the_nancy•4h agoProlific Poster

I argued with my neighbor about compost piles for 6 months

He swore hot composting was the only way and said my cold pile would never break down. After a year, I dug into mine and found rich, dark soil while his stank to high heaven. Has anyone else had a stubborn gardening method pay off?

2 comments

2 Comments

beth_butler754h ago

Hold up, I gotta disagree a bit. Hot composting is faster and kills weed seeds and pathogens way better than cold piles do. Your neighbor's stink probably means he messed up the mix, not that the method itself is bad.

the_mia1h ago

You ever read that study from the University of Washington about compost temperatures? They tested a bunch of home piles and found hot composting kills about 99 percent of weed seeds if you get it to 140 degrees for a couple days. Cold piles only killed around 50 percent. I tried hot composting once but my pile never got past 110 and I gave up after a week. Ended up with a slimy mess of half‑rotten lettuce. Your neighbor might have just been unlucky with the greens to browns ratio.