The Cold Truth About Hot Compost: 4 Reasons Why It's Not Heating Up

Summary: If your compost pile isn’t heating up, it’s likely due to one of four reasons. Steve goes into each of the 4 main culprits why your compost pile is failing to achieve high temperatures.
Read the Guide to Aerated Static Pile Composting:
urbanwormcompany.com/aerated-...
Use the Urban Worm Compost Calculator:
urbanwormcompany.com/composti...
Video Timeline:
0:00 Start of Video
0:20 Why a car motor is similar to a compost pile or compost bin
0:36 Why a compost pile needs oxygen and how to help it stay oxygenated
1:00 How bulking agents keep compost piles oxygenated
1:43 The concept of carbon-to-nitrogen ratio and why your pile needs to be near 25:1
2:05 What are browns and green in a compost pile? How to tell the difference
3:03 How to figure out how much brown and green material to put in your compost pile
4:10 How bulk density affects how you compost
5:05 What happens if your C:N is too low or too high
5:35 Why your compost pile needs heat in order to create more heat
6:05 How large does your compost pile need to be?
6:29 Why a compost pile needs moisture between 50% and 65%
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[@rickjay4639]

I've been composting for 40 plus years. I'm sure this the best tutorial on composting that I've seen. Every beginning gardener and worm farmer should watch this video. Very well done.

[@UrbanWormCompany]

How nice of you!

[@johnduffy6546]

Excellent explanation!

[@maggiepie117]

Thanks for the pertinent info. I am a compost addict so all the new knowledge, the better.

[@wastedowncomposting4805]

Excellent delivery of the information!

[@UrbanWormCompany]

Glad it was helpful!

[@katie1515katie]

So CLEAR, Steve - thanks!

[@UrbanWormCompany]

I really appreciate the kind words, Katie!

[@OLENFARM]

How one video could be this so great? Thank you so much from South Korea

[@clivesconundrumgarden]

Excellent Steve. Vermicomposting has helped me a ton with our hot composting. Over watering and too much nitrogen was an err that I've corrected over the year. Your nose and squeeze test are essential imo. Cheers 🌱👍

[@UrbanWormCompany]

Thanks Clive!

[@bob678jordan]

Thanks

[@dnawormcastings]

Great tips on composting 🇳🇿❤

[@UrbanWormCompany]

Glad you enjoyed it

[@biglylesworms1297]

I'm trying to make a lot of worm castings and have a friend that runs a lawn care company and is willing to give me all the clipping I know I need to precompose it but do I need to worry about chemicals in it I've done some in small batch worked great but can the castings kill plants if the chemicals are in the clipping love the videos and thank you for your help

[@califuturist]

Complicated 👍🏾👍🏾👍🏾👍🏾👍🏾

[@williamtaylor7136]

Thanks though

[@AlvinMcManus]

Great info, but you didn't cover the use of some of the commercially available bins. I have a tumbler a square bin and a drilled trash tote. They all break down, but slowly and usually cool like 85-95 degrees Fahrenheit. l know my C-N ratio is off because I always have more green than brown available that needs composting, except in the fall when my very large Oak tree sheds its thousands of leaves. So, I guess I'll just live with what I got and make sure that they don't get stinky by turning often. BTW my UWB is doing great.

[@UrbanWormCompany]

This video is about thermophilic composting. In order for a pile to retain heat, it needs to be at least 3 cubic feet to have enough thermal mass. Commercial bins and tumblers are meant for "cold" composting, just like you said. I like to store leaves and save them for the spring and summer when I'm low on carbon sources.

[@scruffynerfhearder8915]

Love the vid and calculator! I use a food cycler to dry and break down kitchen scraps. How would I calculate dried vegetable and food scraps into the calculator? Or is it the same as wet vegetable and food scraps?

[@UrbanWormCompany]

Thanks! The C:N is likely the same. The Food Cycler is a grinder/dehydrator, right? If so, that material won't be materially different than regular food waste.....it's just been fragmented and dewatered.

[@scruffynerfhearder8915]

@@UrbanWormCompany Thanks for the reply🙏 One more question. So how would that affect the C:N ratio (I'm using dried veg scraps and cardboard) when starting a new pre-compost pile when using dry weight to calculate the amount of C and N since I'm assuming your calculator is for wet weight food scraps? Thanks in advance!

[@timdaly6042]

Wondering if you have an episode to get a frozen but thawed going.. I'm going to airate for now. What temp is needed to get it started again? Tim. Aurora canada.

[@UrbanWormCompany]

Hi Tim, I don't have one of those episodes unfortunately. I'm sure you're fighting nature up there in Canada to get hot composting going. Was the pile ever hot? If not, then you likely never had enough nitrogen-rich waste to get the microbes going.

[@MonzGary]

Just started a compost pile, turning it is going to be difficult. Its at least 3x3x3 in an enclosed bin. Rather than turn it, I took a metal rod and dug 15 inch holes and put greens into the holes (coffee grounds). Will this work even if slower than turning it? My bin appears to be brown heavy and a little dry (some areas hydrophobic).

[@karenharelson9616]

New to composting, bought a Tumblr. For two months, I’ve been adding kitchen scraps “greens“ from produce, “browns“ that I’ve read about. It seems moist, liquid drips out the bottom some. No bad smells. Still, no heat, any suggestions about that?

[@erikweisz6647]

Whoever thought a compost pile is that complicated. I've been doing it for a couple years and still haven't got the ratios right

[@Mattallen94]

Vehicles also need correct timing

[@jeffsmith3350]

25 carbon to 1 nitrogen? ehhh? I'm always hearing 1 to 1, or 2 to 1, etc. But 25/30 to 1? What am I not understanding?

[@UrbanWormCompany]

You’re probably thinking in volume terms, Jeff between what we would call browns (carbons) and greens (nitrogen-rich material). The C:N is the ratio of carbon to nitrogen but the thing to keep in mind is that the highest-nitrogen materials like chicken manure are 6:1, meaning that the high nitrogen stuff still has 6x more carbon than nitrogen. The C:N communicates the mass of carbon relative to the mass of nitrogen in a given substance. The 1:1 or 2:1 is often what the volumes look like, though.

[@jeffsmith3350]

@@UrbanWormCompany aha OK hahahahaha. I get it now. Thanks for the reply!

[@williamtaylor7136]

What

[@williamtaylor7136]

What????

[@williamtaylor7136]

Whatttt,,,, nevrrmind whatever