Hi
We're about to try out the compost hot water approach and was wondering if anyone has any advice on the balance of green and brown that's optimal for us.
We've got a good pile of woodchips which have been sitting a few months. There's heat in places in the wood chip pile but not very much - I reckon this is because we haven't added any nitrogen material (green or urine). This is good for us because we didn't want the woodchip to start decomposing before we set it all up. We're probably going to have a pile of 3 or 4 cubic metres with a pipe coiled in the middle. From research it looks like if we mix about half green (grass cuttings or similar) with brown (woodchips or maybe straw or old leaves) this is about the best mix if you want to get it really hot (about 55 degrees C). But since we're wanting it to stay hot/warm (about 45 degrees) for longer then what sort of mix should we use?
Any ideas on whether we're better off using grass cuttings or cow manure as the green (nitrogen) element?
We've also got easy access to lots of urine for starting the process off!
Also has anyone done this and knows more or less how long we'd be able to get heat from it?
We're in Wales where it's really wet at the moment, so we shouldn't have any problems making sure the material is damp, but maybe it could be too damp - we'll cover it if it looks like it's heading that way. (But we're also going to make sure it has air going in by putting the pile on a pallet with air flow at the bottom.)
Thanks very much.
