{"id":78,"date":"2012-04-05T13:47:19","date_gmt":"2012-04-05T20:47:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/gardenerstips.co.uk\/blog\/?p=78"},"modified":"2012-04-17T03:36:34","modified_gmt":"2012-04-17T10:36:34","slug":"compost-tips","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gardenerstips.co.uk\/blog\/gardening\/environmental-gardening\/compost-tips\/","title":{"rendered":"Hot Compost Tips &#038; Heaps"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/adstream\/3683406194\/\" title=\"layered aerobic compost by adstream, on Flickr\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/farm3.staticflickr.com\/2614\/3683406194_30c54934de.jpg\" width=\"500\" height=\"375\" alt=\"layered aerobic compost\"><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Heat in a compost heap is good. A hot compost tip will kill off pathogens and many unwanted seeds whilst it creates good friable compost.<\/p>\n<h2>What is a Hot Compost Tip<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>Hot compost heaps are just that, hot, they can be so hot you can&#8217;t keep your hand in (though why you should want to put your hand in the middle of a compost heap I am not sure). <\/li>\n<li>The heat is generated by the decomposition process helped by all the biological activity. Microbes, worms and insects need <strong>food, air and water<\/strong> to generate this activity. They feed on the plant matter or one another so that takes care of <strong>food.<\/strong> <\/li>\n<li>Much garden refuse contains enough water but if the compost is dry or the weather dries the compost out then some extra <strong>water<\/strong> can be added.<\/li>\n<li>A hot compost process encourages quick breakdown and recycling of compostable waste.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3><strong>Turning The Compost Heap<\/strong><\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li>To get <strong>air<\/strong> into the compost as it rots down the heap needs to be turned after an initial decomposition period say 8-10 weeks<\/li>\n<li>Special &#8216;Tumbler compost makers&#8217; and spinners are now available so that compost can be turned within a plastic drum. You turn the drum daily or weekly to aerate the rotting compost. This speeds up the composting process significantly.<\/li>\n<li>Turning the compost stops the top forming a crust that fails to rot<\/li>\n<li>The compost should be turned so that any compost at the sides or back is brought into the middle so decomposition is even and homogenious<\/li>\n<li>Turning the compost gives a chance for excess water to be redistributed so the heap doesn&#8217;t smell<\/li>\n<li>If the heap is large turning  the top two thirds on to a separate pile may leave one third compost ready to use.<\/li>\n<li>Compost compacts and reduces in size by at least a third as it rots. Without turning it can be more compacted than your own soil.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft\" src=\"http:\/\/direct.tesco.com\/pi\/Product\/8\/SS08203-8288TPS291563.jpg\" alt=\"\" \/><\/p>\n<p><em>Credits<br \/>\nlayered aerobic compost by adstream CC BY-NC-ND 2.0<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Hot compost heaps are just that, hot, they can be so hot you can&#8217;t keep your hand in but the bio-activity thrives making good quick compost<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[48],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-78","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-environmental-gardening"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gardenerstips.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/78","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gardenerstips.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gardenerstips.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gardenerstips.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gardenerstips.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=78"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/gardenerstips.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/78\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gardenerstips.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=78"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gardenerstips.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=78"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gardenerstips.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=78"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}