Coffee-Ground Heavy Compost Pile Cooled Down

15 years ago

I started my compost pile in a 4 foot wide and 3 feet tall wire enclosure, with a foot of kitchen scraps and oak leaves. I added some 10-10-10 and put on a layer of dirt over that. It didn't seem to be doing much.

After that I started getting a lot of coffee grounds. After about 50 pounds of grounds and a lot more scraps, I started turning it daily. It REALLY heated up for about a month, such that it steamed when I turned it even on warm days.

Now its cooled down and doesn't much steam. All that is left that looks unprocessed is the newer scraps I've added and about half of the oak leaves (which were whole).

Does cold mean usable? Should I keep adding material and turning it or apply it to the garden? Did it 'burn itself out' because I added so much green in the form of coffee, and I need more brown for the green to burn?

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Comments (5)

leira
15 years ago
You should expect that your pile will cool down eventually.

It's also tricky to get your compost finished if you're regularly adding things after the bulk of the material is broken down.

If you still have recognizable things in the pile, then it's not quite done. I would guess that if you still have oak leaves that aren't broken down, you may need yet more greens to get those going...but you may never see heavy cooking again if most of the stuff is pretty much done.

I might stop adding things to this pile (start another one, or start stockpiling), but keep turning now and again and see if the remainder will break down. If the other not-yet-broken-down stuff is mostly greens, I would definitely take this approach.

If it's not 100% done when you're ready to use it, you could sift it or pick through it to remove the incomplete stuff. Or you could just keep waiting. Certain items are just tough to break down.
tomacco
Original Author
15 years ago
Most everything that hasn't broken down is fresh coffee (a green that breaks down pretty fast) or whole oak leaves, which will take forever and I would be ok with going in the garden half-decomposed, or recent scraps.

I may keep adding to this pile with this year's grass clippings, or start a new one. I'll go through it next week before I plant and decide based on how it looks.

Thanks!
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magnum-composter
15 years ago
I have two large compost bins lots of leaves in one and the other is a mix of old compost that i scraped up from the yard.
Both bins have sat there for at least six months with out any
action.Untill about 2months ago reading about the browns and the greens,AND COFFEE.I have been hiting up about 4 to 5 starbucks a day and getting around 3to4 5gallon buckets full
these guys and gals are so eager to get rid of it holy cow to me its like gold.Needles to say all of my piles are steaming hot lol we like.To much Carbon and not enough Nitro.
We are cooking now.
tomacco
Original Author
15 years ago
Yeah, my pile did exactly nothing until everything was coated with lots of coffee :)
Kimmsr
15 years ago
Whole Oak leaves are difficult for the bacteria at work in any compost pile to digest (break down) because of the tannic acid, a preservative, they have. That some are still undigested does not necesarily mean that all of the compost is unfinished, however. What does the rest of your compsot smell like. If it has that good, rich earth odor you can sift out the undigested bit and pieces and use the rest now.