Great job. I think it's done, but "done" is a slippery concept. We are either interested in producing compost for some specific purpose, or we are tying to kill baddies (germs, weed seeds) that might be in inputs.

With grass and leaves I wouldn't worry about baddeis - and doubt they'd survive a week at 150F anyway.

So I think it comes down to what you want to do with it, and whether that is served by fresh or aged compost.

The very frequent turning probably helped it to utilize all the available N rapidly. It was still 135 in the 4th week, that's impressive to me (I don't turn much even when I make a 'hot' batch). Nice crumbly brown humus takes awhile longer for it to age and finish - I don't think you can rush that process. I suspect the reason it didn't heat up when you added more grass is that so much of the is now compost and is just acting as thermal mass, not degrading or contributing heat.

all this work to kill beneficial bacteria and lose half the nitrogen... I will never understand.

@glib I need organic matter in my soil right about, NOW. I started late with my compost so there is no time to wait 1 year for compost. My soil is all clay and that is the worst for growing stuff. I'm hot composting so I cant get rid of my leaves from the summer and grass clippings. I do the work so my garden will thrive. I also have a tumbler for all my kitchen wastes and I use that as cold compost for a nitrogen boost for my plants. I use the bulk hot compost to enrich my soil. Any ways my plants don't need large amounts of nitrogen, all that will produce is foliage and no fruits/veggies. Plus is a good workout moving 1 ton of compost multiple times a week, I don't need to go to the gym except for leg day.

This post was edited by RyanC95 on Wed, Jun 4, 14 at 13:38

Here's what the NOP says about certified compost:
According to NOP guidelines, compost temperatures must remain between 131úF and 170úF for 15 days, while being turned a minimum of 5 times.

Sounds like you had that. Now, again, those worst-case rules were designed to protect consumers against pathogens in general food waste and etc.

I wouldn't sweat that for benign inputs, but again, job well done!

Here is a link that might be useful: Improved compost management

Hey, I was just off surfing, looking at compost based potting soils, and I found something right up your alley.

Compost Maturity Tests

Now, that degree of "Finish" probably is only needed for an application like potting. But there it is.

Star bucks coffee combined with some kind of brown, I like bagged wood, will heat it back up, but only for a few days. You have to keep adding more coffee and more wood about every five days if you want to keep heat up to maximum level all the time. That is too much work, so I settle for heating it up every two years or every month or sometimes I let more time go and it becomes cold compost, but that is not so bad, it's just very slow and annoying slow to get anything broken down.

You may well have finished compost, and if finished nothing you can do will get it to heat up again. The link below is to one of thousands of web sites that tell how to make compost in 14 days and most of the tumbler composter manufacturers all tout that using their equipment will make you compost in 14 days.

Here is a link that might be useful: compost in 14 days

I guess tumblers have their place, but they might be one of the hard ways to do it. If you can turn a pile, it will work really well. That just takes space, and as Ryan says, (the opportunity for) a turning fork workout.

I certainly was in the OP's situation when I bought my house in 1991. Terrible clay with very little organic matter. I made compost as fast as I could and loaded flower beds up with free city yard waste mulch. Now the soil is a lot better all around and my compost operation is smaller, slower and less work - it's in maintenance mode. You'll get there. I wouldn't worry about losing beneficials, just try to keep it from getting REALLY hot. I had some 180F batches, too much green.

In all likelihood you have completed the thermophilic phase of hot composting. Some people will use the material as is. I cure the compost further. This is not finished compost IMO.

Lloyd

Here is a link that might be useful: The Phases of Composting

Hot composting does not necessarily equate to nitrogen loss. Nitrogen can be lost if not done correctly in several methods of composting.

Here is a link that might be useful: Reclamation of nitrogen and other nutrients

After checking it 5 days from the last time, it was only at 100 degrees. I guess it is done breaking down for thermophilic bacteria. I guess its time for the worms to move in and mesophilic bacteria to break down the rest.

Im thinking after reading this two things. One my pile wasnt big enough in the first place and second after getting it to 130 and not getting it there again all winter that by spring it was done. Also Ive read that once your pile is finished that when it cools then worms move in and finish the pile actually making it darker. Im also gathering that especially at first you should turn it every 3-4 days and that the turning process during this period will help heat it up. Im just not sure how to gather more debris for keeping the pile hot once the pile start going down.