Hot beds with wood chips?

[Tania]

Originally Posted by Redbaron

Turning heats it up faster.

Even if it is fungi-dominant??

The reason I started to doubt that is that after turning my hot (140F) wood chips pile it cooled down significantly (to 100F) and then it took about 10 days to get it heated back to 126F

[Worth1]

Originally Posted by Tania

Even if it is fungi-dominant??

The reason I started to doubt that is that after turning my hot (140F) wood chips pile it cooled down significantly (to 100F) and then it took about 10 days to get it heated back to 126F

Your right, the only reason you would want to turn the chips is after they started to cool down.
This way you would incorporate new non decomposed wood into the mix that is on the surface.

Worth

[Tania]

I am thinking that adding some perforated pipes at the bottom of the wood chips pile, and perhaps every 2' as you build up the height would help to aerate the pile, and no turning will be necessary. We may try that and see if it works.

[Redbaron]

Originally Posted by Tania

Even if it is fungi-dominant??

The reason I started to doubt that is that after turning my hot (140F) wood chips pile it cooled down significantly (to 100F) and then it took about 10 days to get it heated back to 126F

Turned it while hot? The idea is to turn it after it cools down to get it to heat back up. I guess I should have clarified my answer better.

The reason turning helps is that the center of the pile generally decomposes faster and is hotter. After it cools down the outside might not be fully decomposed compared to the inside. So mixing the outer parts which haven't broken down towards the inside will generally get your cooled down pile to heat back up. Not quite as hot, nor lasting quite as long generally, but that's because there is less new material that still needs decomposed.

After a few times turning like this though, you'll quickly run out of fresh material to heat up the pile. That's when you then can either add more or begin to use the compost. It's done.

[Tania]

Scott, it makes total sense. Thank you!

[Heritage]

Tania,

Very interesting research, thank you for posting

If you don't already have one, I think a compost thermometer (probe) would be a big help. They are not "too" pricey and will give you a temperature reading deep in the pile where it is the hottest. An accurate reading at the hottest point will give you good indication of what is going on with the microbes.

I imagine you have already read much about the physics behind composting, but, for others following this thread, I thought this short article was interesting
Physics of Composting. I especially thought it was interesting that piles are usually turned or aerated when the temp reaches 60-65C (140-150F) to avoid killing the beneficial microbes. This might be where your perforated pipes would come in handy?

I will enjoy following your progress!

Steve

[Tania]

Steve,

Thank you! That makes me feel better about turning the hot pile - I know Stan had a good reason to do the turning!

The pile is still warm. 125F in the middle.

[Tania]

OK, the pile has cooled down to 90F 4 weeks after it was started. Mushrooms and plasmodium (aka slime mold) appeared overnight.

I am a bit disappointed, as it did not hold heat as long as I hoped for. Plus the slime mold is not something I wanted there. LOL.

The second pile that Stan keeps adding coffee and another wood chips layer once a week keeps warm on the outside and hot inside. It did not show any cooling down trend (3 weeks and counting). However, this pile is already 3' tall and getting larger.

The first pile did not receive any additional material after the end of the first week.

The conclusion so far -

I can probably expect about 3-4 weeks of 'hot bed' effect after building the initial 2' tall pile. This means that the seedlings can be brought outside in early March and left there for the night. (as opposed to early April when we can usually do that).

I can probably leave my potted pepper plants outside in such 'hot bed' up until early November. We usually bring them indoors in early October.

Makes me wonder if we could be more successful with building the hot beds with straw bales or hay bales... The only issue with these is we will not be able to incorporate coffee grounds into the bales (as they are all compressed), and will have to use expensive blood meal (although urine is another option)

[Tracydr]

Couldn't you use coffee grounds or maybe, poultry manure, to seed the bales? Also, maybe using alfalfa bales would work. They get so hot that they can actually start a fire in a barn.

[Tania]

Did more research last night about the straw and hay bales. They heat up. But looks like they will only hold the heat for up to 2 weeks maximum.

So we are back to wood chips

[Tracydr]

I had a rotting alfalfa bale that we had carried here on our truck for my horse. ( it was good when we left and we got a ton of rain). It's still really warm in the middle of the flakes, although I broke it apart to help air and threw the flakes on top of the horse trailer shavings to seed my new compost pile. I let bigger things and slower stuff go into this big pile and have a tumbler which I started from the horse trailer shavings mixed with manure, too. I add kitchen scraps and coffee grounds to the tumbler along with some leaf litter and pine straw. The big pile gets poultry bedding,etc.
Tania-I started some very small trees, along with a couple of dwarf peach trees on berms that I built and covered with stall cleanings. ( shavings and manure. They were slightly warm when I planted but I don't know for how long. Those trees, though, did fantastic!

[Tania]

Tracy,

how big is your alfalfa bale? I am curious how long it stayed hot (over 130F)