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What is compost doing during the winter?
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Posted by
bibbus 7b (
My Page) on
Mon, Feb 25, 13 at 20:03
| So I built three compost piles last fall, each about 3 feet high and wide. All winter when my collection containers were full and weather permitted, I added to the piles adding leaves I gathered in the fall. I occasionally turned the top one third of one of the piles. The piles compacted and I continued to fill them up. We got lots and lots of rain all winter long. Two of the piles are covered and one is not. Winter temperatures stayed pretty mild with maybe a dozen temperature drops into the low 20's but often rebounding into the 50's in the afternoons. So what is the compost doing during the winter? What is happening in those compost piles? Is everything just sitting in there decomposing very slowly? |
Follow-Up Postings:
RE: What is compost doing during the winter?
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| If your compost pile is generating heat, then I say it is working. more than if it is not warm to hot in the middle. |
RE: What is compost doing during the winter?
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| As the average temperature drops the bacteria that will digest your materials wil slow down, although my compost piles have stayed quite active, warm because of that activity, in the center of the pile during the winter. |
RE: What is compost doing during the winter?
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| Your compost thermometer will tell what is going on if you have one. Why turn a pile over to discover what is going on when a compost therm can be inserted in just a second. Mine was $15 at a good garden store ten years ago (just the basic 18" model), probably $20 by now. I added my neighborhood leaves to my large mesh bins shortly after they fell. Maple, oak, and sweet gum were mower-shredded three times and put into the piles with a little water. Core temps were 110 to 135F for weeks with a little turning. |
RE: What is compost doing during the winter?
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| Actually I was really asking if anyone knows what is happening to compost during the winter. When its not decomposing is anything good going on or is it just kind of sitting there? I know that at the bottom the leaves look water logged but its dried out at the top. Will worms still migrate into the compost during this time? Does anyone know chemically or physically what is happening? |
RE: What is compost doing during the winter?
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| Soil bacteria and other decomposers are like most animals - when it gets colder, their biological functions slow down. When it gets cold enough, then just shut down and wait for warmth. I put up piles of chopped leaves in the fall. When the snow melts soon,all the leaf pieces will be pretty well identical to the way I left them in November. |
RE: What is compost doing during the winter?
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| Nothing scientific to add but my 2 Compost Tumblers are about 1/3 full now and were just short of completely stuffed last fall. I only turned them about once a month since Nov. |
RE: What is compost doing during the winter?
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| Well, dug around the compost piles today, 40 degrees out, and was pleased that they're no longer balls of solid ice. There's actually pockets of small redworms, almost dormant, among the chunks and layers. When things warm up they'll get really active and work the piles down to the good stuff. Finally. |
RE: What is compost doing during the winter?
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| Agree with all above who say it will simply compost more slowly - and if frozen, much more slowly. The freezing-and-thawing, however, will help in the process of breaking things down once it thaws and the bacteria, worms, etc., get active again. What happens is that the freezing will break down cell walls and some internal structures in the composting material that are good natural defences. So everything being equal, you'll probably see a burst of compost activity as it thaws and gets warm again. So in a sense the freezing will slow things down, but also make things ready for quick composting in spring. One caveat though - things will probably settle in the process and may create pockets without air, leading to anaerobic conditions - meaning smelly bits. Water might pool in areas and with the settling make the anaerobic bits worse. Stirring things up and mixing the compost will help and should get things back to normal. |
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