Hot composting with chicken bedding and garden waste

[hennible]

Lol
Yeah it only bugs some people and is lessoned by cooking

 

[vehve]

On compost news, batch 4 is super hot at the moment. I opened the lid in the morning, and enormous amounts of steam were rising from it.

 

[HennyPennyCO]

Yes, after reading your comments and doing the research I'm now afraid of putting any rhizomes back in the ground here (Zone 4.5)! I can dig them up (hoping I get them all) and heel them in in one of my raised beds over the winter, maybe in burlap so I can extract them easily in the spring. There seem to be plenty even if I save some to eat.

OMG - I'm suddenly remembering that I might have potted some of the rhizomes this year and given them away!

And back on topic: I'm following your doings with the insulated compost bins with interest since I also live in a cold climate. I generally just prepare a new heap in the fall, cover it with black plastic, and leave to to do its thing until spring (watering occasionally since the humidity level here is brutal over the winter.)

 

[vehve]

Hi Henny, welcome to the thread. A hot compost should kill the chokes, at least I hope so because otherwise I'm going to be pretty much screwed. But I don't think very many plants can survive 60C temperatures for prolonged times.

 

[aart]

These were round and pretty high. I'd plant them in maybe 15 inches of soil, with them buried about half way in it.

That sounds pretty good, from what I've seen digging them up.

You've all piqued my curiosity.
Last fall a "kind" someone gave me some unknown somethings that I just plonked into a temporary spot in a hugelkultur mound in a raised bed at our brand-new community garden.
This year: they grew like crazy, had sunflower-like flowers, grew to 5+ feet tall, and now that it's fall, I see that they have a VERY healthy collection of rhizomes. So I've researched sunchokes, and am now so happy I put the donated rhizomes in a restrictive place in the mound (in between some heavy logs).

This link says it all: http://commonsensehome.com/before-you-plant-sunchokes/#comment-68923

I'm an adventurous cook; I'll try cooking the things.
Do the chickens eat only the leaves? I'm OK with putting some rhizomes in a pot and growing them next year for the amusement of my girls.

They will eat the rhizomes too....and the more tender parts of the branches.

 

[vehve]

Branches? Ours just had a stem off of which the leaves grew. They didn't develop a flower either, but I suspect it's some commercial variant, we just planted regular storebought supermarket chokes.

 

[aart]

Yep, the main stem on the larger plants are about an inch or so in diameter and had multiple branches growing out of it, some of the branch tips sprouted flowers at well as tip top of the the main stem. I'll try to get a pic tomorrow of the remnants of the plants, we've had a couple of hard frosts here tho so they are about shot.

 

[vehve]

Here are our's at the end of July, about 5 feet tall. They were about 8 feet when we harvested last weekend.

 

[enola]

Yesterday I have apparently been abusing alcohol, as I found a beer with only one sip taken in the morning. Poured it into the compost pile, and it has not hurt it at least in any way. I tried sticking my hand into the pile this evening (disgusting, I know), and five seconds was how long I could keep it there. That thing is going to burst into flames soon. The level of the pile has gone down almost 10 centimeters. Also, I think every fly on a 2 kilometer radius has found our compost.

When I was composting manure and woodchips in WV, my compost pile actually DID combust. Causing a fire on the dried grass in the pasture surrounding the compost pile.

Just goes to show that compost actually CAN burn. Be safe!

 

[aart]

Quote: Improperly harvested/baled hay(still green/wet) can combust also, has burned down alot of barns.

More info on your burning compost pile, please? Size/age of pile, what kind of manure, weather conditions, etc?