Agree. I did that with leaves(trying for leaf mold), but ended up with nice dark 'fungifide' leaf mulch for the bed, and am currently doing the pile and rot compost method with my table scraps at the back of the property under shady conditions. Just apply water.
20:1 - 40:1 (ideally 30:1) is the bulletproof range for obtaining a usable product from "hot" (i.e. fast) composting. Granted, it takes some effort to get it right but this is it, period.
Its good to do hot compost when you first start a farm and need a quick source of compost. As you have enough compost you can resort to cold composts as you are not in so much need!
Excellent video, subbed. I like your perspective. We're relatively new gardeners and built beds a couple years ago. We did what I assume most new gardeners do, bought a trailer load of compost from a facility. We planted, watered and fertilized. Our results were less than optimal. This year we made our own compost. We did everything wrong (too hot,too wet, not enough carbon, it stank etc.), but I turned it 7 times and it looked finished after 40 days. We trialed and recorded it against the facilities compost and "Premium" bagged compost. The results are amazing. What we learned, Fak the rules and make a pile it'll be better than anything "organic" you can buy and it only cost your time!!
Hot composting is slow composting in a compressed time - there is no real difference. As a tip, don't try and grow plants - grow soil. Thats all its about. Good compost is all you need. I layer woodchips up to 4 inches over the top of my vegies, never ever let them blend with the soil below and I never need to water. Add nitrogen to the woodchips from chicken poo, compost tea, sea weed etc.
Great subject and video. I can't wait to read all the butthurt comments. I did a similar experiment last year. I took all of my grass clippings from mowing the lawn and mixed in some of my neighbor's leaves, some food scraps and inoculated it with humus from an old mixed hardwood woodlot. I never watered it just let the rain do that. Never turned it. Just before first snow this year most of it turned to some real nice soil. Took 7 months. My lawn is a mix of different weeds and wild grass, clover etc. No chemicals of any kind ever used on it. I have another small pile I made during the course of the past Summer. It's under the snow right now. Can't wait to see how it turns out. Look forward to an update on your pile. Thanks.
Thank you for giving us a less stressed out - strict approach to this subject. Gardening should be fun. When I am concerned about the brown part, I use cardboard. That white fungus and earthworms both seem to love it.
If you do notice bad smells, you might be able to just add a piece of 4" PVC with holes, like for a leach bed septic horizontally under your pile, when you build it or after you turn it to help with air and water flow through your pile. We use these pipes under our goat bedding compost, in conjunction with a leaf blower to push the air through. It keeps the temp at 120-130 and there is virtually no smell. breaks down in a few weeks in warm weather. we just scrape the top off to add to the next pile, then use the tractor bucket to move it to the storage area.
I'm in Canada, so I live in a cold climate with a short growing season. In the winter any compost pile freezes solid. I used to make cold compost (mainly from weeds and dead leaves), and the result was good, although it would take about 4 or 5 years to have good compost. In 2015 I made my first hot compost pile, and used some old cold compost, weeds, leaves and some straw from a friend's chicken coop, so it was covered with chicken manure. I also put in some old newspapers. I made the pile in late September, and turned it 3 or 4 times in October. So the composting took place in October and November before every thing froze up in December. I used the compost the following Spring (May), and it was very good. The second time I made hot compost was in October 2018, from similar ingredients, but I didn't have time to turn it. Again I used it in the Spring, and the compost turned out OK, but there was still some undecomposed straw and twigs. Last Fall I made "hot" compost for a third time. I made most of my pile in October, but didn't add water. The hot composting process started anyway because of all the rain we had. In November I added a large amount of leaves from my neighbour (he has 6 mature silver maples, but the leaves fall in November), as well as the straw from my friend's chicken coop, tripling the size of the pile. I also added water. Unfortunately we had an early winter this year and the pile didn't have time to heat up again (It snowed a few days after I completed the pile). What I expect is the pile has a nearly-composted core that decomposed in October and the outer part added in November is non-decomposed. In April I'll turn it and try to get the hot composting process started again, so that hopefully I can use it in late May. I hope we have a mild April, the last two years we had cold Springs, Hopefully the pile will have thawed out by early April.
Last year, I had someone pull a whole mess of weeds from my gardens and put them in a low spot in my yard. My plan was to burn them, little by little over time (it's BIG pile), but I didn't get to it last year. I started burning it, little by little, this spring, but now I'm thinking I'll just let it continue to cold compost - and fill it in with more weeds that I have an over-abundance of (again) - and use whatever the result is to fill in that low spot (it's a sizeable low spot). I'm all in on the "let's see what happens!"
I’ve been trying to get my compost pile over 125 for a year. Yesterday I got it to 148. I’ve always believed that hard work pays dividends. I have worked hard to get here and I have to believe that hot compost is best, because it requires so much more work.
Diego, thanks. I’ve been struggling with why we recommend the high energy Berkeley (hot pile) Compost Method, vs a cold pile method. Hot promises to eliminate weed seed and disease, but is exceptionally difficult to do correctly. As you mention, brown and green aren’t available in the same season. Temp and moisture management, and the amount labor to turn a cubic yard every 2-3 days go beyond being a chore. Cold pile is add and manage as you have time and materials available. As you say, maybe a better product, and how many of us need the promised weed and disease free result.
Cold composting still needs a fairly similar ratio, and if it is just nitrogen then it will simply rot. The process is the same. Cold compost should also be turned at least twice. Berkely method is all about assembling your ingredients first. I assemble nitrogen and then when I am ready simply organise carbon - it is usually free from many local sources.
I don't have a garden and I just started to compost today. The reason I'm doing it is my food waste doesn't go to the landfill and contribute a little bit not having a lot of methane or CO2. I'm glad you explained the hot compost thing. Even if my contribution is small I'm glad to know this.
Hey I dig it I compost I get a lot during winter never flipped it or worried about percentages and by June or July zone 6 looked pretty darn good so I’d say I cold compost 95 percent of time I kinda throw it and forget it cause so busy but it works
I like your more relaxed version of composting ...lol...just getting people to do post is what’s important...as you said...it will breakdown. Making it to complicated will detour people from even trying it. What’s the hurry? Lol..my pile can be pretty relaxed at times. 😬😬
I’m still catching up on a lot of your videos. Great stuff. Slower does seem to have many advantages, and also seems to be more natural. It’s simple. It’s complicated. Love it.
