How wet should soil be in order to cook?

Ive built and used an organic soil mix, the first round i wet it down too much, got some fungus gnats for not covering it up. It cooked, but i spent the first month drenching them out.

I just recycled it with some reamending. Got most in garbage cans and some in grow bags for the next transplant (about a month away). I would like to get a clear idea how much moisture is "enough."

It was moist from last grow, after remixing about 10cft, i sprayed about 2 gal of water with recharge and mammoth p.

But i am just not clear how wet to get the soil...too much i know is bad for many reasons, too little also...so if i can mash it into a clump...good enough? Please share tips, clever ideas etc

Thanks in advance!

Cc

Good question I have no idea. I just look every other day at the moisture content of the soil. You can tell by touch or condensation on your tote walls. If it looks dry to me I'll just mist it down and check again next day.

If you squeeze it and you barely get a drip, is what ive been told. I believe thats called water bearing capacity or something along those lines.

Moist, if you can squeeze a handful and you get it to wring out some moisture it's too wet

If u can make a “snow ball” out of it but as stated above, no drips.