Has anyone started their leaf mold piles yet this year? I've gotten a pretty good start on mine. Have about 250 lbs of chopped up leaves mounded up waiting for some rain to dampen them.
leaf mold
Well the pile is now 2.5 ft high, 6 ft long and 3 ft wide.
I'd spread a layer of chopped leaves, add nitogen, water, and then walk the pile to compress it. Hope that's okay cause it's too late now.
A good compost pile needs to be 3x3 so I've heard, so keep up the good work!!
My compost pile is probably too large also, it is 4.5 ft wide, 6 ft long, and 3 ft high. I do have plenty of room to turn it, but I don't know how long to wait before I turn it the first time. Any ideas?
I now have a tumbler which I turn every day or two - but also a pile, it is a good idea to turn it at least every 2 weeks. I don't think it can be too large! My neighbor has a large pile that has never been turned for about 2 years. I take large limbs and things that I don't want in my compost, they have a chipper they run it through. Well, one day I went to take a load, and for the first time I saw where they ahd taken out a section of it - it was the blackest stuff I had ever seen!! Black Gold to be sure.
I recently read somewhere that you don't want to turn a pile too frequently because it cools down when it is turned. If it is turned too often it can't heat up enough. That applies to compost piles, I don't know that it would make that much difference in leaf mold piles since you aren't trying to kill weed seeds or pathogens.
Of course, I can't remember just how often it said you should turn the pile. If I can find the article I will post it here.
Well, I do know you can turn them too much. I had to fence my pile in the horse pasture cause my young horse was 'turning' it everyday and it wasn't doing anything at all! Ok he was pulverizing the chunks, but that was it.
I don't turn my leaf piles at all, just let nature take its course.
If you find that article NoH2O that would be great. Probably won't be turning it too much with the colder weather coming and all.
Azalea: do you think that the fact that the tumbler compost isn't opened to the outside air helps it hold the heat the decompositon generates?
Yes, I'm sure it does help speed up the process, and there is even heat because it is tumbled often. There are screen covered ventilation holes at each end for fresh air, this keeps it from fermenting. They say a good mixture of compost does not smell bad either.
An open pile only gets heat in the bottom & center, and yes you can turn it too often, but it should be turned from time to time or the top layer would never get "cooked".
Well unless someone suggests differently, I'm going to wait 3 weeks before I turn it the first time. I might be able to turn it every other week for the next 2 months, but by Jan. everthing is quite frozen around here.
llilyfan, I am still trying to remember where I saw that. If and when I do I will post it here, I promise. {:^)
llilyfan,
Don't bother turning your leaf piles. Leafs don't compost by themselves. If you want to compost them quickly, add an equal amount of grass clippings. Since its probably too late in the season for grass, just let them break down on their own. Unlike hot compost piles which are primarily broken down by bacteria (that's where the heat comes from) leaves break down from the action of fungi. This a longer, slower, and cooler process and doesn't require turning. Just let the pile sit for a year or so. If you want to make it go quicker, shred the leaves before making the pile and wet it down thoroughly. For more info, check out "The Rodal Book of Composting". Good luck!
Azelea, just for the record, compost does _not_ form any quicker in a tumbler than in an open pile which gets turned as frequently.
When I researched my Mother Earth News article on tumblers, I ran an open pile the same size as the tumbler capacity. Each time I turned the tumbler I turned the open pile. Result: Compost in the same amount of time.
For the small volume produced in a tumbler, this works fine. But, frankly, I run cold piles for my main supply, in a doulbe bin, each section of which is 4 x 4 x 5 feet. In the fall I screen the contents of side 1, and start reusing it. Side two sits there until the following fall.
This is the way God makes compost, and it's good enough for me.
tbolt76, last year was so dry that when I opened my leaf piles up in mid July to get some 'mold' from the center it was no more decayed than the outside edges. This fall my pile has received quite a bit of rainfall and is already starting to decompose nicely. I have added to the pile 3 more times and it has shrunk down by at least half. Maybe I'll have some ready by June to amend my newest beds with, if not I'll wait til fall. The only pile I turn is the compost pile and I'm really disappointed in it. The pile had shrunk down considerably in the first 3 weeks and so I turned it. I could find no sign of composting at all! No heat, no mold, no steam, nothing. Maybe the turning and the rains will help, if not this pile will end up being one of those long term piles. Oh well, maybe next year.
making leaf mold http://www.seattletilth.org/activities/newsletter/leafmold.html
Thanks for the site, going to print it out for my files.
u're very welcome :).
