Hot Compost?

Ok, now I'll show how ignorant I am. What do you mean when you say "hot compost"?

Oh, Lorraine - we all have to learn somehow!!! Consider yourself one of the smart ones by doing your homework.

"Hot" compost is really just that - when you are able to get the correct balance of carbon, nitrogen, water and O2 in a compost pile, the microbes get all sortsa busy breaking it down and produce heat in that process. This kind of pile is very efficient - things break down much faster, seeds and harmful microbes die out and many of the chemical, uh, carp that is in our by-products also becomes denatured. I've been told that the actual nutrient value of compost is pretty low, but the things that thrive in it - worms, beneficial microbes - are fabulous for your plants.

There is an actual range that you want your pile at, but that range is beyond me at the moment.

Thanks again Pagancat. How do you know if it's hot, just use a thermometer or what.
I can tell by listening to all of you I've been doing it all wrong. I haven't been really layering. I started with leaves and stuff and put dirt on it, then just started putting stuff in there. If I had potatoes that were rotting, I just threw them in, if I fount rotting leaves, I threw them .in, so I guess I didn't layer. But I never have enough peelings and stuff to make a layer.
I turned it yesterday and it is rotting and looks pretty good , but I want to do it right, it's a lot of work
Also there are enough earthworms around here to do the whole world I think, I live in the country and we only cleared enough to put the house and about an acre of yard. The rest is woods that havae been here for ever. So there is lots of layers of rotted leaves. Are those good for it. Sometimes I just rake the top layer off and get to the rotted ones

You are so welcome! I actually was in Gilmer a couple of times, about 20 years ago. I remember all of the trees.... and oh, my - the humidity!

Actually, you're not doing it wrong at all. There isn't much of a right and wrong in this one, just different ways of getting faster results - the more you work at it, the faster it should be going. Layering is just a way to make sure that everything gets mixed well, after you turn it a few times, it's that way anyway.

I find that I usually know when my pile is heating up by the tool I use to turn it with. It's a slender metal pole with 2 collapsible wings on the end of it. and a sharp point. When I pull it back out of the pile the pole will have heated up from being on the inside of the pile. You'll see it in the winter time - you can see the steam coming off of it.

Probably the most important part of any of this, if you want a hot pile and are willing to put some time into it, is the ratio of greens to browns. You can figure anything that is fresh and green - grass clippings, kitchen scraps, etc - is green, and anything else - dead leaves, paper products, coffee grounds, etc. are browns. Here's the tough part: you want one part green to about 25 parts brown for a perfect mix - so a whole lot more dead stuff than fresh stuff. Does that mean if I don't have enough browns I don't throw my greens in? Noooo, not me! It's really up to you how you close to the rules you play.

Unless you have more leaves than you know what to do with, I'd rake the rotted ones up for mulch or put them right in my beds - they're great that way.