H from BELMAR NJ i I like your thoughts I've been composting for years I use a 55gal Mantis Tumblr not a Compost pile I don't always get my Tumblr very hot sometimes I do. I feel it depends on what material you have to work with. I compost For the following Spring planting season Then I Start all over.
My cold compost is absolute growth fuel! Put it in a whole when you plant and watch the plant fly! I dont try make it cold but i always have more brown than green so it may get hot at points but it never holds it and i highly doubt it is all the way through. Completely different colour and texture than anything ive ever seen for sale and the ammout of worms i find in it is insane.
Most of my compost is a BIG (6x4x10) pile of somewhat mulched leaves that I keep trying to throw veg scrap, coffee, and wood ash into. In the spring, it's practically wriggling with 8 in nightcrawlers (centipedes, wood roaches, more). All the veg "disappears" real fast, even though only the lower middle of the pile steams at all. I've been turning it quite often to "heat it up" but it's still too leafy to go "hot". I'm leaving it alone for the winter / early spring, and I'm looking forward to the results!
1 CO2 is heavier then air, and sinks. Take a bucket of dry ice, add water and hang it. the fog falls because it is heavier then air. Also used to gas rats in a CO2 chamber, that worked safely as the CO2 suffocated the rats lower in the chamber, but was safe to reach into to add more rats. 2 Plants consume CO2 and thus composting near plants gives them a boost before the nutrients are even rendered.
in the words of my grandfather (as i was explaining that youtubers talked about the C:N ratio), put in what you can and let nature takes it's course. i'm doing a cold compost too as an experiment, (along with a tumbler and bury, which i hope it'll turn into a vermicompost), i think it's teaching me patience. Its February in the state of Maryland, and i'm sure once it warms up around april or may, that's when it's gonna speed up.
I started a cold compost, I didn't have much brown. It was mostly grass clippings. It took 8-10 months without turning. It still did shrink significantly and stunk the entire time until it finally broke down most of the way. I now am planning to do hot compost just to stop the smell if nothing else.
I didnt want to buy carbon material so i got a bunch of bags of leaves. Once I start cutting the lawn again next spring I will mix it accordingly. Hopefully it does better this year.
In terms losing carbon to the air via digestion: Wouldn’t hot and cold will leave you with the same end result, just the hot compost means the nutrients that leave the pile do so more rapidly?
Remembered a significant reason to Hot Compost. Under the new Produce Safety regs, If you don’t manage your compost so it’s hot and efficient, you treat it as raw manure. That means a very long time between application and planting.
That's what I am doing. I am in no mood to be turning smelly compost. Besides, good things come to those who wait.ps. that is how I am changing my landscape keepmadding stuff to the bed every 2 days as I get to it until I get my ground evened out as I have a terraced land . But I want it braking down super slow
I mean, I just threw in shiz load of leaves that I raided from the streets and whatever was left of my tomatoes. Just chuck em all in the pile. Basically will just leave it until next season, hopefully after this winter it will be broken down. It's even good even if it's not totally broken down as I use it with wood chips as mulch. Fungus galore hopefully
If you really want to "Cold Compost," the simplest way to do it is to divide you enormous pile into smaller individual piles. Hot compost is very difficult to do when it's smaller than 1 cubic yard (3'x3'x3'), The space between every pile can be only a couple inches, enough for air to circulate . Also, you can more than triple the speed of your "Cold Compost" by introducing something that will quickly break down the material, the most well known is red worms, ie vermicompost. Just ensure the pile never gets hotter than about 85 degrees, at 90 degrees F the worms will die.
@@DiegoFooter Dividing into smaller piles decreases insulation allowing heat to escape. Can be essential for not killing your worms which die at 90 degrees F.
Just tell the haters mother nature has been cold composting basically forever and it seems to be working pretty good lol....P.S I do both, nutrients are more readily available in hot compost but cold adds a lot more structure to the soil in my experience
I like your testing approach. In NorCal I have a small compost heap that I rarely get right, I just let it go and if it takes a year, it takes a year. I do have a different question though. Can I improve the municipal compost I can get at a rate of 100 gals/week. It is totally HOT compost, and comes to the pickup site about 95% done, but still breaking down a bit. Dr Elaine Ingham has had negative things to say about muni compost, and without a 400x microscope I don't know how to verify [or not] her claim that all the good microbes are likely dead. I do let my muni pile sit for a month or 2 before using it, but I wish I had a programmatic way to "improve" it as that last 5% of breakdown and cool down takes place. Have you ever thought about that issue? It is such a ready resource, I'd rather see people [my self included] garden with muni compost, then not garden at all because we don't use this weed suppression and organic matter resource.
I have used a lot of muni compost in the past knowing that it will finish breaking down and get re-introduced to bacteria when I add it to the soil. I think making a big static pile of it if you have the room wouldn't hurt to address those concerns.
I'd recommend throwing some red worms into your pile, and each pile shouldn't be larger than about 2' square. In a couple weeks or longer depending on the size of your worm colony, your plant compost will be converted to fecal matter, infinitely better than regular compost
Diego all piles reduce in size cold or hot ... all piles release gases .... the point is PLANT HARVEST ADD COMPOST AND REPEAT...... Great videos keep'em coming!!!!
Of course, if a person were to be REALLY all that worried about CO2 escaping from their compost pile, they could always do their composting inside a high tunnel with some veggies .. any heat that is generated will help keep the tunnel nice and warm during the fall, winter, and early spring .. and anything that can reduce the cost of energy makes me happy :)
FYI. I run out of browns every year in May, but I stockpile shredded paper most of the year for a brown. Be warned, though, that it's super high in C:N, about three times higher than leaves, so a little goes a long way. However, it works during the summer when you're flooded with greens and have no browns. Whoever said the dozens of Capitol One Visa junk mailers they get each week were worthless? :-)
I know I’m not the smartest tool in the shed lol, but wouldn’t it make sense to make your compost pile in a greenhouse where those gases would be feeding the plants since that is what they breathe?
