Well, since the internal temperature in both piles has dropped off, I turned my compost piles last week. Previously, they were peaking out at about 140 degrees, then cooled down to mid ninetys. While turning, I added some water ecause the middle was getting dry.
After 4 days, the internal temp hadn't begun to go up, so I invested in a 3.75 bag of blood meal ($7.99 at Marshall Grain Co. in Fort Worth), and today I mixed in a cup of it into each pile. I'll start monitoring temp again daily and see which way the thermometer goes.
There were still quite a bit of browns down in the pile when I turned them, so I'm guessing they need some nitrogen to get things going again.
Here's my question: Both of my piles are about 1 cuic yard. is a cup of blood meal enough to make a difference in a mass of that size? I'm already out the cost of the blood meal, so I don't mind using the entire bag if I need to, but I don't want to get into the habit of spending lots of money on additives that I'm just gonna toss in the pile.
I appreciate any words of wisdom on blood meal application rates in compost piles for the purposes of reheating the pile.
Also, as that cold wind starts to blow, will I gain anything by wrapping the piles with a perforated tarp to cut down on moisture lost to the sides?