First turning of the heap ...and 2 months later

John got us all to stop while he captured a panorama of the compost turning scene
(photo: John Allen)

On Monday 8 December, two weeks after creating our freestanding compost heap, our 'Go Organic' class assembled at John's property outside Pukekohe. We are here to check if we've been successful in creating a 'hot' heap and to 'turn the heap'. The act of turning will hopefully keep heat generating so that the outside edges of the original heap now in the centre will decompose quickly.

You can see how the heap has sunk in two weeks from midriff to below hips. This shrinkage
has been due to the green materials breaking down and therefore reducing heap volume. 

Our tutor, Micky, first got us all to take the "ouch" test by putting our hands first into the chimney spaces and then burrowing into the sides to check how hot the heap is in the centre. At the heap's peak it could be hot enough to feel uncomfortable to your hand but today it was just a lovely hot.

Apart from the heat we also enjoyed the fact that there was no smell with the turning
so the EM did it's magic to keep the heap from becoming anaerobic. It had the same
earthy sweetness to the nose as a good Central Otago Pinot Noir.

This is a sensory approach to the heap rather than using a thermometer.

A chimney hole in the heap looks like this. (Photo: Linda McComb)

Surprisingly Micky guessed the temperature to one point of the 50 degrees John measured with the thermometer. This shows just how many heaps she has made before this one.

The site for the turned heap is perhaps a little further away than you would set up in a home situation but with 12 of us working on the site we needed space and with so many forks in hands the distance wasn't a problem.

With 12 of us with forks in hand Micky took the precaution to put in place
the safety rule of moving in a clockwise direction from one heap to the other.

No sticks need to be laid down for the turned heap as we want this new heap to be in contact with the ground to encourage worms now that that the initial high heat has been attained and will soon be a good environment for worms to continue the breaking down of the organic matter.

The heap is a round shape, making sure the materials that hadn't started decomposing were placed in the centre.  We place only four chimneys this time.  As we haven't got the stick base it's important to have the chimneys for air circulation.

 Beneficial fungi like this play a major role in  breaking down  high carbon materials.
Fungi grow through the soil by developing a branching network of fine tubes called hyphae.
The network of hyphae is called fungal mycelium.

We soon discover that there is plenty of fungal activity in this heap which is good news. Steam was rising from from this area of the heap when uncovered. There was little sign of the green material remaining after two weeks except for waxy leaves that were towards the outside edge of the heap.  Waxy leaves take longer to break down.  We simply made sure these plant materials were placed in the centre of the new heap.

The not so good news is because wind has been a problem (even blowing off the cover one day) the heap is drier than it should be.  We need to add water.  Without moisture the microbial activity and therefore the decomposition rate will slow down so John fetched the hose that 'just' reached the new heap's location.

We have to bucket water to the far side of the heap.  It's an important consideration when locating a heap as to how far away your water source is as there is a deceptively large quantity of water required with so much carbon or dry matter.

On the right hand side  of the heap you can see that the chimneys are too close to the edge.

Micky remedied this by building what she called an 'annex' on the side. This was done by pushing down and out on the side of the heap and then building up from that good base.  Ideally you need your chimneys 45 cm from the edge.

With 12 of us with pitch forks Micky enforced the safety precaution
of one way traffic - we had to work clockwise around the heap to avoid
any of us being stabbed by fork.

I like this action shot of everyone covering the new heap with the carpet.

The turned heap will now quietly decompose over the Christmas break. John will still monitor it's progress and if required add water if it feels too dry.  Micky suggested that if there is gentle rain to let Nature do the work of watering.

The area where the original heap is located John will use as the base for a sheet compost area where another fruit tree will be planted.

A proud team reviewing a job well done.

We will gather again probably late January for our heap's final turn and should be matured and ready to use in March 2015.

9 February 2015

We all visited the heap again today to check if it needed a turn.

John uncovered the heap and Micky burrowed into the pile.  At first sight she thought it might need another turn and a water.

However on a closer look she felt it was ready to use.  Because of the amount of wood chips in the compost it could take a year for the bulky materials to break down.  There was a good amount of fine material present that had turned into soil.  I took a handful and it smelt perfect - a sweet earthy smell.

The compost may have large woody materials but these will provide a home and introduce fungi would be good to incorporate into gardens, containers, and planting of trees and shrubs.  

John measured the pH and it was a perfect 7.  Upon hearing that and sighting worm action towards

the bottom of the heap Micky proclaimed the compost ready.

She will take a sample to Hills Laboratory to test whether the compost has a good balance of minerals. I suspect the test tubes will confirm what we tested with our senses - that the compost is good.   We will also be doing a trial planting of seeds in our compost and perhaps comparing it to a commercial compost.