steam = water loss?

16 years ago

I was wondering whether it is important to cover a steaming bin well with leaves, so as not to lose the water steaming off of it. We are in a drought here.

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Comments (4)

User
16 years ago
If that were my compost pile, I would cover it at least partially to hold in the vapor. It is much dryer here where I live, but I still think the vapor will help moisten the top layers of your pile and promote their decomposition.

Let's hope for more rain back east.
Lloyd
16 years ago
I've done that (covered with 6-8 inches leaves to absorb moisture loss) but it didn't seem to keep the moisture in the pile where the heat was. The leaves on top eventually got moist but that is about all they did. With very little N with the leaves, they don't heat up themselves. A tarp on top seemed to drip the moisture back onto the pile but it also seemed to block the airflow. Sort of a trade off between conserving moisture and allowing airflow. Leaves also insulated better and with temperatures falling below freezing overnight now, heat conservation is nice. We have adequate water supplies and drought is not a concern for us. Hopefully you can get some precipitation soon.

Lloyd
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tclynx
16 years ago
I actually put a layer of cardboard on top of my pile to shed some of the overabundant rainfall we were getting (that you all need I guess.) Cardboard is nice since it is insulating, allows airflow and seems to be a favorite worm food. (I have a worm bin and much of what I love about cardboard, the corrigated stuff at least, has been because of the worm bin.)
I did need to secure the cardboard down so it doesn't get blown away though.
Kimmsr
16 years ago
That steam is a byproduct of the digestion process, it indicates that the bacteria are diligently at work. Attempting to suppress that won't really work, any more than suppressing the steam from boiling water, it is part of the process. Yes it does indicate water loss because steam is water vapor and maybe, possibly you could rig up something for that vapor to condense on above, not on, your compost pile so that fairly limited amount of water can be recycled.

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steam = water loss?

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Lloyd

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