I love compost. My challenge is I often get tree curious roots growing many of feet outside the adjacent tree canopy and growing up into my pile from underneath as it cures. Then they branch into the pile and feast. They do the same with cracks in my worm bin. makes it hard to remove root bound compost. In the book "farmers of 40 centuries" (published just over 100 years ago) the author documents the widespread practice in Asian countries of valuing organic byproducts and returning every last bit of organic material back into the fields or garden through compost, usually made in pits. I imagine this helped retain the moisture. I live in Florida where heavy rains will run nutrients out of an uncovered pile, which is undesirable. And sun will dry it out. So Plastic covering helps, and i use reclaimed plastic for this but often wonder how to do it plastic free. Great video on topic of hot vs warm.
You could just cover it in a soil cap. It's a lot of soil, but one way of doing it. Also, build the pile on the beds, so any drainage goes into the area you will be growing in. That's my eventual goal.
In the '50s my giant grass-clipping + manure + a little carbon piles were all very hot. I composted a dead cat. I noticed it all disappeared after spreading in about 10 days. A lot of work. Was there a better way?
The reason carbon is released is because bacteria are inefficient at utilizing carbon. When fungi grow they put down carbon in their cell walls using it much more efficiently. Therefore in a hot pile that utilizes some form of high nitrogen material the bacteria will have a party and a lot of carbon will volatilize. It seems like this would happen in high nitrogen material whether it was in your compost or not. Fungi are the only microbes able to utilize structurally complex carbon compounds so it doesn't seem like you'd be losing any of the brown material you put in no matter how you compost it. I think your pile will break down into some usable organic matter and stay aerobic. It doesn't seem like there's enough high nitrogen material for the bacteria to go berserk and use up all the oxygen. Also those mustard stalks could probably be considered brown material.
Hot composting has a HUGE volume of mycelium. Cold composting is not "Cold" its just not as hot. Its almost the exact same process - cold composting hits 60c then falls to 30c for the remainder and does fundamentally the same thing slowly. Anything else is just fermenting and rotting which is worse.
Diego, I like this, I have never stressed about the balance of compost. However, why harvest a cover crop and go through the work of moving it? Was this just for this experiment? Thanks and look forward to seeing results.
No, not an experiment. If you just chop and drop it in place then it won't compost in place and turn to humus. I am not tilling, so I don't have the option of tilling it into the soil. If I wanted to keep it around as long as possible it has to turn to humus and that has to be done via composting. I can also use that compost on other beds versus leaving it on the bed where it was grown. I think that is what you are looking for based on your question.
@@DiegoFooter IMO the biggest advantage of any kind of Compost Pile even Cold is to build the biological community of microbes, even if they're fewer. You can till the greens directly into the soil as an amendment before seeding, but what you want to compost will break down even slower (may not be an issue) but can also generate some heat (may be significant to seedlings, all depends on concentrations and positioning). So, compost piles are probably still best unless your plants are very mature.
@@ThisIsATireFire The problem all composting tries to solve is to promote decomposition, given enough time even mastadons will decompose. But if you want something to decompose within a reasonable amount of time you have to first increase surface area by chopping into smaller pieces
Because you end up with a very fine layer of chop on the soil surface. Most of that just burn off without turning to humus. A plant laying on the ground by itself doesn't compost. It just desicates and eventually breaks down. Great for a meadow, but not a production system.
I do both. Depending on how much materials I have on hand. Lately I have plenty thanks to Laura and Delta. With either method I use two things to capture the lost nutrients. I always spray my piles with EM1 or Lactobacillus. It converts the nutrients into complex molecules the plants love and is more stable, it kills bad pathogens and helps keep the hot pile around 130f. I also dust the top of my piles with biochar in an attempt to capture any off gassing of nutrients, kinda kills two birds with one stone kinda thing. But that’s just me.
@@DiegoFooter when one controls the ingredients of their compost in a way that you have we refer to that as "high dollar" meaning premium versus the scrounge method- using whatever occurs to you regardless of quality and seed presence ... it all works as long as we PLANT HARVEST FEED SOIL AND REPEAT 👌👍👊
Brian, there's plenty of content about this on YT but happy to share what I have learned in a short comment. Basically, different materials break down faster or slower. "Greens" break down easier/faster and thus the microorganisms like bacteria which are more prevalent in the warmer beginning stages of a pile. The high movement and farts of the bacteria cause the pile to heat up, and water evaporation from the greens gets trapped and adds to this. After some time, the pile cools and fungi and worms step in to break down the remainder like wood chips which takes longer and does not create heat. If new to composting, definitely check out Diego's, Charles Dowding channels to understand what are greens/browns and dive deeper into it. Overall, don't overcomplicate it and give it a try at home! Nothing beats learning through experience!
@@DiegoFooterAll piles will go anaerobic if you don't turn it, turning introduces oxygen to the core which influences the balance between aerobic and anaerobic.
I think you could zoom into any pile and fine some volume of soil that has gone anaerobic. Remember this pile is in contact with the ground. Bugs and insects will be in the pile aerate it. I am confident that most of the pile will not be anaerobic for any significant period of time.
My question is: how are you measuring the net release of off gasses, to compare against another "hot" pile you've had? It's a nice presentation, but I'm not sure the rate of decomposition will reduce the net volatility. Yes you can slow the rate, but the material is no longer living cells and the same quantity of cells will still be reduced to macromolecules and base components. With nothing but the microbes to fix those reduced compounds, what they don't absorb for reproduction will likely just be released into the soil solution and then atmosphere (if at a slower rate). Good luck though and have fun.
@@DiegoFooter ok ty, I was just curious. In that case you should be correct. The heat is a result from the combined metabolism and respiration of the bacterial colonization. Less heat, less bacteria, slower decomposition Good luck with your results
IMO concern about gas release is pointless. Does it make a difference when you allow dead material to naturally decompose vs composting? Gonna happen either way. But, composting will lock more carbon into a usable form which can be absorbed by plants.
