Hot composting with chicken bedding and garden waste

[aart]

Apparently it isn't water soluble in the zeolite, but the plants can access it. At least that was what I found with a quick tour of the first google results.

I was thinking that was the case, might have read it somewhere.
I wonder if it's too 'hot' to side dress plants with?
Might not be a good idea on food plants tho.

In any case, I think it's more beneficial in compost than detrimental.
There's not too much of it when I sift the poops out of it.

 

[vehve]

Yeah, it probably would be okay in there. I don't think it would be that harmful to edible plants either, but you never know.

 

[aart]

Yeah, it probably would be okay in there. I don't think it would be that harmful to edible plants either, but you never know.

Thinking more of the pathogens from the chicken poop that might cling to the zeolite rather than the zeolite itself......without 'hot' composting first of course.

 

[vehve]

Ah yes, well in that case it should rest for a year or two. That's the nice things about hot composting, it renders most biological issues inert.

 

[islandgirl82]

I haven't read all the posts in this thread so I apologize if this has already been discussed but I thought I'd share this here:

http://compostpower.org/

 

[lazy gardener]

You beat me to it, Island girl! I saw your post on the other thread and copied it to send it over here! Fantastic concept! Makes me itch to build an other house... or convert this one to off grid, heated by solar, compost. There's also some interesting literature out there about bypassing the whole septic system issue by using a big bin populated by red worms. Now, if one were to combine that alternative to the septic system with heat recovery for domestic hot water, or to heat the home, that would be a win/win system. There are so many options for energy conservation that are not being developed or used... and sometimes my cynical mind wonders WHY??? If I had money, I'd build a high tech green house, heated with compost, using aquaculture, with an enclosed area for poultry and possibly rabbits. This section would need excellent air filtration to keep the feather dander from infiltrating the cleaner side where fish and plants reside. All would be accessible to house without having to go outside and dealing with the nasty snow!! Can you imagine having such a "grocery store under glass"? If managed correctly, it would be a self contained bio-loop, while providing energy for heat, and food for the table.

 

[vehve]

Before I did proper research on chicken coops, I was considering building a coop that would have a compost bin underneath it to provide heat to the coop without bringing in the moisture, but I abandoned that idea pretty quickly. Those heat recovery systems are pretty cool though, but I suspect they require a whole lot of maintenance if used on a house. The greenhouses built with that idea are pretty smart though. I've also read about raised beds where you make a hot compost mix underneath the soil to provide heat early in the spring, and cover the bed with plastic to form a mini greenhouse.

 

[aart]

Compost pile heating systems take ALOT of maintenance.

Here some other ideas for greenhouse heating.

 

[islandgirl82]

I was thinking more along the lines of using a small scale system to keep the coop at a moderate temp...just above freezing which would solve frozen water issues and severe temps but not be so much heat that moisture builds up but we don't produce enough now to heat a whole house.

I grew up on an island off the grid, had an outhouse/composting toilet until I was 16 (then we got an actual septic system) and we heated with three woodstoves which meant A LOT of stacking/hauling wood (12-15 cord each winter). We had an old hand pump as our kitchen faucet with an above ground line that went to an old hand dug- fieldstone lined well. With the house built on top of ledges (it's about 400 years old) obviously that didn't work in the winter and my sister and I would have to lay on our bellies to fill water jugs by hand every night and haul up to the house with a garden cart so we could cook, wash dishes, bathe, etc.

Growing up that way has me constantly looking for more efficient ways of living. Maybe it does require a lot of maintenance but we wouldn't have to beat ourselves stupid to earn money paying for something that is at our disposal for free if we're willing to put a little sweat equity into it. We also had a flock of around 70 sheep, plus horses, a pair of steer, pigs, chickens, rabbits, goats so keeping a compost heating system well stocked would have been a breeze for us then.

 

[lazy gardener]

I've also read about raised beds where you make a hot compost mix underneath the soil to provide heat early in the spring, and cover the bed with plastic to form a mini greenhouse.

Have you read the book "4 Season Harvest" by Elliot Coleman? He does a nice presentation, pointing out the relationship between latitude and solar gain, and the differences in climate related to air currents on a national level. Then he goes into great depth presenting ways to alter the climate in your own yard, starting with use of buildings, rock walls, ground slope, and moving on to cold frames and various green house concepts.