Composting

Are avocodo leaves like walnut leaves? Should they not be used for composting? I know better than to put fats, meats,noxious weed (with seedheads) and Oak leaves make the compost acidic. I heard that avocodo leaves hinder growth under the tree, and nothing grows under it.

Anyone have an answer to this one?

Trish

I don't have an answer to the main problem, but I'd like to contribute to the seedhead part.

It's my understanding that you can put weeds (seed and all) in compost, as long as the compost gets up to a certain temperature. My compost generally reaches around 150 degrees after 10 hours, and stays there for 3 to 4 days. That should be enough to kill those seeds.

dave

Avocado leaves are not toxic, rather the deep shade, mulching effects of the leaves, and shallow rooting make it more difficult to grow under avos. Also, in some orchard heavy applications of herbicides might have left a residual effect.

Avocado leaves are waxy and one dried are very high carbon so you can't easily compost them without shredding them and mixing in higher N material like grass and green weeds.

I compost just about everything (no rose thorns, no nutgrass and no bindweed)--about 200 tons a year. I rarely have a weed seed problem, mainly because we keep an eye on temperature, air and moisture, turning often and then letting set a minimum 6 months, preferably 9 months. Today, we will be using material start between Aug and Sept of last year.

Most weed seeds and diseases will be destroyed above 140F if maintained for a few days. Also turning (or inverting) the pile is required to expose the outer "shell" of material to the furnace of composting.

Is there any way to cause more heat when the compost is in a shaded area? My daughter bought me a Rubbermaid compost bin for Christmas last year but it is still really slow, takes many months to get really good results. This thing is double walled plastic & I'm sure expensive, I just don't have a sunny place to put it.

Azalea: My compost bin is in the sun for only 2 hours out of the day, and it manages to see 150 degrees only 10 hours after I load it.

You may have your mixtures wrong, or their is not enough moisture. I always use 4 parts of FRESH grass clippings and 1 part chopped up (with the lawnmower) leaves. Mix very well.

Dave

Thanks Dave, I probably don't have the mix just right. I sometimes leave the top open when it rains to get more moisture. I save all my coffee grounds and kitchen veggie scraps. Sometimes my DH will put grass clippings in but I can't talk him into chopping up the dry leaves for me and I can't get the #%@&*() thing started. I have heard to put lime in makes it work faster and that the $5.00 junk they sell to speed it up does not work. Haven't ried the lime yet - I have used fertilizer tho. And I do turn it faithfully every week - 10 days, maybe I am just too impatient.

Azalea

Check out this website:
http://www.oldgrowth.org/compost/poetry/this_compost.html

This message was edited Saturday, Apr 28th 11:27 PM

Ha!!! This one's even better:
http://www.oldgrowth.org/compost/poetry/on_top.html

Thanks Granny L. I like the 2nd one better, I got a little queezy with the 1st one. Kind of says it all tho, huh?