TIL my composting pile was too dry because I kept it in full sun

Been trying to get good compost for about 6 months now and kept ending up with a pile of dry leaves that never broke down. I was adding kitchen scraps and turning it every week but nothing happened. Finally my buddy Mark who runs a farm outside Springfield told me to check the moisture. He said it should feel like a wrung out sponge. I moved my bin under the oak tree last month and started watering it a little when I turned it. Now I actually have dark crumbly soil with worms in it. All that time I thought it was about the right mix of greens and browns but moisture was the real issue the whole time. Anyone else have a basic thing like that trip them up for months?

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christopher9525mo ago

Saw something from the Rodale Institute a while back that said moisture is actually the number one factor in compost breakdown, more important than the carbon to nitrogen ratio even. They had this study where they kept everything else the same but varied the water content and the wetter piles were done in like 8 weeks while the dry ones just sat there for months. I think they said ideal is around 40 to 60 percent moisture which is that wrung out sponge feel exactly. Makes sense when you think about it because the microbes need water to move around and eat.

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the_jason5mo ago

Always figured compost was just about throwing stuff in a pile and waiting... never even thought about moisture. Yeah, I was wrong about that for a long time too. Had this dry heap that just sat there for months, thought I needed more greens or something. Then I drenched it a bit during a hot spell and it actually started steaming and breaking down fast. Kinda blew my mind how something so simple made that big a difference.

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