I am thinking of purchasing a PH meter to use for my garden. Any recommendations for one that is not too pricey, but does actually work as it should/

Can I add material to a “hot compost” after it’s already started?? Some ideological composters will say absolutely not, or that if you must then it “resets” your flip count (we generally want 3 flips to get everything a chance in the middle to get “cleaned”). The idea being that fresh material may not get the thermophilic treatment that we’re aiming for with the remaining flips. But the real answer is once again “it depends”. My pile is up to heat, but just barely in some places, and I’m anticipating that the temperature will drop slightly over subsequent flips. What to do? I’m going to add fresh plant material that doesn’t have any seeds. I can do this because I understand what the heat is for. Heat does 2 things - kill weed seeds and clear out potential pathogens. So if I’m not adding seeds or potential pathogens, we haven’t actually violated the rule. So what I would avoid is adding more animal manures, funky compost buckets, feathers, or anything you turn your nose up at. So because my new material is fresh, clean plant material, I won’t be resetting my flip count, and this is critical to minimizing the necessary oxidation and loss of carbon creating a pile - but more on that later. #growmicrobes #soilhealth #microbes #compost #soil

I am truly delighted to have the opportunity to join your community. For over 20 years, I have been working in soilless cultivation—though actually using living soil enriched with earthworms and mycorrhizae—focusing mainly on tomatoes, cucumbers, and lettuce. See you very soon.

Thanks for approving my request to join im here to learn from you all

Happy to be here. I need to learn about what I am doing in my gardens and compost piles. We build a big pile last Jan. With corn stalks, sunflower stalks & brown garden waste- not shredded. We added some aged goat manure mixed with alfalfa, and quite a bit of chicken manure from our chickens. It never heated up. We turned it and added green grass. Still didn’t heat up. The pile sat until now and dried out over the summer. It was in the shade and under a tarp. We just pulled it apart - somewhat broken down with visible fungus. Question: I’m sure there’s lots of weed seeds in this pile that I need to kill and I don’t know about pathogens. I added a 3/4 bale of alfalfa hay, some more aged goat manure, and chicken manure. I don’t want to kill the good fungus. It’s heating up now. Any advice going forward would help. We are in Tucson, Az. Our best growing season is in the fall/ winter. Need help for our soil. It was covered by dead weeds this summer. Please excuse my long windedness!