Your friend John is having trouble with his compost bin. The material in his compost pile doesn't seem to be decomposing well. You take a sample of the pile and check for the presence of microorganisms under the microscope. You see that there are indeed microorganisms; however, they don't appear to be growing very fast.

Question

Your friend John is having trouble with his compost bin. The material in his compost pile doesn't seem to be decomposing well. You take a sample of the pile and check for the presence of microorganisms under the microscope. You see that there are indeed microorganisms; however, they don't appear to be growing very fast.
John says that he regularly mixes his compost pile to expose it to oxygen but has noticed the pile feels cold. What is the most likely explanation for this problem? (1 point)
• The compost pile contained aerobic bacteria.
• The compost pile was sufficiently moist.
•The compost pile was placed in the sunshine.
• The compost pile contained incorrect amounts of "greens" and "browns".

GPT-4o mini · Answer

The most likely explanation for John's problem is: The compost pile contained incorrect amounts of "greens" and "browns".

A good compost pile requires a balanced ratio of "greens" (nitrogen-rich materials) and "browns" (carbon-rich materials). If there is too much of one type and not enough of the other, it can inhibit decomposition, leading to a cold pile and slow microbial activity.