if the pine needles are green thats probably whats heating it up. I pee in my pile too, all the time, it might heat it up a little if the rain doesn't leach it out fast.

Leaves are a brown, and Pine needles have some sort of coating on them that makes them break down slowly, so my guess is that any heating is from "other nitrogen sources".

If the leaves lost 1/3 of the volume due to the rain and rocks, they'd be compacted and not likely to heat up.

If you want the pile to stay hot, you may need to add more nitrogen from time to time.

This is exactly what my leaf piles did this year. I raked up about one cubic yard of whole leaves into one pile and shredded another pile about the same size. Within a day both piles were warm, probably from little bits of grass or other greens (no urine in my case) in the environment that got into the pile unintentionally. However, without much in the way of nitrogen in the piles, the temp did not get to high and it did not last long.

Even though the leaves are considered a "brown" they do possess some Nitrogen, with a C/N ratio ranging from 40 to 80 to 1 or very close to the optimal 30:1 ratio we want in a compost pile. If everything else is close to right, moisture levels and air, then those leaves probably would heat up some.

Many times I have piled up shredded oak leaves that were wet or a little bit damp. They start to heat up within a few hours without any further attention, or other material included.
Bill P.

That'll happen. They won't completely compost on you for a bit unless you keep adding N. They just got a head start- no worries.

Peeing in the compost pile.....this must be a guy thing;)

checked the pile again its still warm deep inside. so peeing on the pile is ok I guess? my compost pile is doing great I turned it,and I think I have that fungus stuff in there that is supposed to be good. so I let it cure for a few weeks if it doesn't heat up again right?

oh by the way girls pee on the compost also shelva, they happen to be a bit more discreet about it :)

thanks for the info pablo I like to learn alot from you in these forums. Also bpgreen, I want the pile of leaves primarily as a source of browns this year, so I won't be adding any more grens just golden showers when the whim hits me.

I sure wish it was convienient for my to pee on my pile, but with it being right by the neighbors big window... My yard is almost totally surrounded by houses, even at night it'd be easy to spot me.
So sometimes I pee in a jar and take that out. Then it occured to me that carrying a car of yellow water to the pile was pretty suspicious... But I figure the neighbors thinking I'm crazy for peeing in the pile isn't any worse than them thinking I'm crazy for having a pile in the first place.

During the day, if neighbors are out I pee in a milk jug with the top cut out in the shed and throw it on there.

In NH it really doesn't matter what you do as long as it's your yard :)

"In NH it really doesn't matter what you do as long as it's your yard :)"

Pee free or die, huh?

LOL! Something like that

can you maintain a hot compost solely by one man's urine???

Oh yeah, depending on how you handle it. In fact, if you try to use it all, your problem will be finding enough browns. A little urine goes a long way, at least in a smaller scale suburban environment :o)

Cheers,

Tim

cool, i've been peein a little more than usual and i've notice actual heat, lol, so that's great to know.....

so much often would be enough for a pile of leaves about 3.5-4 feet high by 6 - 7 feet wide, yunno, enough pee for composting heat, and if you stop @ once, how long would it take before the bacteria use it all up?