Hot bed

karl tyrrell

Anyone tried this the power of manure,providing bottom heat for early propagation from hot beds the victorions did this .this ingenious but simple system relied on heat generated by microbial action on a mixture of equal parts fresh manure and deciduous leaves.the hot bed consisted of a glazed frame placed in a pit 3ft deep filled with the manure mix.to activate the manure before filling the pit,the manure and leaves are thoroughly mixed,moistened,and left for abouttwo weeks.the pile is turned three or four times during this period to ensure even heating.it is then placed in the pit,firmed,and watered.the frame is placed on top and soil added on top to depth of 8in to spread the heat. pots trays of cuttings or seeds placed on the soil.got this from a book was going to buy a propagator but this sounds better and cheaper if anyone has done this before let me know hot beds are becoming popular again.:)

Limerick Bandit

I would have to read that a few times to understand how it works but i would love to see some pic's of it being built this is the first year i will try growing my own food

karl tyrrell

Limerick Bandit wrote: »

I would have to read that a few times to understand how it works but i would love to see some pic's of it being built this is the first year i will try growing my own food

i will start this next week and post pics .

Limerick Bandit

Cheers I hope to have a look at my plot within the next week and will start a thread for some ideas and advice, Ill be starting from scratch and have a lot to do but i think i have 1 friend that is going to work with me so that will make it a bit easier

Corsendonk

karl tyrrell wrote: »

Anyone tried this the power of manure,providing bottom heat for early propagation from hot beds the victorions did this .this ingenious but simple system relied on heat generated by microbial action on a mixture of equal parts fresh manure and deciduous leaves.the hot bed consisted of a glazed frame placed in a pit 3ft deep filled with the manure mix.to activate the manure before filling the pit,the manure and leaves are thoroughly mixed,moistened,and left for abouttwo weeks.the pile is turned three or four times during this period to ensure even heating.it is then placed in the pit,firmed,and watered.the frame is placed on top and soil added on top to depth of 8in to spread the heat. pots trays of cuttings or seeds placed on the soil.got this from a book was going to buy a propagator but this sounds better and cheaper if anyone has done this before let me know hot beds are becoming popular again.:)

I have seen a Victorian version a few years back on a garden show. They built it out of red brick with a manure pit around it and the steam escaped up into a large brick and glass cloche. They were able to grow pineapples using it.

karl tyrrell

yes i seen that aswell were the other beds were frozen and the hot bed was ok ,i done two pits today hope it works i have room for two more tomorrow cant wait to start sowing last year everything was late because of the frost so its early for me this year.

karl tyrrell

Today i put two glass frames on my hot beds and planted all my seeds, the hot beds are in the glass house the temperature in the glass house today was 15 degrees so we will see if this works. i planted sunflower/cosmos/lupins/zinnia/lantern tree/sumack/angles fishermans rod/lebelia/daisy/snap dragon/red hot poker/agapanthus/crocosmia lucifer/all seeds we collected last year i will plant veg next week spring is on the way cant wait.

redser7

Hi Karl, would love to see some pics and hear how you get on. Have lots of seedlings going indoors and I'm going to run into trouble soon for space when they have to be potted on. Would love to hear when others are putting stuff outside and what methods they are using to give seedlings protection. Cheers

karl tyrrell

This is the diy glasshouse all from recycled stuff and getting timperatures of 12 degrees the last few days so the hot bed is in the glasshouse so i am hoping for good results.

jezko

karl tyrrell wrote: »

This is the diy glasshouse all from recycled stuff and getting timperatures of 12 degrees the last few days so the hot bed is in the glasshouse so i am hoping for good results.

Read about this too years ago.... a cheap method of producing heat, I remember reading they used pine/evergreen needles instead .. takes longer to break down I would guess and a longer "warm period" produced...

A lot of hard work tho....

redser7

How did you get on Karl?