"shazzbat"
"Jane" wrote in message
I have a pile of fresh horse manure brewing on my allotment. The heap is
cold. Isn't it supposed to be hot? Advice?

If you went to the stables or wherever and got nice hot compost and took
it
to the allotment, you introduced oxygen to the pile and the anaerobic
process was disrupted. That's why I always get the oldest I can, I know
it's
going to cool down, but it's pretty well along the way already. I would
dig
it in and let the worms do their stuff.

Steve

Thats the advice. Last April I got 2 trailer loads of nice steaming horse
poop that smelt of ammonia. I spread it in some raised gardens. Turning it
in and out of the trailer and the wheel barrow got rid of the smell but the
poop cooled down in the gardens (even though it was heaped quite deep). The
worms have gotten stuck in to it over the last 5 months and reduced it down
nicely. Weeds will pop up at some point. Cover it with some old carpet to
kill off any germination and you will be away laughing. When it starts to
break up go out and dig your hands in to it and observe the worms, lovely
stuff.

rob

I have a pile of fresh horse manure brewing on my allotment. The heap is
cold. Isn't it supposed to be hot? Advice?

Many thanks.

"Jane" wrote in message
...
I have a pile of fresh horse manure brewing on my allotment. The heap is
cold. Isn't it supposed to be hot? Advice?

If you went to the stables or wherever and got nice hot compost and took it
to the allotment, you introduced oxygen to the pile and the anaerobic
process was disrupted. That's why I always get the oldest I can, I know it's
going to cool down, but it's pretty well along the way already. I would dig
it in and let the worms do their stuff.

Steve

"shazzbat" wrote in message
...

"Jane" wrote in message
...
I have a pile of fresh horse manure brewing on my allotment. The heap is
cold. Isn't it supposed to be hot? Advice?

If you went to the stables or wherever and got nice hot compost and took
it to the allotment, you introduced oxygen to the pile and the anaerobic
process was disrupted. That's why I always get the oldest I can, I know
it's going to cool down, but it's pretty well along the way already. I
would dig it in and let the worms do their stuff.

Steve
I think that you will find that aerobic composting produces heat (oxygen is
good) and that you need a critical mass of sh*t before a heap will generate
heat.

"suspicious minds" wrote
I think that you will find that aerobic composting produces heat (oxygen
is good) and that you need a critical mass of sh*t before a heap will
generate heat.
A Metre cubed is often mentioned.
It also needs some moisture to work and the dry year down here has caused
some heaps to stop rotting and dry out.

--
Regards
Bob H
17mls W. of London.UK

"Jane" wrote in message
...
I have a pile of fresh horse manure brewing on my allotment. The heap is
cold. Isn't it supposed to be hot? Advice?

Dig hole in middle from one side.
Pee in it
Add kitchen scraps of food.
Re Cover
Wait

I've had a compost dalek for nearly 3 years and it has never emitted an iota of heat. It all breaks down in the end though, especially after the addition of some lovely worms at the start of this summer.

I turned the compost yesterday and was delighted to notice that it makes a distinctive noise - a crunchy, damp-ish rustling noise, the noise of hundreds of wee beasties doing their stuff. I listened with my head stuck in the bin for about ten minutes, the neighbours must think I'm fully mental. I think this means I've become a vermiphile!

Bob

Jasbird wrote:
[...on composting horse dung...]
By all means water it if it seems dry. Add a table-spoonful of sugar to
about a gallon of water (that'll get it going quickly).
[...]

That's interesting. What does the sugar do?

--
Mike.

On Sat, 09 Sep 2006 17:54:50 GMT, "Jane"
wrote:

I have a pile of fresh horse manure brewing on my allotment. The heap is
cold. Isn't it supposed to be hot? Advice?

Many thanks.

Mix in a much vegetable matter as possible. The bigger the heap the
better.

Build it as high as you can manage - the taller the better. I find that
95% of compost heaps in my local allotments are wider than taller -
which is wrong - and I never tire of telling the gardeners that! - they
must take me for the compost bore of all time.

By all means water it if it seems dry. Add a table-spoonful of sugar to
about a gallon of water (that'll get it going quickly). You can also add
some compost starter; but shouldn't really need it if you have horse
manure rather than old stable hay.

The trick it to keep it insulated at this time of the year and build it
as high as possible - so that heat generated is not lost. At the very
least put a polythene sheet or old carpet over it.

Don't worry if it doesn't seem warm, if it's moist it's still
composting. What is the temperature like on the inside? Say, 12 inches
into the heap?