Compost after 2 weeks — turn it now or leave it?

Hello,

I just built these compost piles 2 weeks ago (photos attached) and I’d like a quick opinion.

How I built them:
dry grass
green waste
wood chips
neem & castor cake
(repeated in layers, about 40 cm total)

It heated up well at the start, but now the temperature is clearly dropping.

My question:

Should I turn it now, or just leave it to finish?

Bonus questions (quick answers welcome):

Is this layering method good or should I mix everything from the start?
How do you store finished compost properly (sun, rain, cover)?

Trying to improve my system before scaling, so any practical advice is appreciated.

Thanks

Nice work!

Turning may help, but it's a lot of work (I'm lazy!).

It seems like a lot of brown matter to me. Is there any chance of adding an additional nitrogen source (animal dung, urine, compost tea) to keep it cooking hot?

Since it's a learning exercise, why not turn one pile now, another in two weeks and the third in four weeks?

- - - - -
My compost is usually pretty coarse (half finished) so I "store" it in squash piles directly in the garden, or in half barrels where it gets mixed with biochar and forms a sort of slurry that I use to top dress established plants during the growing season.

If I have really nice compost I want to store, I put it where rain can't leach out the nutrients and tree/grass roots can't invade from below and steal nutrients.

Douglas's idea of staggering the turns across the three piles is a good one, you'll get useful data on what actually makes a difference. If you can get hold of some fresh manure or even just water it with diluted urine before turning, that should kick the nitrogen back up and get it heating again.

Hello Douglas,

Thank you for your reply. I must say it’s not always easy here to find good nitrogen sources, but I can definitely add some zebu dung. I’m thinking of adding it a few days before turning the pile.

For the brown material, as shown in my sketch, it’s only the thin black layers — roughly 2 cm thick, added every three layers.

I really like your idea of turning every two weeks and observing how each pile evolves. I will start turning one soon and record data for each pile to compare results.

I’m also considering using “half-finished” compost — turning it now, storing it in strategic places around the farm, and then adding cow dung when needed before application.

Thanks again for your help. I’m still quite new to this and learning step by step, so your insights are very valuable.

Have a good Sunday.