Been working on this a bit lately, got it put in today. Used the rodale book of composting for most of the concepts and some of my own ideas mixed in for what would work with where it had to go. Went for a raised bin with airflow under and through all sides. All pressure treated framing, sits on deck blocks, some of the slats are wcq, some are cedar depending on what I had.
(http://www.loopy.org/pictures/galleries/09%20Garden/_thumbs/640x480-IMG00243.jpg)
Are you going to use a chimney for the center?
Looks like it should work. Chicken manure or nitrogen and water every so often added will help it cook faster. That will help get it to the proper ratio of carbon to nitrogen for fast composting.
Quote from: Squirl on March 16, 2009, 08:04:53 AM
Are you going to use a chimney for the center?
No, I plan to turn it or even re-layer it ever now and then to get more oxygen into the center. My buddy has one very similar to this, he stuck a metal pipe in the center (just 1" round pipe), and when the composting is in full swing that pipe is hot to the touch. When the pipe starts to cool off after a few weeks he turns his. It works pretty well so I was going to follow the same approach.
Glen, I'm going to ask my barber for a sack of hair and layer it in to give it a boost in nitrogen.
Thanks
My old bin would get so hot in the middle at times it was uncomfortable to hold the steel rod in the area that had been in the center of the pile.
If you know anybody that makes biodiesel the waste glycerine junk is a great compost accelerator
if they make the BD with potassium it will add to the potassium in the compost too
I haven't tried this but heard it from a man that makes a lot of biodiesel and gets rid of his waste glycerine to a horse farm that uses it to compost the manure
looks like a great bin muldoon