I have tried many times, but fail to make hot compost every time.
I have said more than once I'm done trying to make hot compost. Then I watched a hot compost video by the permaculture consultant, and he made it seem full proof.
https://youtu.be/BE8GQBT0onE?si=kz89RUezEgQLCmvN
I have a compost bin full of dry kitchen and garden waist. Most places it would be a slimy stinky mess because it's all green, or was, but now it's a lot of dry crispy stuff.
In a perfect world I would have followed the very simple instructions exactly. Unfortunately it's not a perfect world. I'm using my pallet/wood box compost bin. I didn't think I had any fencing that would work. (I did find some when I was done, so I may use it when I flip it. I don't have 10 5 gallon buckets. I just don't have to money to buy a bunch of buckets. To compensate I used the 5 gallon buckets I had to measure out the browns and greens, putting the measured stuff in what ever containers I had. I don't have a source for manure.
I cut up the greens into small pieces, and used lots of different greens, so I would have a diverse compost. For browns I used 6 buckets of wood chips, and 12 buckets of shredded cardboard. Everything was soaked in water overnight (this broke a couple of my bins, bummer 😞). I couldn't find my tarp, so I mixed the browns and greens on the ground in front of the pile. I hope it will heat up. I worry it doesn't look like a large enough pile. I may do one more 10 bucket layer.
I did find a dollar tree tarp that is thin, but just the right size to cover the top.
I didn't use weeds. I trust the recipe and process, but not the execution. I think I did it right except for the manure, but it did get confusing. I may start keeping my eyes out for cheep buckets. It would be a lot easier if I had 10. Any way with luck in about 4 days I will be turning my pile. The great thing about this system is not only does he make it very simple to get the browns and greens ratio right, he says you only have to turn it 3 to 5 times. Which is great because that's the hard part for me. If you struggle with hot compost check out this guy's video, he really makes it simple. Wish me luck.