In your efforts to build an efficient compost pile, it should be remembered that the heat produced needs to go up. Enhancing conditions for the flow of the exothermic bacteria relative to the increase of the population of the propagative success of actinomycetes will result in the highest consumption rate of compostables in the first 2 – 3 weeks of the life of the compost pile. Compost piles that are 2 – 3 times higher than their width have the highest odds of finishing 10 – 12 cycles per year.
The cheapest, but most time consuming pile is the simple thin layering of dry, green, dry green, etc. If you don’t mix it, it will take a year to get finished compost.
The least time consuming pile but most costly at the outset is to build an exoskeleton box eight inches off the ground, insulate the floor and the walls with R12 insulation, and put a roof on top of the box. While you are at it, have a removable door at the lower portion of each wall. Fill the box by dampening thin layers of dry, green manure, dry, green, manure until the box is filled.
This is my Whitehole composter design. The outsulation minimizes the necessary mixing and maximizes the temperature of the 150 – 175 F heat heart. This creates a high rate of consumption and pasteurization and allows 10 – 12 complete decompositional cycles per year, that is 23 – 30 cubic yards of finished compost per year. This will result in virtually no bugs or eggs in the finished compost, more of an N-P-K supplement, better humus, greater crop growth, better flavor and nutrient value of the crops, and superior water retention in the soil. More cubic yards of compost per month will result in an increasing percentage of arable land with a sustainable harvestability per square foot per year.
