Compost Batch Record
Know which bin is ready and which is still cooking, and see why one batch came out well and another did not.
GR-07 1 page
Garden and growing · GG-28
Compost Temperature Monitoring Log
A free printable compost temperature log: probe readings at marked points in one hot heap, moisture, turning and watering, and a blank chart for plotting.
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2 pages. Choose your paper size — both versions are laid out identically, so neither one gets shrunk to fit.
Print it and write on it
Fill it in type and save
The fillable versions have real form fields — open them in any PDF reader, type into them and save. Printing help.
What this sheet is for
Follow a hot heap from the day it is built until it cools, reading the same points each time. Plotting the readings shows when it heated, how turning revived it and when it settled.
Who it is for
Gardeners, allotment holders and community composting groups running hot heaps or bays.
How to use it
- Write the heap's details and mark four points to read, at the top, middle, bottom or sides.
- Push the probe to the same depth at each point and write the readings, with the air temperature beside the heap.
- Do a squeeze test for moisture and note any turning, watering and smell.
- Plot each point on the chart on page two and join the marks up.
- Note when the heap cooled, when it moved on to cure and where it was used.
What is on the sheet
2 pages, in this order:
Page 1
Printed under the title: One hot heap read with a probe at the same marked points from the day it is built, beside the moisture, turning and watering, then plotted on page two to show it heating, turned and cooling down.
Your guidance, your heap. No target temperature or time is printed here. How hot a heap should get, and for how long, depends on what you are composting and why, so take it from the guidance you follow. Heat is uneven in a heap: push the probe to the same depth at the same marked points each time.
Write-on lines: Heap or bay · Date built · Size · Thermometer and probe length · Main ingredients · Built by · Pt 1 is · Pt 2 is · Pt 3 is · Pt 4 is
Readings — day 1 is the day it was built; probe at your marked points, and the air beside
Table, 22 rows: Date · Day · Time · Pt 1 · Pt 2 · Pt 3 · Pt 4 · Air · Squeeze · Turned · Water · Smell · By
Page 2
Temperature over time — a mark for each point on each day; join them up
Also printed: Temperature: write your own scale up this side · Days since the heap was built: number them along the foot
Write-on lines: Heap cooled on · Moved on to curing · Used on, and where
Questions
Why is no target temperature printed?
Because how hot a heap should get, and for how long, depends on what is in it and what you want from it, and different guidance gives different figures. Take them from the guidance you follow; this sheet records what your heap actually did.
Why read at more than one point?
Heat is uneven in a heap. The middle can be hot while the edges and the base stay cool, so a single reading can mislead. Reading the same marked points each time shows the whole heap.
How is this different from the compost batch record?
The batch record keeps one line per heap from filling to spreading. This log follows a single hot heap reading by reading, at several points, with a chart.
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