Compost reaching thermal equilibrium – temperature chart

Both of our current compost heaps, 160901 and 160910 have now reached stable equilibrium. The two graphs below show the complete “heap lifetime” temperature against time. The tail of each chart is now reasonably steady, suggesting they are now “mature”. It’s between five and six weeks since we first built these heaps.

The complete “lifetime” temperature profile of compost heap 160901 started on the 1st September 2016. The second probe was first at a different level within the heap, and then reallocated to monitoring outside temp at the start of week 37
Temperature profile of the heap using chicken manure slurry, heap number 160910, showing the much faster burn initially

In both of these there seems to be a reasonable evenness through the pile when both temperature probes are active, the temperature recording tips of the probes were set in the centre of the pile horizontally, and at about 1/3 and 2/3 from the top of the compost heap material.

We had a quick look at 160901 compost under the microscope a little while back and it was very exciting!

Fungal hypha in heap 160901
Bacteria and protozoa, magnification 400x in heap number 160901
Another fungal hypha
Another fungal hypha

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