Here in our semi-arid state, it is odd to advise to cover the pile from too much rain .... but I'd bet that too much water is why your hot pile stopped working. Who could guess? ... we usually have to add water to our compost to keept the soil bacterial working.

Since I'm a cold composter [slow, no-turn], I won't advise on how to get your pile working again...but bet that the pros on this forum will help with advice.

Hi Brother Don,
Yeah, it was probably the rain,too much moisture sucks, I keep mine covered and only occasionally allow rain to get on the pile. If it isn't "done" yet, add more goodies (goodies= whatever is not optimal), you are doing fine,just keep working it (and keep it covered), a quick fix would be to mix in a bunch of chipped bushes or another source of green twigs and leaves...

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Dang Jon, I think we have a new "Horrible Fright" junky on our hands! Baaahahahaha!!!!

As far as that pile goes, I do think the rain helped snuff it out but more important was that it was not turned in time. I find with my piles that when I see 165 degrees on the thermometer it's time to turn the pile. In my case I need to re-hydrate the material as I turn it because all that heat drives out the moisture pretty fast.

With the rain hitting you before you turned it, the core of the pile was mostly burned out with not enough fresh stuff to eat. The rain came and compacted things shutting down the oxygen and ... the pile died.

Look at massive heat as momentum. Once you hit 160, think about mixing it up to bring fresh fuel into the core. When you do that it can even keep on burning through a heavy rain. Fuel, plus air (from the re-mix) = a healthy bioactive pile.

Also, I believe that once you reach the 160s the heat itself begins to kill off the micro herd. Mixing it brings them fresh fuel, air, and cools off the ranch.

I think your pile is just acting normally. My piles always cool off after a month, unless I add fresh greens. You're just in the "curing" phase, which is just as important, though less exciting. I generally keep turning every couple of weeks and watch the worms multiply in the cooler pile and help finish the work.

The rain could have wet the material too much displacing the air the bacteria need to function, or you may not have enough Nitrogen in the mix now. Or it could be a combination of too wet and not enough N.

IMO, likely your pile is just behaving naturally.

Lloyd

Here is a link that might be useful: Temperature

OK... I'm back in business!! Thanks for all the suggestions folks!! So this weekend I turned the pile to aerate it a bit, added a mess of lawn clippings and other greens. Pile had dried out quite a bit, so moisture levels were more optimal. Covered the pile, too. This morning I opened the pile a bit to add some kitchen scraps and....FROOOOFF...up came the steam. I'm back in action. This is such an interesting pursuit. Deeply rooted in both science and intuition. My friends and family think I'm a little koo-koo with how much I talk about my composting experiments, but I think it's pretty darn cool... or HOT as is stands today. Love learning from all of you. Thanks all!!
Don

No you are not Koo-Koo you are just going Whacko ;)

Curt