How often should I turn my compost?
The idea of turning the material in a compost bin is to reintroduce air. The aerobic bacteria that do the decomposition need air to breathe, otherwise the process almost stops when they die off. The process is continued by anaerobic bacteria which are much slower.
As the aerobic bacteria work, they produce heat inside the mix. As they do so their air supply gradually depletes until the heat subsides because the bacteria have died off due to lack of oxygen. Turning is required once the temperature has dropped almost back to the ambient temperature. This would probably take around a week.
When the air is replenished by turning, the heat-up-and-cool-down cycle starts again. If you turn a second time after about two weeks the cycle will repeat. Turn again at the end of the third week. It's unlikely that you'd get any significant heat-up by further turning after that.