I agree, when and if I become 60 or 90, still making compost I will not be able to turn the compost. I will not be turning the compost now either. Nature is not turning the organic matter either, so I will go with the natural process. I you feel more virtuous, turning and sweating, is all right.
John Jeavons (in your quote at 3:16) is plainly wrong in his assertions. The 178F number to kill near all pathogens comes from sterilization procedures that take minutes, and are correct in that regard. A compost pile is hot over weeks. Over such a timespan, 140F is more than sufficient, its just that the charts for longer-term sterilization are a bit harder to find, hence missunderstandings like these happen. He didn't do his research properly enough and is spreading missinformation, through no bad intention I am sure.
How about not composting at all. Because if you push the reflection further cold composting is still using energy(carbon) outside of the space you want it used. By mulching the material on garden beds or fields you are using the material as muclh, to protect the soil from the sun (germination of most weeds, burning of O.M),from the water (crusting, leaching, erosion) and from yourself (tilling). In such a system the carbon in the raw material is used by earthworms and fungi to structure the soil at the same time they are releasing nutrients in forms accessible to plants. A healthy earthworm population (4T/ha) can release up to 400N in a year in temperate climate like Central France or lets say Oregon in the U.S. I think the no till movement in the U.S.( and the U.K.) is a bit too dogmatic about the use of compost in there system. It is working, im not arguing, but maybe it could be interesting to be asking even more question about compost. For me it is a tool and should not be the center of fertilty. In nature ther is only mulching and its been working for millions o f years whith huge yields, look at a pasture or a forest. On commercial farms in France, they use only raw carbon materials(hay,straw,woodchips,leaves, etc.) and they get great yields (better then conventionnal) with almost no weeding and amazing soil structure! Maybe its because no frenchmen would hassle learning english and no anglophones would care to speak french. Just a tought in the clouds there. Seeya.
I covered that in a video. It is beneficial, but... 1. It creates pest issues. 2. It prevents direct seeding. 3. A lot of the organic matter gets wasted since it isn't composted down.
Festina Lente. Great video, and to the nay sayers: f-k tradition! If we only follow and don’t innovate ourselves, we’d still be hunter gatherers today.
Very disappointing, you had a good thesis, you provided useful information, you did not follow the theme, you did not give us a result …… please consider giving videos that are complete
nail painting in a man??? yellow? red? come on.... i dont even like it in women. But that´s my personal opinion, of course u and anybody can do whatever you want. by the way, great video, very good info. Greetings
Wow - what the actual hell is going on here. Slow composting - is the same process as fast composting. How do people not realize this? They both release gasses, it is the exact same process except one is much faster. You tube really is filled with bad information. The reason hot composting is called that, and is faster, is because turning it maintains the heat. Slow composting has an initial high heat phase, and then cools down, but still remains warm. So hot composting takes it to 60c then you turn it and it maintains that heat. Slow composting has an initial heat phase then cools to around 20--30c and does the SAME PROCESS but just slowly. In fact hot composting loses far less mass than slow composting generally remaining around 80% of the pile. For your "slow compost" to not be doing the same process as hot, it is either fermenting or simply rotting into a stinking mess. Cornell University. compost.css.cornell.edu/physics.html
My theory of composting: Throw it in a pile. If it rots, it's compost. If it doesn't rot, it's mulch
Ken Simmons this is me 😂
Agree. I did that with leaves(trying for leaf mold), but ended up with nice dark 'fungifide' leaf mulch for the bed, and am currently doing the pile and rot compost method with my table scraps at the back of the property under shady conditions. Just apply water.
Don't get too blase about it; I accidentally turned my sweet potato patch into a (not very tasty) zucchini patch.
my theory of composting: throw it directly in the garden instead of making a useless pile 😄
20:1 - 40:1 (ideally 30:1) is the bulletproof range for obtaining a usable product from "hot" (i.e. fast) composting. Granted, it takes some effort to get it right but this is it, period.
Its good to do hot compost when you first start a farm and need a quick source of compost. As you have enough compost you can resort to cold composts as you are not in so much need!
Excellent video, subbed. I like your perspective. We're relatively new gardeners and built beds a couple years ago. We did what I assume most new gardeners do, bought a trailer load of compost from a facility. We planted, watered and fertilized. Our results were less than optimal. This year we made our own compost. We did everything wrong (too hot,too wet, not enough carbon, it stank etc.), but I turned it 7 times and it looked finished after 40 days. We trialed and recorded it against the facilities compost and "Premium" bagged compost. The results are amazing. What we learned, Fak the rules and make a pile it'll be better than anything "organic" you can buy and it only cost your time!!
Hot composting is slow composting in a compressed time - there is no real difference. As a tip, don't try and grow plants - grow soil. Thats all its about. Good compost is all you need. I layer woodchips up to 4 inches over the top of my vegies, never ever let them blend with the soil below and I never need to water. Add nitrogen to the woodchips from chicken poo, compost tea, sea weed etc.
🙄
Great subject and video. I can't wait to read all the butthurt comments. I did a similar experiment last year. I took all of my grass clippings from mowing the lawn and mixed in some of my neighbor's leaves, some food scraps and inoculated it with humus from an old mixed hardwood woodlot. I never watered it just let the rain do that. Never turned it. Just before first snow this year most of it turned to some real nice soil.
Took 7 months. My lawn is a mix of different weeds and wild grass, clover etc. No chemicals of any kind ever used on it. I have another small pile I made during the course of the past Summer. It's under the snow right now. Can't wait to see how it turns out. Look forward to an update on your pile. Thanks.
Thank you for giving us a less stressed out - strict approach to this subject. Gardening should be fun. When I am concerned about the brown part, I use cardboard. That white fungus and earthworms both seem to love it.
If you do notice bad smells, you might be able to just add a piece of 4" PVC with holes, like for a leach bed septic horizontally under your pile, when you build it or after you turn it to help with air and water flow through your pile. We use these pipes under our goat bedding compost, in conjunction with a leaf blower to push the air through. It keeps the temp at 120-130 and there is virtually no smell. breaks down in a few weeks in warm weather. we just scrape the top off to add to the next pile, then use the tractor bucket to move it to the storage area.
