It could be that it's too wet. You only want it to be damp, not wet. Or it could be that it's too compacted and isn't getting enough air. Or it could just be that there simply aren't enough greens.

Definitely not enough greens for the pile in general to heat up but wouldnÂt the area around the bag of veggies I dumped heat up? DonÂt think itÂs too compacted as I recently moved the entire pile from another bin to itÂs current location.

You need a reasonable volume of the right mix to get heat- unless it's pretty warm out. With this cold rain we're getting- it will be hard to get heat unless you already had it.

I didn't already have heat but I put this in last Monday before todays rain and thought perhaps some heat would occurr. Just learning I'll have plenty of greens when the lawn starts growing, thanks.

In the summer- if you leave a row of grass from a side discharge mower on the lawn- it'll heat up in a an hour or 2. I mean- there's not a half cubic foot pile, nevermind a cubic yard pile. In cool weather- like less than 50F- you need a real good volume- maybe slightly on the green side- to make it heat well. I was pretty proud of myself on Thanksgiving when I made a big pile and it heated up in cold weather.

Weird thing is I usually have hotter compost in the winter (seeing steam in November and December)than the 90+ degree days of summer. Go figure.

Your pile is too wet and you have not enough Nitrogen. First get some more dry material in the mix and add another source of Nitrogen. Air is seldom the problem beciase the bacteria that will work on digesting that material and cause that material to "heat up" are aerobic, are needed. The anaerobic bacteria that are probably at wotk in your pile now do not generate heat.

Your pile is too wet and you have not enough Nitrogen. First get some more dry material in the mix and add another source of Nitrogen.

We just experienced 3-4" of rain from a Nor'easter so nothing dry to be found, and I don't have any significant greens yet. I'll just have to wait until things dry out and grass grows. Maybe I'll ring the starbucks doorbell for ucg.

"nothing dry to be found"

Do you shred your bills, credit card offers, etc? If so, you can add the shredded paper (although that increases the browns even more). If you don't shred that kind of thing, you really should; identity thieves love that kind of information.

I do the shredding thing, though as you mentioned this just makes for more browns and I need greens now while the pile dries out.

Hi rich manure...you can make some real nice compost without heat...just might take you alittle longer. Just throw whatever you have on your pile...sprinkle on some lime...mix up a little batch of fish/seaweed fertilizer in a five gallon pail...add until your pile is moist...turn/fork over every week to ten days. Use when it's ready. You might cover your pile with a tarp when it rains so alot of the good stuff won't be leached out. If you just gotta have a hot pile...build a fire on top of it...:-) Keep things simple...Franklin

The greens are a Nitrogen source so any form of Nitrogen can be used to stimulate the bacteria to get to work. Blood meal is a good N source as is fresh cattle, sheep, poultry, manure.

Urine works well too!

I wait to start a pile until there are enough greens for the browns. Fresh cut grass and or coffee grounds are mixed with shredded leaves. Then the smelly stuff like fruit and veggie wastes (even fish) can be added when the core temp reaches 130F or so.