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Mon, Sep 27, 10 at 18:01
| Can anyone tell me how to get manure to heat up so that it keeps a hotbed warm? As I understand, a hotbed is something like a cold frame, well insulated, with manure in the bottom which heats up as it decomposes, and keeps young plants and seedlings warm in the early spring (or throughout the winter) Last year I thought I followed all the instructions, made a nice insulated frame with windows in a sunny spot, filled the bottom with the prescribed amount of manure & waited and waited but the manure never heated up.
What could I have done wrong? It wasn't that cold, (April in Portland, OR) & my seedlings tried to grow but were frostbit, at the bottom the manure stayed the same temperature, never heated at all that I could tell. I started with fresh manure, gave it several weeks before putting in the plants, but it never heated up. I want to try again next spring, but thought I'd better get a head start with advice, thanks Billyet |
Follow-Up Postings:
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| Compost piles heat up, in part, because they are large enough to provide thermal insulation for the core, where the heat is generated. If you had a warm compost pile, and you raked it flat, so it was only 6 inches deep, then it would immediately cool down. Perhaps someone who has used a hotbed successfully will post a reply. |
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| Dear Eric I think you are probably right, that I didn't have enough manure in the pile, although it seemed like a lot to me--however, even a small amount of manure seems like a lot when you're shoveling it. I wonder what the ratio is; how deep would the manure have to be in relation to the size of the plant area? Thanks for your advice, if anyone else has suggestions please let me hear. Billyet |
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| What type of manure, and if it contained bedding, what sort? (straw,wood shavings, etc.) |
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| Compost piles heat up because the Carbon to Nitorgen Ratio is close to the optimal 30:1 and the moisture level is close to oprimal, neither too little nor too much. For many years people made hot frames, often out of cold frames, by digging the soil out from under the frame and filling that space with well tamped horse manure, wetting that, and covering it with good soil. I'm not sure that compost, which relies more on aerbic bacteria to generate the heat then manure, would produce the heat you would want in a hot frame. |
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- Posted by lazygardens PhxAZ: Sunset 13 (My Page) on Tue, Sep 28, 10 at 20:13
| It has to be FRESH manure, not already composted or piled up for months. And it has to be really deep - 2-3 FEET thick. |
Here is a link that might be useful: hotbed construction
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- Posted by raymadigan (My Page) on Thu, Sep 30, 10 at 3:02
| To make compost you also need oxygen. Thats why one has to turn the thing every week or two. If the oxygen goes away, so does the decomposition. All the other stuff that has been written here is correct as well. The pile has to be damp like a wrung out sponge and has to be at close to 3 feet deep. A better idea might be a reptile heating pad. They come in a variety of power ratings. |
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| Well just to give you an idea although my way might be a little to extreme for you(: last April here in MN I wanted a hotbed for my Altantic giants I dug a 4x4x4 hole with the backhoe then filled it with a compost pile that was cooking at 150 degrees mixed that with wood chips coiled in a chunk of preferred drain tile that was handy to try to bring in some oxygen to try to extend the heat covered that with some dirt and then black plastic made a mini hoop house out of plastic water pipe and clear plastic sheeting I had to lift the plastic many days the inside temps would hit 125 very easy the soil temp was 90 degrees even the days it was snowing(: Long story short it may be best to use a compost pile thats already cooking and put in an air vent with as much hot compost as you can handle You may also need to insulate your cold frame maybe with straw bales, leaves, ect and cover with a blanket on the cold nights |
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- Posted by nancyjane_gardener USDA 8ish No CA (My Page) on Fri, Oct 1, 10 at 0:58
| I'm kind of confused, Billiet. Some people are responding to a pile of manure that you asked about, then some are talking about a compost pile. I have not made a hotbed that you are asking about, but I have obtained horse manure fresh from a farm. It was HOT HOT HOT!!!!! The tractor that was loading into our truck was surrounded by steam! (I thought the tractor was blowing up!) We used our manure to surround our pumpkin plantings and the stuff only stayed hot for a couple of weeks. But it was mixed with some soil at that point. So.....I'm surely not an expert, but I would think that the deeper the pile, the hotter it will stay. Have fun and good luck! NT |
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| Thanks everyone, the important suggestion, I think, is that my manure pile was too small. If I try next spring I will be sure to have a bigger pile, and get it together a little earlier so the thing can be working by the time my seedlings need to be moved for more growing space. There were some good links in your responses: I only wish I had one of those caterpiller tractor things to handle the manure, like the one in the photo Lazygardens wrote about. thanks again to you all Billye |
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| billyet, you are in cold zone 8-9? If so you could line your pit/hole with 2" Styrofoam sheeting & use a 40/60 watt light bulb to keep the cool night warm. The Styrofoam,light fixture & a plug in temp. gauge all are at Lowe's. I use one on my pump plumbing to keep it warm & it has got to 17 degrees F this year with not frozen pipes. And the gauge come on if the temperature drops below 40 degrees F. So the manure can heat up then cool & the seedling will be okay. I have used this on my pump in the country for 6 years, never frozen the pvc pipe yet.You have to have power. |
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| Dear Jolj This is a very good idea--I had tried to insulate the upper part of the thing I made last yr, but didn't think of insulating the manure as well, & the upper part needed light so I couldn't close it up with styro. Only hope I can get to this because I may be away for a month in the Spring & need to get everything working before I go, also am not sure about the wiring. This is a really practical suggestion, thanks so much Billye |
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