"Two things make compost smell, too many greens in proportions to browns and/or too much moisture. "

And a lack of air. Wait. Three things.

I've had leaves get smelly when they were in a plastic bag all winter. They stopped stinking once they aired out.

Its hard to make an open compost pile smell. There is too much exchange of atmospheric gas-there is never any accumulation of smelly gases. Could you leave the top off the bin, when the weather is nice?

Well, the smell is not rotting leaves, but definitely a sour food smell. All vegetable and fruit trimmings. I have a feeling it is orange peels maybe. The compost bins that have the food trimmings are a closed black plastic bin. We did water it with the hose, after the food and leaves were layered and then we covered it and left it. So should I just top it off with more dry leaves, and take the cover off it? I would have to cover it at night so it doesn't attract animals right?

I wonder if putting thick 'slabs' of newspaper sections over the top, would help to trap the smells until it composts further?
Or...If your back won't permit, could you get another person to turn the material? That would allow you to reassemble the material, balancing C/N. My food waste goes to an in-ground worm pit, not in the compost pile.

Hope this helps. It is a bummer when things you've done in the past, don't quite work. Your guess about orange rinds is probably right ... pretty unpleasant smell. Maybe bury those in separate pit, in the future?

I cold-compost, too, but in a pile, not enclosed bin. I layer yard waste [twigs, smallish branches]with smaller stuff [leaves, grass, weeds, etc.] So plenty of air movement through the pile.

I prefer mixing to layering. The only 'layer' is a inch or two of shredded leaves that usually cover the top of my piles. This serves to reduce odors, and to absorb any excess rain.

You might need to add more leaves, preferably chopped (you can chop them by running them over a few times with a lawnmower). Generally you need quite a lot of "browns" (chopped leaves, chopped straw, etc.) to balance out your "greens" (food scraps, green trimmings).

I agree with Barb that it wouuld be good if you could get someone to toss your pile once, with some added browns for good measure.

In the future, add a good amount of browns every time you bring greens to the pile, and stir them together if you can. This will let them mix better than layering of large amounts does.

I could easily mix it at this point because it was a new pile and there is barely a foot of material in it that is mostly leaves. I'll try all that and see if it takes care of the problem. I also like the idea of the newspaper which I have plenty of and cardboard. I guess I will have to watch it with the orange peels next time. [g]

Hi there.

I've never turned my compost, ever. Seems like too much work =:)

However, each time I add material, I mix the new material into part of the top of the compost with a garden fork, and then cover it up with previous grass or leaves. My compost always has either grass clippings or leaves on the top, and it never smells. ( No lid either )

Maybe this method would work for you with your sore back?

Generally a putrid type of odor is an indication that a compost pile is too wet and is anaerobic digestion. If the odor is one similar to ammonia then the mix has too much Nitrogen.