86°F – With the drop below 90, I decided to give this pile a good turning and consider it in the curing phase now. I’ll likely move this to the curing pit in a couple of weeks, and then not touch it again for months. It looks good already, darker than the previous pile. But of course I can still see plenty of fall leaves mixed in still as those take a long time and a different kind of microbe to break down.
Compost
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103°F
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113°F
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112°F
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110°F
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94°F
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102°F – TURNED
I gave the pile a good turning today and added about 3 cups of coffee grounds and a gallon of kitchen scraps, with a little bit more water. Little bit risky here without some more browns to add but I’m treating this like an experiment. If it starts to get smelly, I know to add browns.
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106°F
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112°F – The pile seemed a little too dry so I added some moisture in the form of urine diluted with about a gallon of water. I also added some chopped up, undiseased plants: two pea plants and a few small pole bean plants. That was not quite a bucket all chopped up.
On the old pile, it’s looking fine but in order to help it cure faster, I added some coffee grounds and water. There is still some recognizable garden straw, cardboard, and leaves needing to be smaller. So I sharpened the shovel with a file and then chopped up the pile a bit. I also added some charcoal that I’d sifted out of grow bags recently used. I let it soak with some compost in a bucket so it was very wet. I then mixed it into the pile a bit and watered to make sure there’s plenty of moisture.
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102°F
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113°F – Added about half a bucket of kitchen scraps, coffee grounds, and 3 buckets of shredded cardboard. I turned it into the pile, spraying with water along the way.
In the 2 and a half weeks since I started this pile, it has shrank in size about 25%. These new inputs and the turning puffed it up again.
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122°F
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131°F
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135°F
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131°F – a new high for this pile!
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122°F again today and I decided to give it a good turn after adding browns, greens, and diluted urine. Then carbon was torn up cardboard again dampened with water, garden straw, and dead leaves – about a bucket in total.
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122°F today in the hottest part of the pile. I poked the thermometer around a few spots to check.
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115°F – let’s go!
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105°F this morning before I started messing with it. I added:
- A bucket full of mustard leaves chopped from the hill
- Half a bucket of torn up cardboard
- Half a bucket of shredded packing paper
- 1/4 bucket of garden straw
- 1/4 bucket of kitchen scraps
- 1/2 gallon of coffee grounds
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100°F – The top of the pile seemed dry so I watered it evenly and fairly lightly.