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Silverleaves Food Forest

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Commenced:	01/02/2014
Submitted:	05/04/2014
Last updated:	07/10/2015
Location:	Silverleaves , Phillip Island, Victoria, AU
Climate zone:	Warm Temperate

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Silverleaves Food Forest

Phillip Island, AU

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Hot Compost

Project: Silverleaves Food Forest

Posted by Marion Roberts about 10 years ago

First attempt at making hot compost. All suggestions welcome

After reading "The Permaculture Home Garden" by Linda Woodrow I thought I'd give hot compost a go using local pony poo, wood-chipped garden prunings and seaweed. To deter rats, possums, rabbits etc I am not putting kitchen scraps into compost - they go into a "Hungry Bin" worm farm.

Here are my first two piles following the "lasagna method" starting with the chipped garden prunings and layered with manure and seaweed, wetting down between layers and building into a dome. I made three airholes using a star picket and covered with straw. After a week the compost had heated up nicely with some good fungus present. I turned each pile and left another 6 days. Unfortunately by this time both piles had lost their heat - meaning microbes were no longer doing their thing. I ended up combining the two into one larger pile and as they both seemed a little dry I wet down well along the way. Here's hoping it warms up again in a day or two !

I also need to check out the source of my pony poo supplier as to whether any medications are being used ...

Comments (8)

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Richard Larson : The basic ingrediants are 1/3 manure 1/3 dry material and 1/3 green (recently alive) plant and leaf material, mixed together, more mixed than lasagna type layering, and piled up a meter high. Then the process is to turn in four days, then every two days thereafter, outside to in, the whole process is finished in eighteen days. Geoff Lawton teaches this method in his PDC (the 2014 course signup ends today).

This is called the Berkeley Method and is designed to allow oxygen into the mixture. There are many more species of bacteria that will work in oxygen and these will break down the material licky split!

Here I am on this video working such a pile, started the shortly after I learned it from Geoff while taking his PDC:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j-O2CUyziP8

Posted about 10 years ago

Richard Larson : Opps, I just read you are taking a course. Good for you!

Posted about 10 years ago

Marion Roberts : Thanks Richard - yes I am taking the course and have so far only read about but not tried the Berkeley method. As I am living partly in the city and working on the permaculture project on weekends and whenever else I can get away - turning 4 days then 2 days wasn't possible for my first pile. I turned first after 6 days and it was really warm, but after another 6 days .... cold. I will definitely try the Berkeley Method when the timing works. I think I have the proportions right at least. Thanks so much for your comments. I will watch the youtube tomorrow M

Posted about 10 years ago

Richard Larson : Maybe you ought not watch it. It will be more interesting watching Geoff go through it. :-)

Posted about 10 years ago

Karen Lenehan : Marion, I have made a compost pile following the Berkeley Method, turned it after 4 days, then 2 days but then the turnings were a week apart and sometimes a fortnight. It took 3 months to get a beautifully broken down compost doing it this way. Each time I turned it I added some Molasses or grass clippings or old compost to give it a bit of a burst. So, what I am saying is, you will still get a lovely compost but not in 18 days (but still faster than a cold compost) and the size will diminish.

Posted about 10 years ago

Marion Roberts : Thanks Karen - I'll just have to work around my timing constraints and accept a slower process. Got a fresh bag of lawn clippings while out walking today so will take your advice and add that to the two piles I'll be turning tomorrow. Patience has never been my strong point but good to know I'll get there in the end. Thank you

Posted about 10 years ago

Adrian Baiada : Hey Marion, the Berkley is a great method and I also had a chance to play around with it with Geoff but its only one of many methods out there. I was in a similar situation with not being able to turn every 2 days so I went for more of a Static Composting method - cold compost - which takes longer as Karen said, but the benefits you get are great and not talked about all too often. With less turning you build up a strong fungal population which is key in all gardens regardless if your growing herbacious or woody plants.

Look up Malcom Beck along with Uta Lubke (Controlled Microbial Composting - from Biodynamics) for more info on the nutty wonderful world of composting.

Good luck

Adrian

Posted almost 10 years ago

Karen Lenehan : I think Adrian makes a really good point here. Hot compost is not the be all and end all. It provides a lot of organic matter in a very short time, killing off weed seed and potential pathogens. It turns out an alkaline substance though and it is not necessarily more useful as a "fertiliser" than a cold compost. I have found the cold compost is far more nutritious and is acidic, which I prefer. Sure you get some weeds. I think the best result could be something in between. Make your compost pile in one go, as in a hot compost, keep it hot for say up to 10 days to kill off the seeds etc and then leave it for the worms to do the rest. That way you keep a lot more of the nitrogen and you get an actual compost rather than just organic matter. What do you think?

Posted almost 10 years ago

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