Today was Day 18 on the compost and I turned it this morning. Temperatures were steady at 35C-40C at probe depth around the heap, outliers of 30C and 45C. Centre of heap was about 50C, with a pocket at 55C. One small pocket of dry, one sizeable thatch of straw. Added one shovel of chicken poo over the straw in the new centre. Recast the enclosure to using only two stakes and chicken wire. Gave it an external spray after turning it. In the evening, heap read a steady 35C at probe depth all around, so I guess it's still digesting.
On day 17 it had been reading 35C to 40C all around at probe depth, one reading of 45C.
I'll test it tomorrow, but won't likely use it until mid-late next week. I think this is an almost success. Will need to increase size of heap and use a higher proportion of nitrogen in the initial stage next time. Combining this with my evolved enclosure should speed it up a bit, and if I don't soak it part way through (which brought temps down to 20C throughout) I reckon I'll have a good chance of getting a great heap out of it. All in all, a successful experiment.
Regarding the siphon system: I put four of my container tanks around the rear yard, connected them all up with polypipe. Unfortunately they vary in height a bit so I will have to do a bit of raising and leveling to maximise my storage. Apart from that, I'm pretty happy with it as it simplifies and speeds up the watering (especially when combined with my plastic milk bottle and PVC pipe water dispersers).
A point of note regarding the containers - they hold 120L, not 72L like I previously thought. So I've just added half a kilolitre to my water storage!
Tomorrow, I will try and sort out the siphon system depths and heights and then leave it for a week or two before anchoring the polypipe into safer, non trip hazard, formation. Apart from that, my goal will be to sort out the garden as much as I can to cope with three hot days following when I'm not here.
No comments:
Post a Comment