That is one approach I have in mind for a future video. Thanks for suggesting it. It hasn't smelled, so not an issue in this case.
We are going to need you to do a butt drop into the finished pile too for comparison... for science!
For science.. yes.
I'm in Canada, so I live in a cold climate with a short growing season. In the winter any compost pile freezes solid. I used to make cold compost (mainly from weeds and dead leaves), and the result was good, although it would take about 4 or 5 years to have good compost. In 2015 I made my first hot compost pile, and used some old cold compost, weeds, leaves and some straw from a friend's chicken coop, so it was covered with chicken manure. I also put in some old newspapers. I made the pile in late September, and turned it 3 or 4 times in October. So the composting took place in October and November before every thing froze up in December. I used the compost the following Spring (May), and it was very good. The second time I made hot compost was in October 2018, from similar ingredients, but I didn't have time to turn it. Again I used it in the Spring, and the compost turned out OK, but there was still some undecomposed straw and twigs. Last Fall I made "hot" compost for a third time. I made most of my pile in October, but didn't add water. The hot composting process started anyway because of all the rain we had. In November I added a large amount of leaves from my neighbour (he has 6 mature silver maples, but the leaves fall in November), as well as the straw from my friend's chicken coop, tripling the size of the pile. I also added water. Unfortunately we had an early winter this year and the pile didn't have time to heat up again (It snowed a few days after I completed the pile). What I expect is the pile has a nearly-composted core that decomposed in October and the outer part added in November is non-decomposed. In April I'll turn it and try to get the hot composting process started again, so that hopefully I can use it in late May. I hope we have a mild April, the last two years we had cold Springs, Hopefully the pile will have thawed out by early April.
Don't lie, you have bloopers of you missing that pile on your first couple jumps. #releasethebloopers
Nah, I’m that good. 😜
Last year, I had someone pull a whole mess of weeds from my gardens and put them in a low spot in my yard. My plan was to burn them, little by little over time (it's BIG pile), but I didn't get to it last year. I started burning it, little by little, this spring, but now I'm thinking I'll just let it continue to cold compost - and fill it in with more weeds that I have an over-abundance of (again) - and use whatever the result is to fill in that low spot (it's a sizeable low spot). I'm all in on the "let's see what happens!"
I’ve been trying to get my compost pile over 125 for a year. Yesterday I got it to 148. I’ve always believed that hard work pays dividends. I have worked hard to get here and I have to believe that hot compost is best, because it requires so much more work.
To me ,there is no right or wrong way. There just is a way! LOL Enjoy what you do life is to short..
Depending on your goal, then theres a right way. Since he has no time constraint then its fine experimenting.
Diego, thanks. I’ve been struggling with why we recommend the high energy Berkeley (hot pile) Compost Method, vs a cold pile method. Hot promises to eliminate weed seed and disease, but is exceptionally difficult to do correctly. As you mention, brown and green aren’t available in the same season. Temp and moisture management, and the amount labor to turn a cubic yard every 2-3 days go beyond being a chore. Cold pile is add and manage as you have time and materials available. As you say, maybe a better product, and how many of us need the promised weed and disease free result.
Cold composting still needs a fairly similar ratio, and if it is just nitrogen then it will simply rot. The process is the same. Cold compost should also be turned at least twice. Berkely method is all about assembling your ingredients first. I assemble nitrogen and then when I am ready simply organise carbon - it is usually free from many local sources.
I don't have a garden and I just started to compost today. The reason I'm doing it is my food waste doesn't go to the landfill and contribute a little bit not having a lot of methane or CO2. I'm glad you explained the hot compost thing. Even if my contribution is small I'm glad to know this.
Learning to work with what you have and not obsessing over trying to exactly duplicate what someone else does is a great plan.
Hey I dig it I compost I get a lot during winter never flipped it or worried about percentages and by June or July zone 6 looked pretty darn good so I’d say I cold compost 95 percent of time I kinda throw it and forget it cause so busy but it works
Thank you for this. The more I learn about composting the more questions I have.
Gardening is fun and the experiments make it ongoing learning process. Enjoying the experience
I like your more relaxed version of composting ...lol...just getting people to do post is what’s important...as you said...it will breakdown. Making it to complicated will detour people from even trying it. What’s the hurry? Lol..my pile can be pretty relaxed at times. 😬😬
I’m still catching up on a lot of your videos. Great stuff. Slower does seem to have many advantages, and also seems to be more natural. It’s simple. It’s complicated. Love it.
H from BELMAR NJ i I like your thoughts I've been composting for years I use a 55gal Mantis Tumblr not a Compost pile I don't always get my Tumblr very hot sometimes I do. I feel it depends on what material you have to work with. I compost For the following Spring planting season Then I Start all over.
My cold compost is absolute growth fuel! Put it in a whole when you plant and watch the plant fly!
I dont try make it cold but i always have more brown than green so it may get hot at points but it never holds it and i highly doubt it is all the way through.
Completely different colour and texture than anything ive ever seen for sale and the ammout of worms i find in it is insane.
Most of my compost is a BIG (6x4x10) pile of somewhat mulched leaves that I keep trying to throw veg scrap, coffee, and wood ash into. In the spring, it's practically wriggling with 8 in nightcrawlers (centipedes, wood roaches, more). All the veg "disappears" real fast, even though only the lower middle of the pile steams at all. I've been turning it quite often to "heat it up" but it's still too leafy to go "hot". I'm leaving it alone for the winter / early spring, and I'm looking forward to the results!
Always a good point of view and interesting ideas from you. Thanks for sharing.
1 CO2 is heavier then air, and sinks. Take a bucket of dry ice, add water and hang it. the fog falls because it is heavier then air. Also used to gas rats in a CO2 chamber, that worked safely as the CO2 suffocated the rats lower in the chamber, but was safe to reach into to add more rats.
