I’ve wanted a compost thermometer for a long time, and I got one for Christmas. A thermometer is a useful piece of equipment to have if you are trying to make a whole bunch of compost. After a little bit of shopping around online, I purchased the ReoTemp Backyard PRO Compost Thermometer with the twenty-four inch stem. I ordered it from Amazon and it cost about fifty dollars. So far, so good. I am happy with the product.
For years, I practiced a basic two pile compost system. This worked fine. I didn’t make enough compost for it to really matter too much if I could not measure the temperature. Lately, though, I have been trying to up my compost game. As my gardening ambitions have grown, I found that my old haphazard system was not producing enough compost to meet my needs. To do this I built some bigger bins and went in search of a cheap abundant source of organic matter, which I found in cow manure.
My job takes me to rural Oklahoma once a week, where I am able to collect as much manure as I can haul. Generally, I will fill one or two old OKC recycling bins with the cow pies and bring them back to the garden in the bed of my truck. There is some drawbacks to cow manure in that it can be a vector for agricultural herbicides into your garden. You just have to be sure you know the source of the manure you are using. Otherwise, I would say cow manure is easy to work with. If I’m short on time or feeling lazy, I’ll just dump the full bins directly into the pile and cover with leaves or woodchips. But, best results come from taking the time to break down the bigger manure chunks with a fork before mixing with whatever brown material I have on hand.
There are lots of ways to compost. Your system can be as simple or complex as you want. I’d recommend browsing the subject on the internet where there is lots of good information on the science of compost and best practices for a home garden setting. (Like a lot of people, I binge watch a lot of Charles Dowding. Here is link to a video showing his composting process.) The basic thing with compost is to keep the ratio of “greens” to “browns” in your pile at about 2:1. The interaction between these materials stimulates the biological activity that creates the finished compost. As the pile breaks down, its internal temperature can get up to 160F before it cools off again, which is the signal that your compost is finished.
I built my first cow manure compost pile back in September. One of the things that finally prompted me to order the thermometer is that I’ve been curious about the temp of this pile. Sure enough, the thermometer–with a reading just above ambient air temperature–told me that the time had come to turn, which I did this week. This batch should be ready by early March, just in time for Spring planting.