My community garden compost pile caught fire yesterday and I had no idea that could even happen

I showed up to water my plot around 6pm and smelled smoke. Walked over to the shared compost bin and sure enough the whole thing was smoldering inside. Had to grab the hose and drench it for 20 minutes. Apparently if you pile too much green stuff like grass clippings without mixing in browns it can heat up enough to combust. Who knew? Our garden coordinator said shes seen it twice in 10 years. Anybody else ever deal with a compost fire or am I just unlucky?

3 comments

3 Comments

harper69311d ago

It's not just greens and browns, it's also about moisture and airflow. Too wet and packed tight with no air pockets will do the same thing.

bennett.nora11d ago

My neighbor Bob tried composting once and turned his whole pile into a stinking wet mess because he kept throwing in all his leftover soup and coffee grounds without any straw. I told him to mix in some dry leaves and give it a good turn every week, but he said he knew better. Three months later he had a moldy sludge that smelled like a swamp and attracted every fly within a mile radius. He gave up and just started bagging his yard waste for the city pickup instead. So yeah, moisture and airflow are the real backbone of this whole thing, not just the browns and greens.

mitchell.lee11d ago

Man, I gotta say you just completely changed my mind on this. I used to think composting was basically just about throwing the right mix of browns and greens together and letting nature do the rest. Never really thought about moisture or airflow being that big of a deal until I read your neighbor Bob's story. That sounds like a nightmare, honestly, a whole pile turning into swamp sludge and drawing in flies like that. I can totally see now how you could have all the right ingredients but still mess it up if it's too wet or packed down tight. Makes me realize I need to pay way more attention to how I layer things and poke some holes in my pile every now and then. Thanks for sharing that, it really clicked for me.