2 Plants consume CO2 and thus composting near plants gives them a boost before the nutrients are even rendered.
in the words of my grandfather (as i was explaining that youtubers talked about the C:N ratio), put in what you can and let nature takes it's course. i'm doing a cold compost too as an experiment, (along with a tumbler and bury, which i hope it'll turn into a vermicompost), i think it's teaching me patience. Its February in the state of Maryland, and i'm sure once it warms up around april or may, that's when it's gonna speed up.
I'm a mostly cold composter. I turn my pile about 3 times a year.
I started a cold compost, I didn't have much brown. It was mostly grass clippings. It took 8-10 months without turning. It still did shrink significantly and stunk the entire time until it finally broke down most of the way. I now am planning to do hot compost just to stop the smell if nothing else.
I think if you balanced out the grass you would have seen different results.
I didnt want to buy carbon material so i got a bunch of bags of leaves. Once I start cutting the lawn again next spring I will mix it accordingly. Hopefully it does better this year.
In terms losing carbon to the air via digestion:
Wouldn’t hot and cold will leave you with the same end result, just the hot compost means the nutrients that leave the pile do so more rapidly?
I love what you're doing! "Given hell Harry."
Remembered a significant reason to Hot Compost. Under the new Produce Safety regs, If you don’t manage your compost so it’s hot and efficient, you treat it as raw manure. That means a very long time between application and planting.
Right. Important if you are selling product.
Great video!! Anxious to see how it goes. Really curious to see how those thick stalks break down!
That's what I am doing. I am in no mood to be turning smelly compost. Besides, good things come to those who wait.ps. that is how I am changing my landscape keepmadding stuff to the bed every 2 days as I get to it until I get my ground evened out as I have a terraced land . But I want it braking down super slow
I mean, I just threw in shiz load of leaves that I raided from the streets and whatever was left of my tomatoes. Just chuck em all in the pile. Basically will just leave it until next season, hopefully after this winter it will be broken down. It's even good even if it's not totally broken down as I use it with wood chips as mulch. Fungus galore hopefully
If you really want to "Cold Compost," the simplest way to do it is to divide you enormous pile into smaller individual piles. Hot compost is very difficult to do when it's smaller than 1 cubic yard (3'x3'x3'), The space between every pile can be only a couple inches, enough for air to circulate .
Also, you can more than triple the speed of your "Cold Compost" by introducing something that will quickly break down the material, the most well known is red worms, ie vermicompost. Just ensure the pile never gets hotter than about 85 degrees, at 90 degrees F the worms will die.
I am not sure dividing this into three piles would be any simpler or faster. Worms will find their way into the pile through the soil below.
@@DiegoFooter Dividing into smaller piles decreases insulation allowing heat to escape. Can be essential for not killing your worms which die at 90 degrees F.
Just tell the haters mother nature has been cold composting basically forever and it seems to be working pretty good lol....P.S I do both, nutrients are more readily available in hot compost but cold adds a lot more structure to the soil in my experience
I like your testing approach. In NorCal I have a small compost heap that I rarely get right, I just let it go and if it takes a year, it takes a year. I do have a different question though. Can I improve the municipal compost I can get at a rate of 100 gals/week. It is totally HOT compost, and comes to the pickup site about 95% done, but still breaking down a bit. Dr Elaine Ingham has had negative things to say about muni compost, and without a 400x microscope I don't know how to verify [or not] her claim that all the good microbes are likely dead. I do let my muni pile sit for a month or 2 before using it, but I wish I had a programmatic way to "improve" it as that last 5% of breakdown and cool down takes place. Have you ever thought about that issue? It is such a ready resource, I'd rather see people [my self included] garden with muni compost, then not garden at all because we don't use this weed suppression and organic matter resource.
I have used a lot of muni compost in the past knowing that it will finish breaking down and get re-introduced to bacteria when I add it to the soil. I think making a big static pile of it if you have the room wouldn't hurt to address those concerns.
I'd recommend throwing some red worms into your pile, and each pile shouldn't be larger than about 2' square. In a couple weeks or longer depending on the size of your worm colony, your plant compost will be converted to fecal matter, infinitely better than regular compost
But what if you are using the compost as a heat source for your greenhouse shop or even your home.
great attitude and process. good for you.
Diego all piles reduce in size cold or hot ... all piles release gases .... the point is PLANT HARVEST ADD COMPOST AND REPEAT......
Great videos keep'em coming!!!!
Right, but the idea is to burn off less carbon.
@@DiegoFooter I live to process carbon 😆from trees to soil ... I've put it down in every possible presentation and works every time 🌳🌴🌲🌱🌻🌼🌽🌾🍆🍓🍅🌝🌝🌝
Of course, if a person were to be REALLY all that worried about CO2 escaping from their compost pile, they could always do their composting inside a high tunnel with some veggies .. any heat that is generated will help keep the tunnel nice and warm during the fall, winter, and early spring .. and anything that can reduce the cost of energy makes me happy :)
FYI. I run out of browns every year in May, but I stockpile shredded paper most of the year for a brown. Be warned, though, that it's super high in C:N, about three times higher than leaves, so a little goes a long way. However, it works during the summer when you're flooded with greens and have no browns. Whoever said the dozens of Capitol One Visa junk mailers they get each week were worthless? :-)
I know I’m not the smartest tool in the shed lol, but wouldn’t it make sense to make your compost pile in a greenhouse where those gases would be feeding the plants since that is what they breathe?
If i make a cold composting do i need to find a shaded area for it?.
I love compost. My challenge is I often get tree curious roots growing many of feet outside the adjacent tree canopy and growing up into my pile from underneath as it cures. Then they branch into the pile and feast. They do the same with cracks in my worm bin. makes it hard to remove root bound compost. In the book "farmers of 40 centuries" (published just over 100 years ago) the author documents the widespread practice in Asian countries of valuing organic byproducts and returning every last bit of organic material back into the fields or garden through compost, usually made in pits. I imagine this helped retain the moisture. I live in Florida where heavy rains will run nutrients out of an uncovered pile, which is undesirable. And sun will dry it out. So Plastic covering helps, and i use reclaimed plastic for this but often wonder how to do it plastic free. Great video on topic of hot vs warm.
