Shredded leaves: All you need for compost and the wonder mulch?

I saw this TED talk on youtube and wanted to ask the other Permies their opinion on mulched leaves and hopefully to share this apparently wonderful find with everyone!

The summary of the TED talk is this:

All you need for compost is shredded leaves, and perhaps spent coffee grounds if available. Kitchen scraps should go to a worm bin.


(PS I Hope links are allowed, if not please let me know.)

Please let me know what you think.

Amjad,

Nice video, I enjoy the TedTalk videos, very informative.
I found this video from a man. Patrick Dolan who has a Youtube channel on gardening.



My step-dad's grandma Mary took all of her kitchen waste, egg shells and coffee grounds included and
threw them over a fence next to her garage just 30 feet from her backdoor. I was over there
one weekend and mentioned going fishing and said I needed to go buy some worms and
she directed me to her kitchen scrap area. The area was full of big old worms and it didn't take
long to get a few dozen.

When I watch a video many times I will go through the comments below the video seeing what
people think. You can learn alot and sometimes you will find evidence that makes the video
seem a bit false. I believe shredding the leaves speeds the breakdown of the leaves but also
from the evidence shown in Patrick's video above it isn't necessary.

Permies Know Composting

Thanks for the reply Mike,

I got a bit excited when I saw the TED video since he mentioned an easier way of doing things than I do now, but after reading through some of the permies threads, I see that I had a ton more to learn about composting than I even knew! I see people talking about the hot composting, and what Mr. Dolan said makes sense. I wonder though, if by grinding the leaves for hot compost, you could be more economical for space? As in being able to fit more physical matter into the same volume of space. I honestly like the "let nature do the work" courses of action that permaculture is about. I have seen some videos by Mr. Dolan before and I was truly impressed. I will continue on my journey of learning.

I thank you for your time and response Mike. ( I had submitted a ticket to delete this thread once I realized how out of my depth I was and how naïve my original post was! I couldn't find a delete function though.)

I also saw a talk from a man who is reproducing the process of a cow's digestion to make biogas on the east coast. That sounded very interesting to me. ( )

Amjad,

Thank you.

Don't ever be hesitant about asking questions, proffering solutions or ideas. If the world was
afraid to make mistakes we'd still be waiting for the first guy to draw on cave walls or something
like that. I am known to open mouth and insert foot, I offer suggestions that are clearly WAG's
(Wild Ass Guesses)

What I love about permies forums and also drives me nuts, sometimes is how Paul requires us
to all play nice. I have spent too much of my life with people that made you feel stupid for
not knowing, my asking what they thought were stupid questions or just not being the sharpest
knife in the drawer. It's okay to get excited by someone's idea, we all have our areas where
we just want time savers, back savers, step-savers. I loved the guy above making the making
of butter so simple with his Kitchenaid mixer. Did you notice he wasn't afraid to make a mess
in the kitchen? Spilt milk, it's okay! (Sounds like it should be on a t-shirt.) {Sounds like an idea for a
new forum area here--- "It Should Be On A T-Shirt" }

"I see that I had a ton more to learn about composting than I even knew!"

There's plenty to learn... but as I write in my book, it's really just a matter of letting things rot. Throw organic material on the ground and it will return to the soil. Don't get too worried.

Most of my composting is simply dropping leaves and scraps at the base of my fruit trees and letting nature do the rest. Anyone can compost!