Front Office Football Central - View Single Post - Veggies and Varmints. ROI and Rotting. (A Real-Life Gardening/Composting Thread)

Ben E Lou · 09-27-2018, 07:11 AM

COMPOST HEAT UPDATE
Wednesday, 9/26--Measured in several places in the morning. Ranged from 158 to 163. The thermometer probe is 6 inches, and even when I didn't push it deeper than that, it was still in the upper 150s/low 160s.

Thursday, 9/27--Last night, for the first time since Florence (~10 days) we got serious rain--probably enough to get the outer parts of the pile too wet. This morning, the temperature at 6 inches was 151, but it was still in the upper 150s further in. Some more rain is expected today. I may end up turning the pile this weekend to get better wet/dry distribution.

Speaking of that, turning the pile is another area where there seems to be a pretty wide range of disagreement regarding what is the best practice. Rather than putting specific date/week times on it, I'm thinking that I'll base it on temperature. Given that so far it hasn't been hard to keep the temperature in the 150s, I'm thinking I'll just turn it when the temperature drops to around 145, to give it a few more degrees to drop at the time of the turn before it gets under weed-kill threshold.

09-27-2018, 07:11 AM	#27
Ben E Lou Morgado's Favorite Forum Fascist Join Date: Oct 2000 Location: Greensboro, NC	COMPOST HEAT UPDATE Wednesday, 9/26--Measured in several places in the morning. Ranged from 158 to 163. The thermometer probe is 6 inches, and even when I didn't push it deeper than that, it was still in the upper 150s/low 160s. Thursday, 9/27--Last night, for the first time since Florence (~10 days) we got serious rain--probably enough to get the outer parts of the pile too wet. This morning, the temperature at 6 inches was 151, but it was still in the upper 150s further in. Some more rain is expected today. I may end up turning the pile this weekend to get better wet/dry distribution. Speaking of that, turning the pile is another area where there seems to be a pretty wide range of disagreement regarding what is the best practice. Rather than putting specific date/week times on it, I'm thinking that I'll base it on temperature. Given that so far it hasn't been hard to keep the temperature in the 150s, I'm thinking I'll just turn it when the temperature drops to around 145, to give it a few more degrees to drop at the time of the turn before it gets under weed-kill threshold. __________________ The media don't understand the kinds of problems and pressures 54 million come wit'!