You could just cover it in a soil cap. It's a lot of soil, but one way of doing it. Also, build the pile on the beds, so any drainage goes into the area you will be growing in. That's my eventual goal.
Hi Guys. Carbon going "into the sky" is not a problem. Plants get carbon from the atmosphere to build biomass; not from the compost directly.
That’s true, but it better to add carbon to the soil than burn it off.
carbon is important because soil life eats it, not for the plant directly
In the '50s my giant grass-clipping + manure + a little carbon piles were all very hot. I composted a dead cat. I noticed it all disappeared after spreading in about 10 days. A lot of work. Was there a better way?
Is there a follow up video?
Awesome stuff 😎
I always had a feeling that hot composting wasn’t always ideal.
Does nature 'hot compost'? Course not. Chop and drop.
The reason carbon is released is because bacteria are inefficient at utilizing carbon. When fungi grow they put down carbon in their cell walls using it much more efficiently. Therefore in a hot pile that utilizes some form of high nitrogen material the bacteria will have a party and a lot of carbon will volatilize. It seems like this would happen in high nitrogen material whether it was in your compost or not. Fungi are the only microbes able to utilize structurally complex carbon compounds so it doesn't seem like you'd be losing any of the brown material you put in no matter how you compost it.
I think your pile will break down into some usable organic matter and stay aerobic. It doesn't seem like there's enough high nitrogen material for the bacteria to go berserk and use up all the oxygen. Also those mustard stalks could probably be considered brown material.
Hot composting has a HUGE volume of mycelium. Cold composting is not "Cold" its just not as hot. Its almost the exact same process - cold composting hits 60c then falls to 30c for the remainder and does fundamentally the same thing slowly. Anything else is just fermenting and rotting which is worse.
Diego, I like this, I have never stressed about the balance of compost. However, why harvest a cover crop and go through the work of moving it? Was this just for this experiment? Thanks and look forward to seeing results.
No, not an experiment. If you just chop and drop it in place then it won't compost in place and turn to humus. I am not tilling, so I don't have the option of tilling it into the soil. If I wanted to keep it around as long as possible it has to turn to humus and that has to be done via composting. I can also use that compost on other beds versus leaving it on the bed where it was grown. I think that is what you are looking for based on your question.
@@DiegoFooter IMO the biggest advantage of any kind of Compost Pile even Cold is to build the biological community of microbes, even if they're fewer. You can till the greens directly into the soil as an amendment before seeding, but what you want to compost will break down even slower (may not be an issue) but can also generate some heat (may be significant to seedlings, all depends on concentrations and positioning). So, compost piles are probably still best unless your plants are very mature.
Pardon my butting in on someone else's comment, I'm confused why you think chop and drop won't eventually turn into humus with no till.
@@ThisIsATireFire The problem all composting tries to solve is to promote decomposition, given enough time even mastadons will decompose. But if you want something to decompose within a reasonable amount of time you have to first increase surface area by chopping into smaller pieces
Because you end up with a very fine layer of chop on the soil surface. Most of that just burn off without turning to humus. A plant laying on the ground by itself doesn't compost. It just desicates and eventually breaks down. Great for a meadow, but not a production system.
Why did you compost a cover crop ? I usually just dig mine into the soil
My theory is, have both! A hot and cold compost! We do.
is there a follow up video on this? I look through the video list
can't seem to find it......
Yes. Cover Crop Compost - IS IT WORTH THE EFFORT?
I love your work. Thank you so much!!
If you cover it with a tarp will that trap the carbon?
No, that's just to slow the rate of evaporation from the pile.
@2:35 Cleaning out the polish drawer? lol
That’s what you get with 3 daughters. 🤪
@@DiegoFooter I have 4 so that's what I figured. At least you can escape the curlers but probably not the make up.
The autofocus is giving me flashbacks. Not that I know what that might be like.
I do both. Depending on how much materials I have on hand. Lately I have plenty thanks to Laura and Delta. With either method I use two things to capture the lost nutrients. I always spray my piles with EM1 or Lactobacillus. It converts the nutrients into complex molecules the plants love and is more stable, it kills bad pathogens and helps keep the hot pile around 130f. I also dust the top of my piles with biochar in an attempt to capture any off gassing of nutrients, kinda kills two birds with one stone kinda thing. But that’s just me.
hot compost is generally made to increase biology and not necessarily used for nutrients
I wouldn't say that is accurate. There is a lot of biology in all compost, it just differs based on the method of production and inputs.
Nice designer custom compost pile.... High dollar compost we call that!!!
Not quite sure what that means? 🤨
@@DiegoFooter when one controls the ingredients of their compost in a way that you have we refer to that as "high dollar" meaning premium versus the scrounge method- using whatever occurs to you regardless of quality and seed presence ... it all works as long as we PLANT HARVEST FEED SOIL AND REPEAT 👌👍👊
Got it. Like it!
Update on this experiment?
Diggin those boots Diego!
Thanks. Super comfortable. Best boots I have ever owned.
So much better than the rubber boots everyone else seems to be wearing- be true to yourself!
Quite new to this, what makes it run cold as opposed to hot
Brian, there's plenty of content about this on YT but happy to share what I have learned in a short comment. Basically, different materials break down faster or slower. "Greens" break down easier/faster and thus the microorganisms like bacteria which are more prevalent in the warmer beginning stages of a pile. The high movement and farts of the bacteria cause the pile to heat up, and water evaporation from the greens gets trapped and adds to this. After some time, the pile cools and fungi and worms step in to break down the remainder like wood chips which takes longer and does not create heat.
If new to composting, definitely check out Diego's, Charles Dowding channels to understand what are greens/browns and dive deeper into it. Overall, don't overcomplicate it and give it a try at home! Nothing beats learning through experience!
Read David the goods compost everything and also have look at Charles downing system
I was hoping for a discussion on why you think anaerobes are not bad for the garden, which goes against conventional wisdom.
It is an interesting topic, but I don’t think this pile will go anaerobic to begin with.
@@DiegoFooterAll piles will go anaerobic if you don't turn it, turning introduces oxygen to the core which influences the balance between aerobic and anaerobic.
