If I start this in the fall will breakdown begin before it gets too cold and then continue through the winter?
This is a large bin! Awesome. The great thing about a large bin is that it can really generate compost heat (thermophilic bacteria) in the mass of the heap, as the outsides of a heap are naturally cooled by the external air.filling a 10ftx10ftx6ft bin with leaves.
"Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it's the only thing that ever has."-Margaret Mead "The only thing worse than being blind, is having sight but no vision."-Helen Keller
Castaway Compost - Yer Trash be Treasure! castawaycompost.com
Transplanted gardener trying to start over in a strange new land - all advice gratefully accepted!
SKIP books, get 'em while they're hot!!! Skills to Inherit Property
See me in a movie building a massive wood staircase:Low Tech Lab Movie
France Zone 7a 1025mm rain, 1900 sunshine hours.
Joseph Lofthouse wrote:
I wonder how Mother ever managed to compose anything before humans invented shredders?
Work smarter, not harder.
Travis Johnson wrote:
Joseph Lofthouse wrote:
I wonder how Mother ever managed to compose anything before humans invented shredders?
After lots of time
List of Bryant RedHawk's Epic Soil Series Threads We love visitors, that's why we live in a secluded cabin deep in the woods. "Buzzard's Roost (Asnikiye Heca) Farm." Promoting permaculture to save our planet.
Gert in the making
"Stranger, you's a tresspassin' on my dirt farm."
-Cletis the slack jawed yokel
Richard Gorny wrote:One cubic meter of maple leaves tightly packed in autumn takes more than three years to decompose here (Zone 5), while same amount of birch leaves is decomposed in less than a year.
List of Bryant RedHawk's Epic Soil Series Threads We love visitors, that's why we live in a secluded cabin deep in the woods. "Buzzard's Roost (Asnikiye Heca) Farm." Promoting permaculture to save our planet.
...so the speed at which they decomposed may have something to do with the species.
Leaves from leguminous (in the same botanical family as beans and peas) trees such as acacia, carob, and alder usually become humus
within a year. So do some others like ash, cherry, and elm. More resistant types take two years; these include oak, birch, beech, and
maple. Poplar leaves, and pine, Douglas fir, and larch needles are very slow to decompose and may take three years or longer.
Some of these differences are due to variations in lignin content which is highly resistant to decomposition, but speed of decomposition is
mainly influenced by the amount of protein and mineral nutrients contained in the leaf.
Gert in the making
Jamie Davis wrote:You can add lots of greens and turn it...or...you can urinate in a bucket, dilute it 10:1 and then apply it via a backpack sprayer.
Rus Williams wrote:I
As an aside (and if it's not a thread hijack) can someone tell me the difference between compost and leaf mould?
Ha Ha!Some of us apply it undiluted via a frontpack sprayer.....
From my understanding, diluting is necessary only for applying (watering/fertilizing) near plants, but not when adding to a compost to charge a carbon source, unless the goal is to gain more moisture (also necessary in the compost process) than your urine alone could provide-In that case, diluting can also serve the function of spreading the nitrogen to a larger amount of compostable carbon, though, obviously, with less concentration.you can urinate in a bucket, dilute it 10:1 and then apply it via a backpack sprayer.
"Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it's the only thing that ever has."-Margaret Mead "The only thing worse than being blind, is having sight but no vision."-Helen Keller
Adam
The Farmer @ Locabuck Farm
What we've got here is a failure to communicate. The solution is in this tiny ad:
Simple Succession Planting by Angi Schneider
https://permies.com/wiki/190647/ebooks/Simple-Succession-Planting-Angi-Schneider
|