New Compost Pile

Yesterday I started a new compost pile with the help of a few volunteers. The compost pile contains the following materials:



20% High Nitrogen

• 1 bale of alfalfa
• 10 gallons of chicken manure

40% Green Materials

• Bell pepper plants harvested from a mycorrhizal fungi experiment
• Flowers and other plant materials from edible landscape garden (damaged from the frost)

40% Brown Materials

• Leaves mainly Oak leaves
• corn stalks

Data collected at 8 am in the morning unless otherwise noted.

Date	Temp 1	Temp 2	Temp 3	Avg Temp	Moisture 1	Moisture 2	Moisture 3	Turned	Notes
10/19/12
10/20/12	160	162	158	160	50	60	45	Yes	1
10/21/12	152	162	160	158	60	50	45	Yes	2
10/22/12	148	152	153	151	50	50	50	Yes	3
10/23/12	150	150	153	151	50	50	50	Yes	4
10/24/12	152	150	150	151	50	50	50	Yes	5
10/25/12	150	148	148	149	50	45	50	No	6
10/26/12	145	145	150	147	40	45	50	Yes	7
10/27/12	100								8
10/28/12	60

Notes

1. The temperature rose to 160 degrees Fahrenheit in about 20 hours. I hope my microbes had time to go into a dormant stage before getting cooked! I smelled some ammonia coming from the pile. Materials from Alane Webber's demonstration pile were added to this compost pile. Her compost pile had gone anaerobic because we were busy and did not check on the pile in time. Flies were all over the pile. Today just a few were noticed on the compost pile. I expect that if I can keep the pile aerobic the flies will be gone soon.

2. The pile still smells like ammonia, but not as bad as yesterday. Moisture still was not very uniform. I made a good effort to mix the pile when turning. Near the bottom of the pile some actinobacteria was present. I noticed one bad smelling spot near the bottom as well.

3. This morning temps were good. The pile smelled a little like ammonia in some spots. By 12:30pm the temps had dropped to 140F and the flies were gathering around the pile. So Richard and I quickly turned the pile. After we turned temperature was 100F and maintained that temp when I checked again at 5:30pm.

4. Temperature was good this morning, but again I was smelling ammonia so we turned it. If I could go back I would add more leaves or wood chips and a little less alfalfa.

5. The ammonia smell was much less today, but still it needed to be turned. I have actinobacteria growing all over the pile. I believe putting the compost pile on a pallet will allow more air to get into the pile.

6. Temps were good and smelled ok. I decided not to turn today.

7. The temp was 147F today. I smelled some ammonia and the pile was too dry in some parts. We turned the pile to add oxygen and redistribute the moisture. To help keep the aerobic conditions in the compost we put the pile on pallet to allow oxygen to come in through the bottom. We also made an airway in the very center of the pile using some wood

8. The temp was 100F today. When we added the airway and the pallet yesterday, we broke up the thermal mass of the compost and it was unable to store the heat inside the pile. This technique may be better suited in the hot summer. We are going to incorporate this compost in a new compost pile, because we need compost that meets the USDA National Organics Program regulations for compost. The compost was turned 6 times, but it dropped below 131F during the 15 days period, so we couldn't use it unless we handled it as if it were manure.  When it goes into the new pile it will be considered a brown material.