Early this spring a friend gave me 2 of her 3 enviro-tumblers. I started w/shredded paper & a 3 lb coffee can full of garden soil. I've added kitchen scraps and weeds minus seeds to it over the course of the summer. I've watered it thru out the summer. But it has vents/drainage holes. When I gave the tumblers a spin yesterday, I noticed the fuller of the two was finally steaming.

My question: What finally caused it to start cooking? Adding wet greens (mostly crab grass from the garden)? Or did the microbes finally populate enough to hit a critical mass, large enough to generate the heat?

There are a number of things compost needs to "cook" the right C:N ratio, just enough and not too much moisture, and enough volume. Most likley the one tumbler finally got enough volume for the bacteria to get to work.

My only replies would be considered smart-alecky, so instead Congrats!

Dirt