Chile. We are just exiting winter. I began composting around September 2023 and in around June 2024 I harvested about 50L of compost (everything decomposable looked decomposed), compost used to hit 65°C very often and I'd add lots of greens until it was too wet and I added lots of browns, 2 months after and I harvested the 50L mentioned earlier.
Since the heavy rains in winter compost bin has been very wet and would not even get warm anytime, I let it on its own and would turn it every 1 or 3 weeks. That has been up until recently, I added cardboard and still hasn't decomposed (when I added cardboard at the beggining of 2024, the cardboard would dissappear in week or even days). Now I turn it everyday with hopes of finding it warm and no success, ants have tried 9 times building their colony base until I turn it (I see eggs every time I find ants base). Lots of seeds have sprouted and I even found a 20 cm long pumpkin seed trying to find light (impressive to me).
I'm planning on adding browns just as I did before, but I'm afraid it won't work as there isn't even a considerable temperature, last year my compost bin would sometimes be very wet (lots of green) and still have some heat.
About the seeds, I found 10 tomato seeds sprouting in compost, I transferred them to a homemade greenhouse and planted them with the compost I harvested last year; they all died except one that is in the process of dying. Why? I'd water them well, keep ventilation, no birds and just insects that refugee. I also transplanted young sproutings and I'd like to hear if they look healthy. These two transplantation events happened 8 days ago, I've been watering well everything the dirt begins getting dry (it is never dry as sun doesn't manage to evaporate fast).
It's very frustrating to me as I managed to harvest over 150 tomatoes back in 2020-2021 with absolute no problem and even less knowledge.
Is it the pH that compost not work? Too many greens (my current conclusion)? Why my plants keep dying? Is it the pH? Nutrients? It's weird that the tomato seeds died when using the compsot i harvested that directly came from the compost bin where they sprouted from initially. At the begginign of 2024 I planted lots of tomato seeds and they kept eventually dying. It's like a curse I got somehow.
I'm checking lots of sources and forums to find the best answers, would appreciate anything so I can research further.
I added pH bands to measure compost bin pH right now (since it's moist it will definitely read pH no problem). I spread the compost a little bit to show its interiors.
by EinLustigerMensch