Indicators that oxygen is sufficient?

Hello.

I've pretty recently scaled up my (suburban) backyard composting (during the pandemic I replaced turf grass in my front yard with a no-mow flower garden, and this summer did the same with my back yard). In the past I relied on a single large tumbler, but as that no longer can handle the amount of yard waste I produce I added a number of chicken wire bins that are roughly both 3 feet in diameter and height.

The results haven't been great. I suspect the biggest issue is how quickly they've dried out (drought conditions for most of the summer)...the chicken wire compost piles were constructed with bulking agents and near-finished compost from the tumbler, a mindful balance of carbon and nitrogen, and when I can spare water from the rain barrel an occasional drink beyond the rain.

I don't believe any of the piles have gone anaerobic. there are no odors, slimy messes... I guess what I'm curious about is if there's a quick indicator that low oxygen content isn't a problem? I had hoped to avoid having to do too much turning, so if I could feel confident that the presence of bugs or worms signaled that turning wasn't necessary to introduce oxygen, I'd be content (I understand that there are other benefits of turning, and also that oxygen introduced by turning often is quickly exhausted - oxygen levels return to normal very quickly).

Welcome to the forum!

How are you composting ratios of brown to green manures?

How often are you turning the piles?

You mentioned drought so have you been adding water to you compost piles to keep them from drying out?

Here are some threads that you or others might find of interest:

https://permies.com/t/219569/composting/Composting-Ratios

https://permies.com/t/47495/composting/browns-greens-manures-geoff-lawton

https://permies.com/t/145646/composting/Tips-Home-Organic-Compost

Thanks!

My ratios probably are pretty good, though I'll be honest, I won't not compost something to keep the ratios better (that came out a little awkward but I think you'll get my point)...Spring and summer I tend to have more greens, but I cut up and save cardboard that can't be recycled due to contamination (like pizza boxes) and save shredded paper to add when needed.

My tumbler (which gets the same ratio) produces finished compost much faster than the chicken wire bins, but honestly, so do small piles of weeds I leave on the driveway. But the only difference between the tumbler and the bins isn't that I tumble the tumbler, it stays more moist and the worms and sow bugs and black soldier fly larva that end up in it have no immediate escape routes.

I tend to think lack of water is the issue, that with all the exposed sides the chicken wire bins just dry out too quickly, but as I said in the initial post, I'd like to have a quick/simple test for oxygen levels... My other idea is to use the bins to get things started and then finish it in the tumbler.

If water is the issue, then I can try to divert some grey water to the compost bins, but before I add a way to capture that and carry it out by hand, I'd like to rule out a different potential problem...

There are different schools of thought on this...

Some believe that only having an oxygen rich environment one gets the best compost.

Others use anaerobic bacteria to make their compost  like   "Korean natural farming"    

I was interested in this method where they pump oxygen into the compost ->

I definitely appreciate different schools of thought. While producing a high quality compost is definitely a high priority, I don't want to off gas more of anything polluting than necessary - I'll take some trade-offs.

Devin Baty wrote:I guess what I'm curious about is if there's a quick indicator that low oxygen content isn't a problem? I had hoped to avoid having to do too much turning, so if I could feel confident that the presence of bugs or worms signaled that turning wasn't necessary to introduce oxygen, I'd be content (I understand that there are other benefits of turning, and also that oxygen introduced by turning often is quickly exhausted - oxygen levels return to normal very quickly).

Devin,  A simple check of oxygen levels in a hot compost is to see whether or not you find that white powdery stuff (actinobacteria) that thrive in the transition zone between aerobic and anaerobic.  On a related note, if the pile is not hot, you could check for excess moisture that could cause an anaerobic condition by squeezing a handful of compost in your hand and seeing how much water comes out.  A few drops is just right for hot composting, a stream is too wet, and no water drops is too dry.

Since you described a 3ft x 3ft x 3ft bin, are you aiming for hot composting as the means to kill pathogens?