keyhole kate Posted January 1, 2014 Share Posted January 1, 2014 I was thinking about ways to get more use out of my unheated greenhouse on my allotment and got an idea of making a hotbed with the chicken poo and nesting box straw to heat it to start off some seeds rather than using the heated propagator at home then transporting them to the greenhouse has anyone had a go at making one ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sjp Posted January 2, 2014 Share Posted January 2, 2014 I know the principle of a hot bed but I not sure chicken poo is 'hot' enough as it's cattle manure/bedding that's traditionally used as it's classed as been a 'hot' manure due to it been very wet Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Olly Posted January 2, 2014 Share Posted January 2, 2014 That's interesting - I've always understood that chicken manure was 'hotter' than horse/cattle, in terms of whether or not plants can withstand it. I'd love to know - I have considered this myself, but the thought of having to clear it all out in the spring puts me off! Also I'm not sure I'd have a large enough quantity/how hot it would get. I've had a result in previous years with lighting a large candle overnight in the greenhouse when a heavy frost was predicted, it was a decorative candle that I no longer wanted so quite a large diameter, and it was just enough to keep the frost off. It does mean nipping up there to light it every night and then blowing it out in the morning, though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sjp Posted January 3, 2014 Share Posted January 3, 2014 all the old photo/drawing of hot beds I've seen are at least 3ft deep and the same wide with a few inches of soil on top then a cloche of some sort over that there is also a system for a cold frame the old Victorian brick built ones were the frames are filled up with the muck the either straw or soil on top then once the bed reaches temperature the trays/pot of plants are put into the frames or early salad type crops are planted into the soil it could work for early strawberries too the trick is to put the manure in at the right time so that the heat is just reaching it's peak I don't think they would work as a heat source for a green house as the volumes of air Olly your right about the chicken poo. that's why I hate writing stuff down I much prefer talking about stuff it's far easier and quicker to explain. in this context cow manure gives off more heat as it rots so is hotter and is/was also available in large quantities as they need mucking out more often than anything else on the farm Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Olly Posted January 3, 2014 Share Posted January 3, 2014 Ah, thanks that makes sense. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
keyhole kate Posted January 5, 2014 Author Share Posted January 5, 2014 I do have access to horse and cow poo I was going to try it out in our plastic recycling bins as they are quite deep but may re think this. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
