6:53 Composting footage of leaves and windrows A windrow reduces to about half its initial size in one or two months, and it then can be combined with another windrow. ; Add a 4-inch (10 cm.) Shredding Leaves with a String Trimmer Standard. And the key to that preparatory procedure is shredding everything that goes into a compost heap. Whole leaves (especially large ones) form an impenetrable, moldy mat that will suffocate nearby plants and make a mess. Limit the amount of low-calcium leaves in your compost pile. If you want to make compost fast with leaves – you need to shred them. Composting Fruit and Vegetable Waste. The mass of a large static pile just seems to break down organic matter faster then a lil home static pile (hence shredding the leaves has another purpose, more stuff in a smaller area) To stop a pile,let it dry out. Benefits of Leaf Compost and Leaf Mulch–And How to Compost Leaves Quickly. We compost the leaves that land on the grass to create nutrient-dense plant food (leaf mold) for the garden. It takes around 2 minutes to shred one bags of dry leaves. Posted by 6 days ago. MIXING LEAVES & COMPOST WITH MOWER FOR THE GARDEN - Duration: 10:01. navajopa31 9,326 views. A. Small leaves (those of birches, willows, elms, etc.) When it goes out of the composter, the wood is still not completely broken down. 12 years ago. So I spend around 8 minutes per week for shredding activity. on the lawn too. Went back to mowing the leaves instead of raking them. Shredding can be accomplished easily with a … Begin your compost pile with a 4-inch (10 cm.) To compost leaves for your vegetable beds: Gather your dry leaves to shred. Leaves have two problems in a compost: Leaves have a tendency to mat, especially when not shredded. Even running over them with the lawn mower a few times will make a difference, and if you don’t it could take up to a year or longer for them to break down. Throw the leaves from the driveway, beds etc. Set the mower on the tallest height it will go to, and just run it over whenever there are too many leaves on the lawn. You add plant material, such as food scraps, garden waste, and lawn clippings, to the compost pile. Same compost is used for the garden. Now, with the leaf shredder, my weekly 4 gunny bags of dry leaves get reduced to only 1. I tried shredding with a chipper/shredder and as has been said above it was tough to keep it from getting clogged with leaves. Whole leaves can take years to break down, and create a wet, moldy and unsightly compost pile. Really good compost requires layering green material with brown material at a ratio of about 1-to-20. Compost it yourself and find out! (Shredder reduces volume of leaves to ¼ of the original). And as you probably know, good composting requires a balanced mix of both. Can you compost leaves without shredding them? Alternatively, they can be added to the compost heap after shredding. Leaves were kind of wet from rain.. What else should I do to get this baby hot? Learn how to compost leaves below. I started doing it this way this year. It is much easier to shred them in place than in a pile (we know this from experience….). and when it is all cut up, it is surprising how many bushes or briars fit into the 5 gallon bucket! ---Andy in Pitman, NJ A. Andy has discovered the hard reality and awkward timing of composting in climes with cold winters. So in a way leaf shredding without shredder is possible, it just takes mass and time. Most of the ways I use leaves require shredding, and that involves some kind of shredder. Leaf compost is a mix of leaves and organic materials, like grass clippings or food waste. When shredding leaves with the mower, be sure to wear shoes and safety glasses to protect your eyes from flying leaf debris. Shredding Leaves. If you want to make good compost from leaves fast, then shredding is a must! Views: 394, Replies: 0 » Jump to the end. Leaves take a long time to break down. Let's find out how! Leaves also lose plenty of nutrients if just left to decompose on their own and they break down much slower. I would think shredding and composting would help that so maybe there really is a problem with how fast it breaks down. In order to produce compost, leaves and garden debris need to be reduced to as fine a mulch as possible, since this allows greater amounts of mulch to be stuffed into compost cans. It speeds up the decomposition process immensely – and saves on space! Q. I composted last year's shredded leaves with coffee grounds, turned the piles, and finally have finished compost! I compost all the dry leaves in my premises. 10:01 . Hard Sunday of work shredding my neighbor's leaves and making them my own compost food! There are a couple of ways you can do it without spending any money. Is shredding necessary? Discussion in 'Soils, Fertilizers and Composting' started by worldharmony, Jun 2, 2009. worldharmony Active Member. Like; Save; gardengal48 (PNW Z8/9) 5 years ago. I sold my house in the country a couple of years ago, but at this time of year I would put my lawn mower on a high setting and run over all the piles of leaves in my yard. Once the leaves have been adequately shredded, we rake them up into piles. The shredded leaves can be turned over into the soil in the spring to enrich the soil. Usually a year or two is needed to fully decompose leaves. Without a source of nitrogen, leaves will not become compost but instead become leaf mold, a valuable soil addition in terms of drainage and water-holding capability, but not as valuable as mineral-rich compost. Every gardener knows that it is better to chop fall leaves into small pieces before using them as compost or applying them as mulch. Because even if you stockpile dry leaves on their own (without any nitrogen rich materials), they will start to break down like any organic matter. This saves you money in the long run since you don’t have to dispose of the leaves or buy compost. He had done all the right things: shredded all the leaves, mixed in lots of coffee grounds to provide a source of Nitrogen to move the composting process along. Name: David Tillyer New York City (Zone 7b) BigAppleRoseGuy Nov 3, 2018 8:26 AM CST . So, avoid using any thick or leathery leaves in your compost, including holly, magnolia, oak, birch, and beech. Best of all, compost is simple to make! To find the answer, let’s look at the biology of compost. In my case I have an ... double-shredding without the grate in place. Even blackberry briars go in without handling! Yes… I do mean “compost” bin. Shredded leaves on the other hand, break down quickly in a compost pile. But if they are shredding it and mixing it with massive amounts of other material, I don't see how they would know. Hard Sunday of work shredding my neighbor's leaves and making them my own compost food! 5 5. Reply. But the plants have been growing just great. First, we mow over the leaves with a mulching lawnmower. There are two ways to compost leaves. I've never yet dug into a pile that wasn't broken right down to lovely friable mush, but then my piles are probably left longer than most. Try shredding the leaves to, this will help them break down much quicker. I compacted the pile as best I could. Leaves that have relatively little calcium (and other healthy minerals) can take as long as 2 years to break down, making them poor candidates for a compost pile. Shredding scraps for composting is a common practice, but you may have wondered if this practice is necessary or even effective. what is the composition of mapple grass (an agricultural waste) Reply. make a very good mulch even without shredding, as they form a fairly light and fluffy layer that allows plenty of air circulation, just what you’d want in a mulch. Leaves composted without shredding and not mixed with a green source of nitrogen may sit for years before decomposing. Shred leaves into fine pieces with either a leaf shredder or a lawn mower. veena says: December 7, 2011 at 4:09 pm. Not only does shredding create smaller pieces to compost, it tears multiple edges of the leaf fragments, causing them to deteriorate even faster. Leaves get raked around the base of fruit trees where we mulch with chips/compost etc anyway or raked into huge piles tucked under the trees somewhere. They contain varying amounts of lignin which is extremely resistant to decomposing. … Should I put it on my beds now—in the Fall? Shred Your Leaves & Fall Into Composting! Sep 25, 2020 - Do you want to know how to shred leaves without a shredder? I need to make room in my compost bins! Say you have all these shredded leaves piled up in your compost heap, it suggested to inoculate them with some finished compost to get them going. Should you cut up compost scraps? Shredding Leaves. Tub grinders and manure spreaders have been successfully used to shred leaves as well as to break open biodegradable paper collection bags. Thick leaves like sycamore, walnut, horse chestnut and sweet chestnut need to be shredded before adding to the leafmould pile, as they are much slower to break down. layer of nitrogen rich materials on top of the cardboard such as fresh grass clippings, horse or cow manure, spoiled vegetables or fruit peels. (If not, here’s a text on the subject.) Messages: 34 Likes Received: 0 Location: Northeast USA. Shredding the leaves speeds the decomposition process. layer of shredded corrugated cardboard with other high-carbon materials such as straw, old hay or dead leaves. It seems that the best way to deal with your autumn leaves is to stock them in a dedicated leaf compost bin. Like; Save; wayne_5 zone 5b Central Indiana. Clean It Up If leaf mowing results in a layer of shredded leaves so thick that you can't see the grass, you need to rake them up or collect them in your mower's grass-catching attachment. Leaf Compost, Leaf Mold, Leaf Mulch. Shredding them into tiny pieces relieves these concerns and makes them useful as compost. To this end, leaf shredders geared towards making compost tend to have powerful motors and shredders that reduce the incoming leaves into very small pieces. Place a bag underneath the shredder to catch the shredded leaves as they exit the shredder. shredding process. For Compost. The problem is mainly with large leaves (like those of maples, oaks, planes, etc.). If you have large amounts of leaves, you can use them for other purposes in the garden, but they must first be shredded. I've gotten advice that you should shred leaves before putting them in your compost, however, I don't have a shredder and can't afford to buy one. Though, it does take time. Shredding leaves is worth the effort, because the shreds will not blow around the garden or wad up in the compost. Shredding increases the surface area that the compost microbes have to work on and provides a more even distribution of air and moisture among the materials. That was spurred by a listener, who was kind of happy and sad at the same time. When matted they will create an impenetrable barrier to air and water. If there is one secret to making fast compost, it is finely shredding the carbon rich ingredients such as fallen leaves, hay, straw, paper and cardboard. Some degree of shredding is necessary for composting leaves, because whole leaves tend to form a soggy mat that will take forever to break down. Shredding leaves before adding them to the pile is a must! I plan to add lots of food scraps over the winter. Close. At certain times of the year you find yourself with a lot of wet, “green” compost material and very little dry “brown” matter such as dry leaves, branches, and twigs. And here is an easy technique to do so: Whole leaves take FOREVER to decompose. Turn your leaf-shredder on and drop the leaves into the shredder or mulcher. I have to say that i think the plants prefer the compost like that. Best Built Chipper Mulcher Shredder in Australia Red Roo CMS100 - Duration: 3:00. How to Store Leaves for Compost. Not All Leaves are Alike. Comfrey is a great plant for the compost, so I cut all the leaves off my comfrey patch and layered them on top of shredded leaves. layer of soil on top of this layer. ; Add a 2-inch (5 cm.) 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