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  • Preparaing a hotbed

    I'm starting to think about the preparation of a hotbed in my polytunnel on the plot.

    The bed will be 8'x4'x4' made with pallets. And reducible to 2' high when the material has settled.

    I don't want commission the hotbed until January - the aim being to give me an early start on seedlings from mid-Feb.

    I've done a lot of research so far, but there is one piece of information I'm lacking: that is storing the manure until it goes into the hotbed. Every piece of advice about building a hotbed so far, seems to assume that the manure is fresh and available at build time.

    Although I have a good supply of fresh manure (bedding removed) and solied bedding, I will still need to hoard some in advance so I'm concerned that I don't store it in a way that will start the decomposition process. So, how best to store manure that I'm getting every 2/3 weeks (600 litres) so it can be used in the hotbed?

    Any advice welcome.

  • #2
    It'll start the process however you store it. A low open stack will probably not degrade as much, but really fresh stuff is needed to get that blast of heat/
    You could try watering it as you stack it for the hotbed with something very nitrogen rich to get it going again.

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    • #3
      Originally posted by alldigging View Post
      It'll start the process however you store it. A low open stack will probably not degrade as much, but really fresh stuff is needed to get that blast of heat/
      You could try watering it as you stack it for the hotbed with something very nitrogen rich to get it going again.
      thanks for you reply

      Yes, a low stack had occurred to me. Much of the compositing advice says the the pile needs to be washing maching sized to kick off the process. So maybe a low spread pile, tarped could be ok.

      I hadn't thought about wetting with something nitrogen-rich, I 've got a barrel of decomposing comfrey liquor, I guess I could add a bit of that and possible some addition of urea (from humans or a bag)

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      • #4
        Most of the hotbed stuff I have read says when it comes to building use manure, straw and urine and the process takes at least 3 weeks to get the temperature stable. As you are making it in a poly I wouldn't have thought you would need quite so hot anyway so some heat loss from storing pure poo previous to building wouldn't be so much of an issue. I may be wrong but in my mind anyway

        Hi and welcome to the vine
        Last edited by Norfolkgrey; 30-09-2015, 08:57 AM. Reason: my english is terrible

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        • #5
          The homemade urea is what you need. Cheap and easy to get!

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          • #6
            Originally posted by alldigging View Post
            The homemade urea is what you need. Cheap and easy to get!
            although quantity may be a problem

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            • #7
              ^^^milk bottle by the toilet, tell visitors - no problem and you save by reducing flushes of your toilet

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              • #8
                I find keeping up my fluid intake helps with this too - cheers!

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                • #9
                  Originally posted by garrilla View Post
                  although quantity may be a problem
                  Couple of bottles of vino or a few 6 packs of lager and you're good to go, literally!
                  Life should be more like Bonsai...

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