Compost heat in the greenhouse!

Has anyone set a side a portion of your greenhouse for composting?
Would it heat up enough to release heat as a helping hand for the heat source your currently using?

or better yet, put the plants on really tall tables and let a bunch of pigs into the greenhouse.
lil straw every week or so on the floor and it'd stay toasty.

talkin bout natural gas

tooooooo funny "deep roots" you can tell you been inhaling that propane!! 'Em heaters gotta have a leak. ROFLOL

And a weeny roast come spring!!! LOL!
Interesting read.
Heat and CO2 in greenhouses

A number of researchers have studied the production, collection and use of biothermal energy in greenhouses. Greenhouses scattered throughout Europe have been heated and enriched by composting. Pain and Pain (1972) and Schuchardt (1984) have used composting woodchips to heat greenhouses. Both employed matrices of polyethylene or PVC tubes in large piles through which water was circulated by a pump, and then into a nearby greenhouse for heating of the soil. Schuchardt reports heat recovery rates of 111 kilowatt-hours per cubic meter (496,000 Btus/yd3 or 4.00 x 108 J/m3) over a six-month period; water temperatures were maintained between 30 and 40 degrees C (86 - 104o F). Pain and Pain report that a 50-metric-ton (110,000-lb) pile of woodchips can heat water from 10 degrees C (50o F) to 60 degrees C (122o F) at a rate of four liters/minute (1.1 gal per min) for up to 6 months. White (1982b) reports that from 0.6 to 2.2 square meters (6 - 24 ft2) of greenhouse space can be heated by a ton of externally located compost, using EPDM synthetic rubber heat-exchange mats.

Knapp (1978), Graefe (1979), Sardinsky (1979) and Del Porto (1985) report on the phase-change thermal dynamics of composting in greenhouses. A number of researchers have investigated methods and the effects of compost-generated heat and CO2 in greenhouses. Decomposing bales of straw have been used in greenhouses since the 1940s to generate heat and CO2 (Loughton 1977). Brown et al. (1979) monitored CO2 concentrations of 2000 ppm in a greenhouse enriched from an external composting chamber. Sardinsky, Saxton, Graefe, Knapp, and Fulford have investigated and reported on biothermal systems that include the use of compost-generated CO2 to enrich greenhouse atmospheres. Research in England includes investigating the use of externally located piles of decomposing straw contained within inexpensive polyethylene plastic shells, and exhaust CO2 pumped into greenhouses of cucumbers and tomatoes (Hand & Slack 1983).

This is a subject that has interested me. I have seen plans for a cold frame using composting manure for heat. One thing I am doing as an experiment this winter is using horse manure under the mulch for extra heat to overwinter brugmansia in the ground. Someone suggested it might cause root rot but we'll see.
I have heard that bananas can be overwintered by planting them in a bale of hay then placing a tent of 6 mil plastic over it.

Loretta

Come spring,let us know your results.
I think the corm might not rot or freeze being in a bale of hay,but I think the trunk would still freeze,not much protection from just a cover of plastic.

Tropicman - I've also read some articles and wondered what if "anything" would work.

shadowgirl - Very interesting experiment, please keep us updated.

I think if a person had large greenhouses,and had excess to fresh manure,and straw and hay,it be worth trying.
With these new upright circle fans,I'd built a pile,clean out a center spot in the middle of pile,and install one of these type fans,to blow out the heat from the pile out into the greenhouse and the same time provide air circulation to keep the pile cooking.There's recycling plants that take in all the cities wood chips from pruining trees from electric lines,and you see smoke coming from them all winter long.
This goes back a long way,settlers use to use it to keep there cold frames warm during winter to grow fresh greens.
I realize this is just a little extra heat to help supplement the main source of heat,but you could get fresh compost for winter use as well,kill to birds with one stone,so to speak.Besides don't you just love the smell of fresh compost,so sweet smelling!!

My grandfather from British Columbia would always start his cukes early in a "hot bed" which consisted of digging a deep hole, adding straw, covering with dirt, planting the cukes and covering with a cold frame. BC has a short growing season so the heat loving vegetables needed an early start. It's a lot of work but seems like it would keep the soil heated in a greenhouse without losing any real estate. Not sure why the articles above used external piles? Does compost give off some undesirable gases in a closed environment (my wife makes me go outside)? I know they (compost) can get quite smelly if they go anaerobic...

wow - interesting reads, I dont have a greenhouse yet but I'll be sure to check out this way of warming.

Yep,the smell can be quite unforgiveable,if theres' not good air circulation,or too wet.
Some states,are gonna stop taking grass clippings and brush from lawns here shortly,and most people are going to have to rely on composting.
Few years back I invested in a 10 horse power troybuilt chipper and shredder,and chop and shredd right in my beds for next year,I no longer carry everything to the backyard to the compost pile,I compost right in my planting beds.Come spring I work the soil,pick out the grubs for the robins to eat,and believe me,when I start working the soil,there right there wanting a handout,early spring and there isn't a whole lot for them to eat yet.

While DH was traveling on his job he met a fellow from somewhere up in Ohio who heated his greenhouse by using bales of hay. He stacked it up and used it for shelves to put the plants on and apparently used no other heat source.

'Sounds too good to be true, huh?

Kay

Well...a lot of farm people around here use bales of hay or straw up against their houses to keep plumbing from freezing...so it must work!

Well the field mice love it ,they stay warm thru the winter in them.
They even build houses out of straw bales.

Yep....and the cats LOVE the field mice..lol!

LOL ! Recycling!!
Just goes on and on!!

Hey Don..read Darius' post on the rabbit warmed greenhouse in Idaho...very interesting!

Becarefull with the mice----when you sow your seed in the greenhouse---they will dig and eat the seed before they germinate---even hot banana pepper seed---darn varments!
Becarefull to treat for bugs when using fresh manure---it draws in lots of insects. The hay will mildew when wet---i dont know it that will hurt the plants and soil that the plant is in. Sounds like a great idea using hay if the mildew dont hurt the plants. (fungus) Just a thought.

HAPPY NEW YEAR
cricket

How about corn silage? My neighbor up the road opens his pit every morning to feed his cattle and the heat and steam come roaring out. Of course, that is one way they use to make corn liquor too.....Hmmmmmmm! Fermenting, I mean.

First time I smelled my DH's silage pit I thought someone had barffed.....but when he put it in terms of being part of my income......it smelled a whole lot better.

Cooper kettle,corn mash,white lightning,and here I thought Montana was cattle country!!! LOL! Not bootleggers country !!:) Yep great alternative heat source for the greenhouse!!! Helps keep mealy bugs under control too!!!!

What about a corn burning stove?

I have found that the gas produced in the greenhouse from a large compost pile will ruin the crop--the pile idea worked for me after I put it outside and covered it with a couple layers of plastic--I ran pipes through the pile and sucked air through the lot [a plentum] with a small fan. -that worked real well.
Rabits had the same draw back --amonia from the pee. about killed everything in the house--I solved the problem by building a sloped tray under them out of 2x4 and plywood and lined with 10 mill plastic, I just hosed out the manure and urine every am and saved the manure and let the pee water go to outside plants.