New to raised bed gardening

Trainman

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Hello all, so I've built one 4x8 raised bed so far. I filled the bottom half with organic yard material and the rest with premium soil from landscape comp. I also put in one bag of black kow manure, worm castings and have been burying a few kitchen scraps as well. I won't plant in this bed until fall season. I checked the soil temp and registered 110°. It is averaging around 95°F and a heat index of 106°. Is this normal or did I create a composting bed?
 
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Hello all, so I've built one 4x8 raised bed so far. I filled the bottom half with organic yard material and the rest with premium soil from landscape comp. I also put in one bag of black kow manure, worm castings and have been burying a few kitchen scraps as well. I won't plant in this bed until fall season. I checked the soil temp and registered 110°. It is averaging around 95°F and a heat index of 106°. Is this normal or did I create a composting bed?
Sounds about normal to me. What is your ambient temperature? And what is the soil temp at 4 inches deep?
 

Trainman

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When I checked, it was 91° air temp and 100° at at around 6". I dug deeper to 10" and it was 110°
 
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When I checked, it was 91° air temp and 100° at at around 6". I dug deeper to 10" and it was 110°
IMO what is unusual is the 110 @ 10 inches which seems a little high when at 6" it is 100. In the summer my surface soil temps often reach 130-140 unmulched. I have never measured it at 10 inches. Different soils will have different temps.
 

Trainman

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Will these Temps kill worms, and can seeds germinate at these temps?
 
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Will these Temps kill worms, and can seeds germinate at these temps?
Yes, it will kill the worms but if a worm gets too warm he will just go deeper. As far as seed germination goes different seeds have different optimum temperatures. The seed may germinate at high temps but the seedling won't survive. Prolonged temps of 120+ will kill most vegetable seeds.

 

Trainman

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New question. Will pine straw lower the ph? I decided to check the ph using a 4 in 1 rapitest and it registered 0 on the ph. What's going on? I added nothing the should have lowered the ph. Now I'm wondering if it is the pine straw. Anyone got any ideas?.
 
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New question. Will pine straw lower the ph? I decided to check the ph using a 4 in 1 rapitest and it registered 0 on the ph. What's going on? I added nothing the should have lowered the ph. Now I'm wondering if it is the pine straw. Anyone got any ideas?.
I am not sure how your meter works as to whether it start showing alkalinity at +1 and acidity at -1 and neutral at 0. Get a bottle of distilled water and check it. Distilled water is neutral or a 7 on the Ph scale. In any case it is just about impossible to change a soils Ph for an extended period. Soil Ph matters when it is really high or really low and I can guarantee you that your native soil or the bagged soil or compost is neither. Bagged soil is formulated to be very close to neutral Ph. and compost is slightly acidic. Pine is slightly acidic but not enough to change soil hardly any at all. Ph is the least of your worries.
 

Trainman

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Thanks, my research leads me to believe that pine straw is ok for mulch also. I'll see in the fall.
 

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