[Market-farming] Cold Frame Advice Sought

Allan.Balliett allan.balliett at gmail.com
Mon Mar 1 14:52:12 EST 2010


>Shawnee farmer,  I don't consider myself old but vividly remember as 
>a kid helping my Grandpa remove the soil and then horse manure from 
>the hotbed (deep cold frame) and then refill the manure section.  Is 
>there anything in the 1806 book about the depth of the soil and the 
>depth of the manure?  I'd like to recreate a hotbed for regular use 
>on our farm.  My current thought is to use about 7 inches of each. 
> Thanks, Tom   (zone 7)

Steve Moore, now of South Carolina, formerly of PA and recently of 
the PASA conference uses these beds in his greenhouse each year. I 
believe he uses as least 2 feet of fresh manure, which has to come in 
the house in December of January here in the mid-Atlantic. He uses 3 
runs of cinder blocks, as I recall, to get the height and then 
removes a run as the pile shrinks. About the time all the flats no 
longer need night time heat, he plants cukes in the now well aged 
horse manure and they seem to thrive.

I hate to say this, but I think it's too late to start one of these 
in zone 7 for this year. (I've done this probably 5 times in the last 
10 years and don't have one this year)

pipes are laid across the surface of the compost to space the trays 
above the hot compost somewhat. A plywood lid closes on the cinder 
rblocks for really cold nights. In my experience, the plants LOVE the 
horse manure 'exhaust' over night!

Allan in WV who grew reallly fond of his soil heating cable 
arrangement last season



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