Quarterly flipping of the compost

[JimRB]

I do not turn the compost piles. I usually have year old or older compost to sell. Plenty of worms. Weeds may grow on the top of the pile but as others said the heat does do some damage to seeds inside the pile. Oh I guess that technically the pile gets turned once as I haul the green pile to the final composting piles every month or so. The green pile can have some to a lot of heat. I supposed I could accelerate the composting process by flipping but I only sell 3-5 loads a year and mostly in the spring. Anyhow my way is not the best way, just how I do it.

 

[Alan W.]

Every spring I work on making one large pile. I add whatever I can get to it. It will then sit for a year while the worms make vermicompost out of it.
That way I have a pile to use from every year while another is working and one is being built.

 

[oosik]

Many years ago the wife & I tried building a compost pile. I've got no livestock, no leaves, relatively no kitchen wastes. Pine needles, which I have TONS of, do not compost well. So we gathered up the pine chips from all of our chipping and ventured out on the neighbors property to gather "meadow muffins". The wife really enjoyed this. Driving the tractor - pulling our farm wagon. Me - not so much. I was walking ahead - pitchfork in hand. I had the permission of the neighbor. I mean - what the hay - - his property that adjoins mine is 1200 acres. And this is one of the smaller chunks of land where he ranges his cattle.

Anyhow - it worked, sort of. We did it once and the compost had to sit for three year before it was useable. We never did it again.