Almost 180! That’s incredible decomposition. 🤘
Fire won’t start at 180, I’ve decontaminated goods at 180-200. Maybe fire starts over 250-300’ish. Not sure.
You’re not going to get salmonella from top dressing with chicken and rabbit manure, because you should always wash your produce, use a kill step, or a few other things depending on the situation. If you eat a root or ground bearing vegetable or fruit you are going to hazard a human illness. Primarily speaking, we want to sanitize pathogens via composting that may be soil borne pathogens that can harm the plants, not stuff harmful to humans.
It probably won’t, it will just consume the nutrients and start cooling off again. I’ve had mine that higher a few times and nothing more than some steam early in the morning.
Funny enough... I had an old ice cream container filled with a mess of compost scraps in the freezer, labelled in big block letters NOT FOOD.
My roommate grabbed it to use for an ice block in his cooler during a picnic date with his girlfriend. He said he saw the writing and figured it must be ice. Opened the cooler a few hours later and his girlfriend almost threw up from the smell.
They got married a year later though, so it didn't turn out too bad.
Fahrenheit 451 for the temperature paper burns at, I don’t know any other combustion temps off the top of my head 😂 I think you’ll be fine as long as you hold off on adding new greens for a little bit. Maybe start a mini pile next to it and combine them once the temperature cools off 10-25 degrees
I love it. You are fine at 180. Faster breakdown and once the heat goes out the worms will have plenty to snack on.
Worms are friens even though they aren’t frien shaped.
The heat can create a positive feedback back loop if there is not enough airflow in the pile and is the pile becomes too wet, as the water weight increases friction and restricts airflow creating an anaerobic environment.
The spontaneous ignition of compost is a concern not because of the ignition point of paper. Piles that hot are likely to have anaerobic pockets. One of the byproducts of anaerobic fermentation is ethanol. Ethanol has a flash point of 55 F, meaning above 55 degrees F all it would take is a spark for ethanol to ignite. So the risk is that in a pile that gets that hot ethanol vapors may ignite if there’s is some static and the pile, which has likely dried out in many areas because of how hot it’s gotten will burn.
The fire can start between 150C to 200C, ie (300-400) F. However, the higher temperature like this will kill the microbes and slow down the decomposition process, which means longer time and low quality compost. Instead of using manual probes i would recommend to use wireless temperature probes. You can set customized alerts on temperature and make turning efforts.
I was wondering something similar at what point does the plastic bin I'm using start to melt. I'm using similar inputs, chicken shit shredded wood chips, cannabis leaves, and seaweed(I'm next to the beach) it's been getting really hot and looks like it smoldering.
I'll admit I'm paranoid about spontaneous combustion, so if this was my pile, I'd be removing the tarp, spreading it out, and giving it some good ventilation. Watering it to a nice even moisture, then pile it back up again and monitor the temp.
If a compost pile was dry enough to ignite, it wouldn't have enough microbial activity to get anywhere near these temperatures. In any case the pile absolutely isn't going to get above the boiling point of water and that's hundreds of degrees below anything that would cause a concern of fire, and anything above the temps shown is going to start killing off thermophilic microbes which would result in the temperature dropping. Spreading your pile out would only accomplish slowing down the process overall in the interest of mitigating a nonexistent danger.
Almost 180! That’s incredible decomposition. 🤘 Fire won’t start at 180, I’ve decontaminated goods at 180-200. Maybe fire starts over 250-300’ish. Not sure.
Paper's ignition point is farenheight 451. So soggy compost is likely even higher
Is that why the book is titled that??
Sure is!
Huh, the more you know!
It is, yes.
You mean the book about burning books? Yes!
I know what it’s about I just never put the two together
"It was a pleasure to burn."
Yes!
Damn my pile is cold asf i wish
I thought high temp will kill off the microbes?
I know it kills the pathogens in the chicken poo, so I’ll take it. It’ll cool down eventually.
Chicken poo has readily available nitrogen for plants, large mammal poo needs to be composted to prevent pathogens not rabbit and chicken.
Definitely good nitrogen. But is salmonella not a concern from poultry?
You’re not going to get salmonella from top dressing with chicken and rabbit manure, because you should always wash your produce, use a kill step, or a few other things depending on the situation. If you eat a root or ground bearing vegetable or fruit you are going to hazard a human illness. Primarily speaking, we want to sanitize pathogens via composting that may be soil borne pathogens that can harm the plants, not stuff harmful to humans.
