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Soil, Compost & Mulch

to tarp or not to tarp

11 years ago

I live in the rainy Pacific NW. We do have periods of winter sunshine and usually when that happens the temperature drops. We are entering into one of those periods. The overnight lows will be in the mid 20's and daytime highs I have a large (4'X4'X8') compost pile that is still staying fairly hot. I keep it covered with a tarp during our (seemingly unceasing)rainy stretches.

My question is whether I should uncover it when it is not raining. Should I uncover it only in the day...when the temp is above freezing? I feel like the pile need air, but I wonder if there is too much heat loss when it is uncovered.

Thoughts???

signed,
keeping the wood stove cranking
(and the compost ???ed)

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Comments (4)

oliveoyl3
11 years ago
I'm further north in the foothills between Seattle & Tacoma. I've done nothing different for my compost piles during this wintery blast.

Yes, keep it covered because it doesn't hurt it, but it might if you uncover it. Your cover prevents over-saturation from excess rain as well as wind blown seed entering your compost. In our mild winter climate our annual weeds produce seeds nearly year round especially shotweed or peppergrass that I'll link below. The blog isn't mine.

There will be heat loss tarp or not when composting. Turning it is necessary to keep a hot pile going, not the tarp. When you read about hot compost it will state that eventually there is no longer enough content to maintain heat. You can either add more nitrogen ingredients to heat again, or let it go through the cool phase to finish & cure. I've done it both ways & nowadays unless I'm eager to build biceps or burn calories I leave it alone.

Corrine

Here is a link that might be useful: shotweed or peppergrass weed
robertz6
11 years ago
I use a tarp sometimes on my 5'x8'x2' high piles. The tarp is more for avoiding excess moisture (rain and snow) rather than trying to retain a bit more of the heat generated.

This week the piles are covered, with the possibility of
rain the next few days. If and when the sun comes out, I may take the tarps off to dry out the compost pile tops. Neither of my two piles have frozen much yet this winter. Both compost centers have been between 135F and 80F for a bit more than two months. Larger than usual particle size is probably responsible for this.
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Kimmsr
11 years ago
That tarp would have to be fairly tightly wrapped around your compost pile to limit air movement, so that is not a concern. Compost with too much water in the mix is of concern since water dispalces air and a too wet compost pile will not have enough air for the aerobic bacteria to work, so keeping the tarp in place (except when adding to or turning the mix) is a good idea because that can help you regulate the amount of moisture in your compost.
Lloyd
11 years ago
I've tarped piles to prevent added moisture during a rain event and to prevent loss of moisture during extreme dryness/wind. Many variables could come in to play when deciding whether to tarp or not.

Lloyd

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