We occasionally have freezes, but not for long stretches of time, nor do we get heavy snowfall (I'm in central Texas). So, I don't worry much about the freezes here as it doesn't seem to significantly impact the maturation of the pile.
I could see how in a climate that experiences long harsh winters it might slow decomposition, though sometimes snowfall can help insulate in a way and provide a good consistent source of moisture (I see this with my peers who compost and their piles still hum along under thick snow).
It depends how extreme your winters are, but if you don't take measures to protect the bioreactor the worst that could happen is it will just take a little longer to breakdown/mature (so maybe instead of the ~12 months it could take up to 6 months longer).
We want to be raising microbes that are well adapted to our climates, so altering the conditions too much could raise organisms that won't then survive the soil conditions, does that make sense?
Do you have freezing winter temperatures? If so, do you protect the bioreactors from freezing and how?
We occasionally have freezes, but not for long stretches of time, nor do we get heavy snowfall (I'm in central Texas). So, I don't worry much about the freezes here as it doesn't seem to significantly impact the maturation of the pile.
I could see how in a climate that experiences long harsh winters it might slow decomposition, though sometimes snowfall can help insulate in a way and provide a good consistent source of moisture (I see this with my peers who compost and their piles still hum along under thick snow).
It depends how extreme your winters are, but if you don't take measures to protect the bioreactor the worst that could happen is it will just take a little longer to breakdown/mature (so maybe instead of the ~12 months it could take up to 6 months longer).
We want to be raising microbes that are well adapted to our climates, so altering the conditions too much could raise organisms that won't then survive the soil conditions, does that make sense?
Yes indeed! Thanks🙂