Are you a hottie?

Woo-Hoo!  Lookin' good...!

GWN wrote:I too am impressed by your setup..... and envious of the temps you have achieved.  I am a seasonal hottie, and would like to push the seasons.
A local yard cleaning company owed me a favour and have been dropping off loads of leaves and yesterday a load of lawn clippings, so HOPE to build a hot compost tomorrow.

My eyes popped out about what you got.  I am so bad about getting excited about compost ingredients, lol!  Good luck Gwn!

I read more and realized that you already used it.  Duh!  So excited for your hottieness!  (I'm sure that's a word)!

Congratulations Camprn!

Thanks everyone. I hope to get this to a usable product within the next two weeks. A lot of the breakdown occurred in the winter. :-)

Finally.  A couple of days ago I turned/sifted compost and then added some chopped leaves and grass.  It had gotten way too wet when the  bin lid wasn't quite on tight.  Added it in layers with the wet stuff.  Also added some expired soy protein powder.  Went out this afternoon and lifted the lid and found this:

Well done!

We spent several hours and two  chippers yesterday and chipped up a large pile of leaves/grass (that had gotten clumpy)   and so HERE WE ARE  24 hours later    

Oh and here is my compost haven,  3 large piles in a row  each 3-4 feet high

piles are mighty impressive!!  We still don't have it down.  I had to purchase some the other day.

GreatGranny and GWN, A couple of hotties!   

Camp, How is your hot stuff doing?

Just my two cents.  I use the hot and cold methods in separate piles, of course.  But, since the cold method doesn't require turning, how to feed it?  I got an auger for my drill, about 2.5' long with a 3" turn.  I drill several holes down into the cold pile and fill them with fresh green scraps, some water, and cover it back over.  *shrug*  Works for me.

sanderson wrote:GreatGranny and GWN,  A couple of hotties!    

Camp,  How is your hot stuff doing?

It's still warm but I am starting to use it.

Cooling down and will probably have to turn sometime later this week.  Hope the rain forecast is wrong.  Have had gully gushers for 2 days and more headed this way.

I showed my husband your compost picture and he went out and made me one!

Thank you

When mine gets good like yours I will share a pic!

I would love to see the pictures..hint hint!

Strange that this topic should be in todays reading list.
 I've just finished making MM for 60 sq feet ( ish )  @ 9 inches deep for my new high raised brick built beds . I used three " Daleks " worth , 600 litres of coarse vermiculite and 13  12 x12 x 5 inch deep compressed coir blocks , each block rehydrated in large trash cans in 30 litres of slightly soapy water .

 The compost heaps used were some three years old of fully finished Berkley style compost .
Two of them were weathered to the elements since Nov last year . Instead of being the usual 3 feet high they had shrunk to 30 inches tall . I also have three more  unused Daleks of compost that I made and finished from last year .

 That all done I have tidied up the work area and made up this years four compost bins  then power washed off the concrete working area.

 My plastic " Dalek "lidded composter bins  are sat on some industrial grade 2 millimetre / 1/12 th of an inch thick tough as old boots heavy duty black plastic sheeting .

As I prepared to start refilling the first Dalek I had a brain storm moment .... " Why not drop an inch or so of some left over vermiculite in the base of the Dalek ? "   This would absorb any juices produced by the composting action rather than as at present it draining off the sheets into the ground .. much to the delight of our dog ..YUK!

 So I duly laid the vermiculite in and then undid my first poly sack of last years stable muck.. Euerghhhh "  rain had entered the sack necks and turned the some of the contents into a thick green stinking to high heavens mess . 
Rather than try and sort it I chucked more vermiculite around the sack &  slit the sides of the sack like a peeled banana ,  then forked out just under half of it into the Dalek as the first layer of compostable  material to go on top of the vermiculite ,
I've added an equal volume of last years mulched oak leaves that has some decomposition in them and an equal volume of all household veg , garden waste & other food waste that has been cold composting this last year in another Dalek .

 I found two more " stinky liquid manure "  type sacks , by the end of the day was able to totally fill three complete Daleks for this years composting effort .  I ended up with two buckets of juice soaked vermiculite around the sack cutting area so spread that on the second layer from the top on all the bins .
 My thinking behind the use of the vermiculite to soak up the juices is that it should hold the nutrients whist the water vapour evaporates away to the atmosphere it will be incorporated into the first turning of the heap after the initial burst of heat & moisture producing activity has declined a bit  .

So far I have completed two (2) Berkeley compost piles this year. They were started May 7 and June 26. I'll start building the 3rd one tomorrow after I collect culls from the farmer's markets tonight and Saturday morning.

Here is my question. Will alfalfa hay work as a green in place of horse manure? My college source of horse manure is empty! I have a half a bale of alfalfa hay to add plus bedding straw and culls.

Thanks in advance.

sanderson wrote:So far I have completed two (2) Berkeley compost piles this year.  They were started May 7 and June 26.  I'll start building the 3rd one tomorrow after I collect culls from the farmer's markets tonight and Saturday morning.

Here is my question.  Will alfalfa hay work as a green in place of horse manure?  My college source of horse manure is empty!  I have a half a bale of alfalfa hay to add plus bedding straw and culls.

Thanks in advance.

yes, it will heat up the pile but there may not be a lot of nitrogen left over.

Add blood meal? If yes, how much.

A few handsfull?

Good. That's the amount I added to the last pile (just finished resting pile). I should have stated it this way: Will adding blood meal make up for the lack of any horse manure this time?

I located an expensive horse show/training stable within 2-3 miles. I hope DH can pick up some manure there this morning. Probably gold and silver plops that don't stink.

LOL

Double side tumbler composter



Compost in Process



Start of New Compost



Finished Compost in Storage

I'm borrowing a bunch of everyone's ideas from other threads as I prepare for the fall/winter. I may grow garlic and put up something of a hot house together to see if my chili plants and some of my tomatoes will survive the So Cal winter. Last year I was surprised to see one of my cherry tomato plants survive and produce this year. I have metal conduit with screening over a couple of my raised beds, so I might buy some plastic sheeting to cover it...but I need to think through my plans a bit more. Thanks for your great ideas.

As part of my preparation for the spring, I started a compost pile. I got free cow and horse manure (Chino daires), bought chicken manure and added about 30-40 lbs of coffee grounds (thank you Starbucks). I also added a bit of fish emulsion but not enough to blow out the neighbors, lOl! My other neighbor tore out his grass (to put in a desert style landscape) and the gardener left a bunch of the dried grass in my green bin and before I used it I checked to make sure they didn't use pesticides....Carbon gift.

Here is a pic of my thermometer after 3 days. I may be Nitrogen heavy, as I know I don't have C30:N1 by weight, as I read somewhere, but I do have fairly equal amounts by volume, as I read somewhere else. Since it heated up so quickly I'm slightly concerned. I do have a more grass clippings to add just in case. My compost isn't nearly as beautiful as the picture might give the impression. I think I had just added the coffee grounds and it was evening when I took the pic, so the compost in the background appears dark and rich, but the pic doesn't tell the whole story.  

You should be okay.  Just watch and if it goes over 160, turn it.  Otherwise the high temps will kill the composting bacteria and an anaerobic type bacteria will take over.  I've never had it happen but understand that the pile will get stinky at that point.  

My last pile was up to 160 around the 4th or 5th day (going by memory) and never went over that.  

I just put that pile to rest and started a new one. Composting is addictive, LOL!