I think you could zoom into any pile and fine some volume of soil that has gone anaerobic. Remember this pile is in contact with the ground. Bugs and insects will be in the pile aerate it. I am confident that most of the pile will not be anaerobic for any significant period of time.
2.35 love the finger nails
Uh, Sir? You really need to turn that pile!
Cool experiment and love the nails ! :-)
There will come the day that the master composter is at the top of the pile :) Seriously aim for 4 ft rather than the metric!
My question is: how are you measuring the net release of off gasses, to compare against another "hot" pile you've had?
It's a nice presentation, but I'm not sure the rate of decomposition will reduce the net volatility. Yes you can slow the rate, but the material is no longer living cells and the same quantity of cells will still be reduced to macromolecules and base components. With nothing but the microbes to fix those reduced compounds, what they don't absorb for reproduction will likely just be released into the soil solution and then atmosphere (if at a slower rate).
Good luck though and have fun.
No measuring. Just working off the idea that it will be released at a slower rate compared to a hot compost pile.
@@DiegoFooter ok ty, I was just curious. In that case you should be correct. The heat is a result from the combined metabolism and respiration of the bacterial colonization. Less heat, less bacteria, slower decomposition
Good luck with your results
It's a good point and worth considering. Is bacterial breakdown off-gassing more than a slower digesting source like worms.
IMO concern about gas release is pointless. Does it make a difference when you allow dead material to naturally decompose vs composting? Gonna happen either way. But, composting will lock more carbon into a usable form which can be absorbed by plants.
I put what I have in the pile, end of story.
Welp, I couldn't find any clear follow-up to this video.
I need to hot compost cause I contaminated my pile with sick leafage.
On the money. Nature composts everything…
How good was your guess?
13:19 What's with your finger nails? lol I like the colors btw
Duuuuuude....... Thanks for keeping it real.
I agree, when and if I become 60 or 90, still making compost I will not be able to turn the compost. I will not be turning the compost now either. Nature is not turning the organic matter either, so I will go with the natural process. I you feel more virtuous, turning and sweating, is all right.
Was the chicken manure wet or dry?
Moist. Was under the coop so got a bit of rain on it.
How did the manure smell?
Wet dirt smell. Mild.
That's a good sign. Don't want that stuff to hot. Ammonia gas ⛽bad. Aerobic microbials good 👍
John Jeavons (in your quote at 3:16) is plainly wrong in his assertions.
The 178F number to kill near all pathogens comes from sterilization procedures that take minutes, and are correct in that regard.
A compost pile is hot over weeks.
Over such a timespan, 140F is more than sufficient, its just that the charts for longer-term sterilization are a bit harder to find, hence missunderstandings like these happen.
He didn't do his research properly enough and is spreading missinformation, through no bad intention I am sure.
This guy looks like Heisenberg.
How about not composting at all. Because if you push the reflection further cold composting is still using energy(carbon) outside of the space you want it used.
By mulching the material on garden beds or fields you are using the material as muclh, to protect the soil from the sun (germination of most weeds, burning of O.M),from the water (crusting, leaching, erosion) and from yourself (tilling). In such a system the carbon in the raw material is used by earthworms and fungi to structure the soil at the same time they are releasing nutrients in forms accessible to plants. A healthy earthworm population (4T/ha) can release up to 400N in a year in temperate climate like Central France or lets say Oregon in the U.S. I think the no till movement in the U.S.( and the U.K.) is a bit too dogmatic about the use of compost in there system. It is working, im not arguing, but maybe it could be interesting to be asking even more question about compost. For me it is a tool and should not be the center of fertilty. In nature ther is only mulching and its been working for millions o f years whith huge yields, look at a pasture or a forest. On commercial farms in France, they use only raw carbon materials(hay,straw,woodchips,leaves, etc.) and they get great yields (better then conventionnal)
with almost no weeding and amazing soil structure! Maybe its because no frenchmen would hassle learning english and no anglophones would care to speak french. Just a tought in the clouds there. Seeya.
I covered that in a video.
It is beneficial, but...
1. It creates pest issues.
2. It prevents direct seeding.
3. A lot of the organic matter gets wasted since it isn't composted down.
cardboard is a brown resource.
I like this. So you/re going to take measurements of he pile and temp once a week ??
Just an occasional touch to see how hot it is. Will likely take a few tries to get the ratios right.
composting in place is the only way to go. Mother nature does not shop at a garden center.
Thanks. Great!!! 1.000 likes
Festina Lente. Great video, and to the nay sayers: f-k tradition! If we only follow and don’t innovate ourselves, we’d still be hunter gatherers today.
Isn't one meter height and on meter depth the same thing 🤔 ???? .... lol
nice fingernails!!!
Thanks! 😜
So bokashi?
That’s just breaks down scraps before they are them composted in another system. It’s a good system but hard to scale.
Update?
Right here: ruclips.net/video/ihYV9RfV7lQ/видео.html
Sawdust......
Very disappointing, you had a good thesis, you provided useful information, you did not follow the theme, you did not give us a result …… please consider giving videos that are complete
Your funny
nail painting in a man??? yellow? red? come on....
i dont even like it in women. But that´s my personal opinion, of course u and anybody can do whatever you want.
by the way, great video, very good info. Greetings
I have three daughters and they painted them. Loosen up.
Wow - what the actual hell is going on here. Slow composting - is the same process as fast composting. How do people not realize this? They both release gasses, it is the exact same process except one is much faster.
You tube really is filled with bad information.
The reason hot composting is called that, and is faster, is because turning it maintains the heat. Slow composting has an initial high heat phase, and then cools down, but still remains warm. So hot composting takes it to 60c then you turn it and it maintains that heat.
Slow composting has an initial heat phase then cools to around 20--30c and does the SAME PROCESS but just slowly.
In fact hot composting loses far less mass than slow composting generally remaining around 80% of the pile.
For your "slow compost" to not be doing the same process as hot, it is either fermenting or simply rotting into a stinking mess.
Cornell University.
compost.css.cornell.edu/physics.html