Composting Mulch

[GregJ]

When I bought my tractor I also bought a pto driven chipper/shredder. We have plenty of debris to deal with and the thought of being able to produce our own compost to spread around our yard really appeals to us. I currently have about 10-15 yards of mulch that has been composting for about 5 months. It still has quite a ways to go. I am in the middle of a fairly large landscaping project and I am going to have to bring in 10 yards of compost at $30/yard delivered. (Ouch). I don't want to have to do this again. So.... I have a few questions to anybody out there that is successfully composting mulch.
1. How should the mulch be handled during the composting process. Should it be turned over? If so, how often.
2. Should I add anything to the compost to speed up the process? Minerals, etc.
3. I am in the Northwest, so it stays damp most of the winter. Is there anything that I can do to help make it "weed free"? Should I cover the pile, or leave it open to stay more damp?
4. How long should it compost before I should use it?
5. Are there any specific plants that should not be chipped/shredded into this mulch.
6. Does anybody have any tricks or advice that I haven't mentioned here?

I am hoping to get an ROI on this chipper/shredder in my lifetime. I could probably easily use 15 yards per year, so I think if I learn to do this right, it will pay for itself in a reasonable amount of time.

Thank you for any advice,
Greg

 

[Bruce8989]

There are as probably as many opinions and theories on compost as there is on any subject. I'll just tell you my experience... I also have a large compost pile, which is mostly oak leaves, and grass clippings. plus whatever I run thru my chipper. My experience is it takes a season before its ready to use... fall leaves are ready in the spring... IF, there is plenty of nitrogen...I tried adding hi-nitrogen fertilizer, but would have had to add bags and bags to make a dent in a large pile (roughly 20'L x 8-10'W x 4'H).
I've found that it decomposess much faster the higher I can pile it. A 4' H pile gets warm to hot at center, and does its thing, where a 3' pile seems to do nothing. Turning a pile this size by hand is not feasible. So I go after it with the tractor.. 2 or 3 times, spread it all out and then pile it back up.
Kind of fun sitting vs. using a pitch fork!

Pile eventually compresses to about 1/4 its orginal size. I also have much better luck if I shread it as fine as possible from the get-go. I run the leaves thru the Trac-Vac twice... cutting the pieces to about 3/8" x 3/8". I also run the pile that comes out of the chipper thu the chipper again. Why not give it a head start? Also if you can add soil that seems to help.

There are lots of books on compost.. probably the most important thing is : mix of green to brown. Finally: it it stinks like amonia: add brown. Good luck and be patient.

 

[Anonymous Poster]

We get it FREE from the town, seems like about the only thing we get for the taxes. They operate a leaf composting facility, basicly a large field where collected leaves are dumped into windrows about 8' high and 12' wide. They have a machine come thru 3 times a uear that stirrs the pile thoroughly.
Leaves turn to pretty good black compost in about a year.
Grass clippings do not compost well or quickly, and require more turnover. Grass clippings added to leaves ****** the process and make poor compost. Grass must be composted seperately.
Wood chips will compost in about 2 years.
Weeds and mushrooms will occurr in compost. You may be able to reduce the number by composting on plastic and keeping the pile covered, but something will grow in there.
Composting leaves can spontaneously combust, and will be a real stinking fire to put out.
Mother Nature will provide all the ingredients you need to compost leaves and wood chips, all she asks is patience.

 

[Anonymous Poster]

I compost all my leaves and grass clippings. I find that the grass clipping break down to black top soil and I use it to overseed the lawn and repair bald areas in the lawn. The leaves I pick up with a trac-vac and then dump on a seperate compost pile. I usually have some leftover compost season to season which I use to get the fresh pile started. If starting from scratch I just add some fertilizer to the pile. It doesn't take lots of fertilizer, once it starts cooking, you flip the pile and the composting process spreads throughout the pile. When you turn the pile, preferably with a FEL, you need to mix and blend the pile. The better mix, the better the whole pile will evenly compost. I like to turn the pile about every two weeks. The pile needs to be kept aireated and moist, not wet. If the pile is saturated and mats down, then it will stink. Grass clippings need to be blended into the pile almost immediately because they mat down very quickly.

I gave up shreding leaves once I acquired my tractor with FEL. I found it much more efficient to just keep the pile turned, using the front end loader. The only time I get mushrooms growing in the compost is when I add wood chips to the pile. The heat from the composting process should kill and break down any and all seeds in the pile. I have never covered my pile. If you get a lot of rain you can cover the pile to keep it from getting saturated. I chose to flip it after the rain and this re-aireates it. My best advice is to always blend the pile thoroughly when adding fresh materials or flipping the existing pile.

