When are the Bales Ready to Plant In?

A challenge with planting in bales, you do not want to plant your seeds or plants until the conditioning process is done! If you plant too early and the bale heats back up then your plants will almost certainly die. Keeping them damp is key. If they dry out then the decomposition process stops and starts again once they get wet again. Using a compost thermometer is a good way to monitor their temperature and you do not want to plant until the bales are consistently below 80 degrees F. However, another way to know, without the use of a thermometer is to wait until mushrooms grows. These will pop up during the night//early morning and will quickly die during the day but once they appear you know that the bales have cooled off and there is now a source of nutrients to support your plants!