the winter.  It didn't do much but they did shrink down some.  They all became "hotties".  I will from now on make all ingredients very very small to begin with, especially my browns (carbons).

So when I was breaking up and combining I moistened 1/2" to 1" layers with water and mixed it up.  I had to moisten teeny layers because it seemed like no matter how much water I put on, the water would not moisten what was below.  Even after mixing up the new layer with the older, I had to re-moisten as there would be a thin dry layer.  I am now using that compost in my newest bed made with 1/3 compost, 1/3 peat moss, 1/3 vermiculite.  It is so beautiful!  I only had the old book as a reference when I built my other beds so this new bed looks and feels so very nice.

This is the pile I am using now.  The ruler is to show the size of the finished ingredients.  Some of the rabbit pellets and leaf stems are still noticeable but I am figuring that is ok.



So I had two more piles to combine and didn't have the ability to do what I did before because the weather was warming up and it was getting too hot for me.  So I decided that I would mow these two piles with my lawn mower and hopefully it would chop everything up small.  As I was tearing them apart, I pulled out volunteer weeds and lots of grub worms, fed some to my chicken and killed the rest, and killed earwigs as I could.  I put up 1/4" mesh wiring against my leaf fence to catch this finer compost and mowed little bits at a time.  When the pile got bigger, I raked it to the side, out of the way.  I got those two piles mowed and started making my new pile, wetting it every 1/2" to 1" and mixing all together, moistening it more to get it evenly moist because there were still dry spots.  I think it took me 3 days at the most, a little time spent every day.  I covered it with a tarp and stuck my thermometer in and in three or so days it went to about 110 degrees and it now sits at about 115 degrees.  It has been about two weeks.  I have before and after photos.  

Some clumps were 2-5 inches.  This is before mowing.



This picture is after mowing and before I broke up or put aside the bigger clumps and before I moistened it and mixed it up.  I got rid of any rocks.  Then I raked it all into a pile



This is today.  My pile is almost three feet high and wider than that.  Temp before was 115 degrees and it sure was very warm just barely going into the pile and got even warmer in the deep middle.  After rebuilding and moistening a little it was 90 degrees.  Keeping it covered sure holds in moisture.  My leaf corral is behind as you can see.  It is about five feet tall and ten feet wide.



So I think this will be the last work I do on this pile except to put it in some sort of container(s) for storage until I need it and have the energy to use it.

I didn't realize that people in South Carolina said "eh" too....thought that was just us Northerner's close to the Canadian border...

Thanks for the pic.  enjoyed seeing that as I have been struggling w/ the compost pile I have.. that might work better....

Welcome to the forum 2SooCrew!  Good luck on your compost pile!

The compost pile doing it's thing.

Good going camprn..... you must be feeding that thing well!  

Very nice and No fair!  

Got my supplies but have to wait till tomorrow.  Today so far 25mph winds with off and on showers and stronger wind coming this evening.

bnoles wrote:Good going camprn..... you must be feeding that thing well!   

Thanks! Feeding it? Nope, I just built it properly.

Congratulations Camprn!

Camp,  You should make a video of your materials and building/turning your piles.  You always seem to rock at composting.

I'm not a hottie yet, but I am loaded for bear come a few more months.  I have one of those green tumbler composter that I (now realize) paid a ridiculous amount of money for.  I still probably haven't gotten my money's worth and I've had it for years   .  So my hubbie, Big Mac, and I decided to go whole foods this summer and add critters to our small acreage, which in two weeks will include two piglets.  I realized I had to have a way to dispose of all the piggy poop so I guess I'll be busy creating and maintaining a hot pile of compost.  First time I've done it, but what the heck, I learned how to use a chainsaw and a log splitter for the first time last summer.  At least a compost pile won't scare me dry... 

I need to work on getting my piles hotter...the manures I add (cow and horse) are already aged and could be considered more of a brown source than green.  I do add kitchen scraps and large amounts of coffee grounds as well as shredded leaves.

It could also be my probe...it was cheap (free with my compost bin purchased through the county extension office) and has a dial-type indicator.

If I can visit a friend's cattle ranch soon I can get some fresh cow pies. 



Here's a pic of my big pile (recently turned).  It dwarfs my Geo-Bin (on the right) and my cage-type bin on the left.




Here's a pic of my small pile (about 3' high and 8' long)

kaylee wrote:I'm not a hottie yet, but I am loaded for bear come a few more months.  I have one of those green tumbler composter that I (now realize) paid a ridiculous amount of money for.  I still probably haven't gotten my money's worth and I've had it for years   .  So my hubbie, Big Mac, and I decided to go whole foods this summer and add critters to our small acreage, which in two weeks will include two piglets.  I realized I had to have a way to dispose of all the piggy poop so I guess I'll be busy creating and maintaining a hot pile of compost.  First time I've done it, but what the heck, I learned how to use a chainsaw and a log splitter for the first time last summer.  At least a compost pile won't scare me dry... 

  kaylee. Lucky to to have two piggies for compost making. They will soon grow and give you even more poop. Compost making is a fascinating subject and you will find lots of help on this forum.  
I get the feeling that compost tumblers are not exactly the favourite way by forum members here to make compost. I have one and it is not my most used item.  

I haven't looked at my pile in weeks. I should go wrestle it some tomorrow.