I have many oak trees which have highly acidic leaves. I add pellitized lime to the compost to neutralize the high acid. Of course, some plants like acidic soil so it just depends on what your using it for...

Gardeners call it black gold and I must agree. /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif

 

[GregJ]

Thank you all for your information. All I knew about composting was to pile it up and wait. I knew there had to be more to it than that. Unfortunatley the area that I made my pile has turned into a muddy mess this winter. I hadn't anticipated that, so I have been unable to get in and really work the pile. This spring when it dries out I am planning on putting in a gravel road so I can still work it through the winter. I did go up and dig into the pile yesterday with a shovel and found that the back half of the pile was beautiful, dark, broken down and odorless. The front half of the pile was all wood chips, bone dry and looked like it hadn't even started working. So, I can really see the value of turning and mixing the pile. I also see the value of piling it high. This spring I think I will lay out 3 areas for the compost. One for new, one for "almost there" and one for ready to use. I think rotation will be important. I am still hoping to hear some miraculous technique that will make the compost "weed free", but I think I may be dreaming.

Greg

 

[Anonymous Poster]

Weed free well how about nerely weed free? I get Cow Manure (lot more weeds than you would think) by the truck load for free. Then I make it in to a long, deep, wet wet pile in the heat of the sumer with sum of my grass clipping and cover with black plastic. gets very very hot (this can start on fire) I keep a close eye on it after two or three weeks uncover let cool pile repet about 75% less weeds.

 

[gmason]

Greg, I too have several piles of mulch around the property. Here's my opinion and experience over the years. Anything will eventually mulch, the finer chopped/ground up the material the better. To optimize the process you need green and brown. Green being green grass/leaves, table scraps(non meat/fat), weeds anything, brown being wood chips, newspaper, fall leaves.

I've currently got a fresh new pile of storm debris that the town chopped up and gave away, typically I try to check the pile every month or so. Stick the loader in it an lift up the middle to see if it's cooking or too dry. If the pile is too dry add water or water and a can or two of cheep beer. The bacteria and yeast in the beer will feed the microbes in the mulch and they'll work harder. I'll roll the pile over once in the spring and once in the fall. Basically, I just take and move the pile by pushing the top of the pile over and then either pushing or lifting the rest of the pile onto the new location. It doesn't need to be precise.

For leaves, I just blow them into a pile ~10'x10' and dump a loader or two of year old mulch over the top of them and wait for a month or two and a few rain events, then scraped the whole pile into a new compost pile. The leaves are easier to handle after this and don't try to blow away and the mulch has helped to start the decomp process.

Either way you can pretty much figure on a good year til the mulch will be significantly decomped to use and I always add a bag or 2 of lime to my compost to "sweeten" it a bit. You probably still have some rather large "sticks" that haven't fully rotted yet, so either screen it first or be prepared to pick them up if your using them to fill small holes or topdress.

If you making raised flower beds, make them about 1/3 higher than you want them, since the mulch will continue to rot and settle for years to come.

Do not cover, weeds will not be able to take root unless the mulch is already rotted to the point where they can get a foot hold into the pile.

I have had snakes/turtles lay eggs in the warm piles. Be careful if you add manure, farm animals eat all kinds of grasses/weeds, so if you add this make sure that it cooks good to kill the weed seeds.

A mulch pile shouldn't "smell" after a few days of creating. Some methane gas will escape, but not to the point that you can smell it. Water is essential to the composting process, if a pile dries out it will stop rotting and may even catch fire and burn. Temperatures inside the pile can get 130-140F.

There really isn't much else more gratifying than throwing out a wonderful black pile of compost over a yard of spring grass, or building that new raised bed, or adding to a garden. I hate seeing these people, developers burning leaves or debris and throwing black smoke and ash into the air that we breath.

good luck
gary

 

[Anonymous Poster]

<font color="blue"> If the pile is too dry add water or water and a can or two of cheep beer. The bacteria and yeast in the beer will feed the microbes in the mulch and they'll work harder. </font>

Gmason,

I like your style! You do know what to do with cheap beer!

However, it is unlikely there is bacteria in there, and most [if not all] yeast is filtered out of those cheap brews...

However, I do second that advice...no better place for that cheap beer than on the compost pile... /forums/images/graemlins/blush.gif...

/forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

 

[Spencer]

</font><font color="blue" class="small">( If the pile is too dry add water or water and a can or two of cheep beer.</font><font color="blue" class="small">(


gmason, is it ok to filter the beer through my kidneys first? /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

 

[Anonymous Poster]

You ight as well filter it thru, cause the yeast has already been killed by pasturization.
More information than you'll ever need about composting is available from Cornell at this site.
http://www.cfe.cornell.edu/compost/OnFarmHandbook/ListFig1.html