Your pile is too small to generate enough heat to prevent freezing. It will regenerate after turning, but at a certain point there won't be enough microbial activity to sustain it. My windrows, 6 -8 feet wide, sometimes don't freeze in winter. I save compost in boxes in the fall to cure in the basement so I have it to work with in early spring.

Insulation is the only way I can think of to keep a pile hot in cold climate winters. Some people use a double ring enclosure and have leaves/straw in the outer ring as insulation. Others have used stacked up bales of straw. Insulated tarps like the concrete guys use might work as well.

Lloyd

You did not mention your ingredients, they should determine your pile size. A pile made with sawdust and shredded leaves would need a lesser size than would a pile made of wood chips, due to air flow and heat loss.

Insulation is certainly one possibility. Maybe start with something as simple as wrapping the exterior in several layers of landscape fabric. Bales of straw is one thought, but no doubt better with square bins than round ones.

So what should I do during the winter? Bringing it inside is not an option. Can it just sit out there? Wouldn't insulating it restrict airflow to much? How is it possible to have compost for the spring then? btw my materials are leaves and grass that I picked up around the neighborhood. I just picked them up so I assume they have been sitting in their bags (paper) since fall and I am trying to get compost ready for spring. btw my kitchen waste goes to my worm bin which is in the basement.

I heard you can let your pile freeze in the winter and ignore it until spring. It won't decompose frozen, but it won't hurt it either. But, I don't live where it snows. I would like to try it someday. It would be kind of nice to be able to take a composting vacation for a while in the winter.

Here is a previous thread with the exact same title.

Lloyd

thanks, but i red that thread (and many more like it) and it still does not help as i have already dug pits and i am not going to freeze all my waste. so i will go back to my earlier question of how i can have compost for the spring when i really need it.

Buy some for this spring and work over the summer to make your own for next year.

Lloyd

What causes a compost pile to freeze when the weather is cold enough is the amount of moisture in the mix. Most compost piles that freeze when the average temperature hovers around 30 degrees more than likely is too wet. If the average temperatures hover closer to 0 more of the compost pile will freeze up, depending on the moisture level in the pile, and the longer that average temperature stays around the deeper into your pile those temps will reach and slow bacterial activity which will then allow the moisture in the material to freeze.
A 3 x 3 x 3 compost pile is about the bare minimum to get enough bacterial activity that can generate enough heat to make a hot compost pile. Too much moisture in the mix, which excludes air, can interfere with the bacterial activity just as a C:N ration too far out of whack will, and that will contribute to the pile freezing.

i will go back to my earlier question of how i can have compost for the spring when i really need it.

There is a time delay, and you have to think a year ahead: The stuff you will use this spring would have been piled up and turned and composting by mid-summer LAST summer.

Last fall's partly composted leaves and much of this year's weeds and things will be the compost you make THIS summer to be ready for use next spring.

Bear in mind that people have different ideas of what finished compost is. Coast of Maine Compost lets their piles "cure" for 9 months after it stops heating before they will sell it. There are ways to speed up the process, such as shredding and frequent turning, but if you don't have protected space, you have to develop strategies to accommodate the weather.

Lacking compost shouldn't prevent you from getting things started this spring. You can still incorporate uncomposted browns into the soil to improve texture and moisture retention. The native soil microbe population will get started with that, and you can top-dress your crops when your first batch is ready.

I'd be careful incorporating browns into the soil I was going to seed right away. It didn't work very well for me.

Lloyd

Patience grasshopper!

In Zone 5b IN, your pile is going to freeze and that is okay. Actually we have had a milder than normal winter, so it may not freeze this year.

I continue to add ingredients to my pile all winter long, frozen or not. In spring when it thaws, it tends to shrink down quickly.

Leaves have been my stable 'brown' ingredient for ten years. Last week I took advantage of the tree trimmers wood chips when the power company had them cutting back trees by the power lines. The chips were light in color, and when I scooped out the first six inches from the truck bed, steam heat rose.

After about four days of being in my 4' by 8' by 24" high mesh bin, it looks like the temp is too high!. I prepped the chips with water and a trace of molasses and fish emulsion for a day first. Now the side with the most chips reads 145F with my compost thermometer, and the thing displays 15F too low!

My compost piles up here, 4 x 4 x 4, as a rule do not get frozen solid during the winter. The outer 6 inch layer may freeze but deeper then that seldom has even when we had brutal cold for extended periods of time.
When I first started composting, many, many years ago, and made the mix too wet I did see the whole pile freeze up and it took until July for that to fully thaw because the outer layers acted as insulation against heat, just as the outer layers will act as insulation against the cold.

I brought some in my cellar in 5 gallon buckets and dumped them into an 18 gallon storage tote. Did the same with loam from the garden from where my leeks grew. Along with a bale of peat moss. Mixed it all for my seed starting medium that I`ve been using for a month and a half now. If no room to do that you could jerry rig a quicky frame and plastic over your pile, (think a small greenhouse) to help keep it thawed. The sun will work in your favor in that respect.

My piles are dry and still freeze up. Things besides water freeze... Of course its not insulated, nor is it turned regularly.

My pile tends to thaw out quickly as I am continually adding greens all winter, as soon as they start to thaw, they start to decompose, which adds heat helping to thaw the entire pile.

"When I first started composting, many, many years ago, and made the mix too wet I did see the whole pile freeze up"

Post hoc ergo propter hoc

Lloyd

So, Lloyd, you think learning from experience is a fallacy?

No. I think you are attributing a false cause and effect relationship. Piles don't only freeze because they are too wet. They freeze because they are unable to generate enough heat to compensate for heat lost. There can be many factors contributing to this fact (and yes, moisture too high or too low can be one). Not only that, but comparing one year to others without factoring in climatic changes throws the comparison out the window.

This error in your thinking and evaluation has been pointed out many times by numerous forum members for many years. (Magma displacement is my favourite.)

Lloyd

I had no idea that anyone besides myself enjoyed my magma displacement reference.

HfRO and RSR are among my favourite reads. Your reference is a classic but I suspect not many got/get it.

:-)

Lloyd

This site has really been a challenge to navigate. any suggestions? So ty everyone for the suggestions. i do have the piles covered in clear plastic. I assume that will help? i have not dug into the piles to see if they r frozen, but a small portion of the materials that i made them with were. and since they already have (i assume) plenty of moisture from the N and some wet C's i have not paid much attention to moisture levels.
i think that it would help me to see some pics of piles and bins. any suggestions? ty

Do a search on Google Images or use a "Compost" tag on YouTube and you will see lots of good examples. GardenWeb takes some " digging" sometimes to find precisely what you need.

Can anyone tell me how to find this link easily? it does not show up under "my page" and i have to search for it every time. thanks.
anyway so i have been thinking on this thing and first off does "pink board" provide enough airflow to keep the pile aerobic? i know people that use it for worm bins, without drilling airholes, is y i would think that it would.
also, kind of funny, i decided that i might as well combine my 2 piles because they r 3ft in diameter and i did not think that was min. size because it should be 3x3x3 square right? so wat should the diameter be? anyway i figured that if i combined them they would fill to the top right? wrong, they only filled half way, lol. so is this some sort of geometric trick or something? i am highly confused. and yes before i combined them they were full to the top. how did that happen? so now my question is is that big enough? it is 1 1/2 x 4 x 6 ft (oval).