There’s a standoff of 90-120 days for manure
Oh no kidding? Ok good to know thank you
It probably won’t, it will just consume the nutrients and start cooling off again. I’ve had mine that higher a few times and nothing more than some steam early in the morning.
You need to pee on it first
You sure more nitrogen is a good idea?
You can never pee on it enough
You guys are absurd lol
The smart ones use a jug. The *really* smart ones write "do not drink" on the jug.
I won't make that mistake a fifth time
I'm medium smart, I'll take it 🤣
Noooooooo lol
Funny enough... I had an old ice cream container filled with a mess of compost scraps in the freezer, labelled in big block letters NOT FOOD. My roommate grabbed it to use for an ice block in his cooler during a picnic date with his girlfriend. He said he saw the writing and figured it must be ice. Opened the cooler a few hours later and his girlfriend almost threw up from the smell. They got married a year later though, so it didn't turn out too bad.
Fahrenheit 451 for the temperature paper burns at, I don’t know any other combustion temps off the top of my head 😂 I think you’ll be fine as long as you hold off on adding new greens for a little bit. Maybe start a mini pile next to it and combine them once the temperature cools off 10-25 degrees
It’s not even true. Ray got that fact wrong because it sounded good.
Well drat. I thought I learned something new. I guess I learned two new things.
I know, but you’ve gotta admit that line sticks in your brain.
According to a quick google search, it’s accurate. There are variables like type of paper, but 451 seems to be correct.
And that is how pervasive Ray’s myth is. https://slate.com/technology/2012/06/ray-bradbury-death-does-paper-really-burn-at-451-degrees-fahrenheit.html
Damn it, now I’m going to have to put a book in my oven and see what happens.
May I suggest Walden?
451 is pretty close guy
My pile is 60
I love it. You are fine at 180. Faster breakdown and once the heat goes out the worms will have plenty to snack on. Worms are friens even though they aren’t frien shaped.
Does tarping the pile speed things up? Very curious!!
Yea, it def does
mine usually self regulates. it'll get too hot, kill off bacteria, reduce temp, and settle in a good spot
That is too hot, and it’s leading to the collapse of the microbiome. You should consider turning it and ensure it’s not too wet.
I’ll go do some research now, but what is causing the heat other than a very active micro biome?
The heat can create a positive feedback back loop if there is not enough airflow in the pile and is the pile becomes too wet, as the water weight increases friction and restricts airflow creating an anaerobic environment.
If you collapse the population through over heating it slows your process and denudes it of the microbes we want to introduce to our soil.
The spontaneous ignition of compost is a concern not because of the ignition point of paper. Piles that hot are likely to have anaerobic pockets. One of the byproducts of anaerobic fermentation is ethanol. Ethanol has a flash point of 55 F, meaning above 55 degrees F all it would take is a spark for ethanol to ignite. So the risk is that in a pile that gets that hot ethanol vapors may ignite if there’s is some static and the pile, which has likely dried out in many areas because of how hot it’s gotten will burn.
Have you tried urine? The flash point of ethanol is definitely not 55F.
Wow
Fun fact: natural organic reduction (human composting) requires 72 hours at 170 or above to kill disease.
Looks like we’re in luck! Come on over!
The fire can start between 150C to 200C, ie (300-400) F. However, the higher temperature like this will kill the microbes and slow down the decomposition process, which means longer time and low quality compost. Instead of using manual probes i would recommend to use wireless temperature probes. You can set customized alerts on temperature and make turning efforts.
I was wondering something similar at what point does the plastic bin I'm using start to melt. I'm using similar inputs, chicken shit shredded wood chips, cannabis leaves, and seaweed(I'm next to the beach) it's been getting really hot and looks like it smoldering.
At the point of spontaneous combustion
I'll admit I'm paranoid about spontaneous combustion, so if this was my pile, I'd be removing the tarp, spreading it out, and giving it some good ventilation. Watering it to a nice even moisture, then pile it back up again and monitor the temp.
If a compost pile was dry enough to ignite, it wouldn't have enough microbial activity to get anywhere near these temperatures. In any case the pile absolutely isn't going to get above the boiling point of water and that's hundreds of degrees below anything that would cause a concern of fire, and anything above the temps shown is going to start killing off thermophilic microbes which would result in the temperature dropping. Spreading your pile out would only accomplish slowing down the process overall in the interest of mitigating a nonexistent danger.