I think the idea behind the tumbling composters is not that they are faster, but that for some folks it is a lot easier to spin a tumbler than it is to wield heavy gardening forks and spades. I have elbow tendinitis and it's quite painful at times, and can really limit one's ability to lift heavy items.
Well, that is a good part of it - when my DH got it for me, he said I was getting "too old to be turning that pile" - of course he didn't offer to do it for me! I think he was convinced after I asked him to do it a few times.
But really, I am convinced that it does work faster than the pile I had, still do keep a pile of some stuff I don't want to mix in the soft clippings, grass & leaves.
Azalea, I do think the tumbler-roller type of compost makers do make faster compost. I have been making compost both ways for many years. However I do put smaller pieces of plant material or whatever in the tumbler, which of course would make compost faster. About once a year I have the fellow who works for me turn the material in my largest compost pile, which does help for the decomposing. Donna
Sounds like I should check into these tumblers. I have enough aches and pains to warrant one I think! Alas, I'm still doing the open pile method and not doing it very well either. Seriously I have thought about doing a barrel for a composter and just rolling it around the pasture every 3 or 4 days. Just might try that next summer.
All of the composter containers I have seen are either dark green or black. These would heat up better in the sun than something with a lighter color, so maybe that is the advantage. Also, since they make stirring the pile easier than the old fork method, it is likely to be done oftener. I don't think there is such a thing as a pile that is too large, unless it is just so big that it doesn't get turned at all and runs out of air. I have a nice pile that is about 16x5x4, it gets turned with the front end loader on our tractor, and it does just fine. If I don't get it turned it breaks down where it has moisture and air, the rest sits there waiting for what it needs. It doesn't get real hot because I build it and forget it for months at a time but it does eventually all break down. Yep, that's a lot of compost.
Sue - I just mulch my leaves with the mower while I am bagging them and put them right into or onto the beds around the plantings. The leaves break down on their own by the end of each season and ready to be refurbished! In the meantime the act as mulch in my beds to retard weeds and hold moisture. We live on clay and the beds where I have used this method is just black gold. If a bed is new, I put down cardboard, newspapers or even birdseed sacks to kill out undergrowth. Try it, you'll like it and there is no turning, lifting, watering or anything - guess I am lazy as well as busy with hubby!
Iowagal, hi! I do the leaves in my yard like that. I have to remove the leaves from the housing units though and since I have to transport them it is a lot easier to do it with them chopped up. Also can't see burning them so I bring them home and pile them up! There is no way I am able to use all of those leaves on my beds. I would have them all buried a yard deep. Hey maybe the plants would think they've moved to zone 7 or 8! I've seen your beds and I don't know how you keep up with everything. Must be organizational skills and I haven't developed any of those yet.
Sue
Not all of my beds received attention last year Sue. I will certainly pay for it big time this spring. I have still been clearing beds this last week. I am looking forward to being snowed in after christmas so I can get rested up for next year. I need to get some staining and painting done and also repairing some bluebird houses before spring. I have a porch swing to stain also that goes under the deck for a cool, shaded and breezy place for Ethan to sit and watch me toil next summer beside my porcelin berry vine. The winterberry bushes are loaded with red berries again this winter - soooo pretty. Wish you would come and get the ones under the deck. They need sunshine so they can be loaded with the red berries also.
I kept forgetting! and then when I remembered I usually was already past your drive. Guess now they will have to wait til early spring. We can figure out when would be a good time to dig them up and I'll bring the truck and a shovel.
I had all of my beds mulched with leaves, both chopped and whole. I did say 'had' the wind has stripped them bare so I'm hoping we get some snow cover.
Somebody is wondering where all those chopped leaves came from.
I work for a housing complex and the leaves have to be removed for appearance sake! I am supposed to dispose of them any way I see fit! Guess where they go since I only have 2 apple trees of my own.