posted
Hi, I saw your compost pic's and I was wondering do you have to brake down the leaves or can you just add it in to the soil? I have so many bags of leaves that I was about to put out for trash pick up day. I ran a cross a forum with everyone talking about composts.I do not have a machine to brake it down.
I have 7 compost bins... 2 plastic ones, 3 wooden one's and one twin barrel compost tumbler.. and I put in my leaves into there... but I also make a big huge pile of chopped up leaves too, just to sit and render down with mother natures' help...
Questions for you...
Do you have a garden, that you are intending to plant this year???
Are you intending to start any new beds??
Are they whole leaves, or chopped up, and are they wet or were they put in dry???????
If I had the bags, I would compost some, put some in a pile for use in the piles during the summer months when browns are very scarce/not in supply.. And if I was going to start a new bed, I would take the sod off the top of the soil... or put big pieces of card board down, and wet it up good, and make sure it's got good contact with the soil... then throw on those bagged leaves right on top... and let sit there all summer til the following spring and then till them in.....
And you also can or could have another option... Leave them in the bags, *if they were wet/moist leaves* and let them turn into leave mould, but that may take a season or two to work/render down.. (Leave them in the sun so they can heat up)
* * * * Weezie
Don't forget to be kind to strangers. For some who have done this have entertained angels without realizing it. - Bible - Hebrews 13:2
I have 7 compost bins... 2 plastic ones, 3 wooden one's and one twin barrel compost tumbler..
Holy Moly.....7 bins! My envy meter just went up a notch.
* * * * Some days there is more laughter than others....Just depends on what/who you focus on.... Plants: 2763 | From: "Smallsbury" NC | Registered: Jan 2006
| Seeded: 152.163.101.7
They are dried leaves. I have them stored in the garage. I don't have any bin's I guess that is next month or 2 project to get some bins for the leaves and stuff.
Questions answered:
Yes, I was intending to add to my garden.
I was going to start 2 more beds for next year (summer).
They are whole leaves sitting around in bags.
Were I come from browns are scare. I still have a pile out front I have been meaning to pick up. My back yard has a lot of them that I decided not to pick up so it can help kill the grass for me so I can start my other 2 beds. Thank you, Nicky
posted
In part, it depends on what type of leaves they are. I would NOT till oak leaves into the soil and try to plant the same year. I have tilled in pecan leaves and planted a few weeks later, but I added other stuff for nutrients. You can use any leaves as a mulch on the surface, but again, I'd top dress with blood meal or Plant-tone, any good organic fertilizer. I use chicken wire to build round bins and throw leaves in there with some soil and whatever manure, etc I can come up with, quick and easy compost bins.
* * * * Dave Even my growlights are getting restless! Plants: 2290 | From: norman, ok | Registered: Apr 2005
| Seeded: 69.30.170.166
quote: Holy Moly.....7 bins! My envy meter just went up a notch.
ME too! WOW!!!
You actually just gave me the best tip on composting...I am VERY new at this...but about saving the bagged leaves for use in Summer when "browns" are scarce (did i get that right?!)...I always wondered how I could make those nice little layers of fresh stuff and older stuff! I either have tons of one or the other. So, if I bag some in the Fall and "leave" them till the following Summer, I can do it!
Thanks! I this place!
Karen Plants: 264 | From: Lehigh Valley, PA | Registered: Sep 2005
| Seeded: 24.229.242.122
posted
I'd have about 20 bins... But my husband won't let me.. "Spoil~Sport"!!
He did make the 3 wooden ones' for me.. (old shipping crates... and he took his router bit and gouged long slices in the wood) Although they don't last as long as the plastic ones'....
And each of the plastic on'es act differently... One with the solid top is more drier and the one with the two piece top is wetter...
The compost tumbler is a whole different breed of workin' it.. but once you get the hang of it, it's not bad...
And the bag method, I use alot... I need my bins, so I have to pull it out to re~load them up.. So, it does double duty for me, get my bin and it just finalizes it in another place..
YOU DO HAVE TO BUY THE HEAVY DUTY KIND THOUGH.. no cheap ones'... they rip terrible..
***Karen, I also use saw dust or wood chips in the summer time too... they take a bit longer to decompose under the regular composter, but I work mine hard, and it goes thru it fast....
quote: use chicken wire to build round bins and throw leaves in there with some soil and whatever manure, etc I can come up with, quick and easy compost bins.
What Terry said, I have done too... Holds it all in one area... and I thru in an old pumpkin one year, and the following year/spring.. The pumpkin sprouted babies and and I grew some nice lookin' pumpkins that year...
***Mator, I am lucky aren't I
* * * * Weezie
Don't forget to be kind to strangers. For some who have done this have entertained angels without realizing it. - Bible - Hebrews 13:2
posted
Nicky, If the leaves were chopped, I'd say use them this summer... but with them being whole, I wouldn't...
For whole leaves, I would put them on top of the garden at the END of the year/fall time... To keep it from growing weeds, and come spring time as early as possible, till it in and wait at least 6 weeks before use..
Chopping the leaves ahead of time... Let's the leaves have more "surface area" and in composting, the more surface area, the easier/faster it breaks down.. *more exposed area's to get the composting process done*
And it's better to have them chopped up...
And even better, cut up and chopped at teh same time with some fresh green grass... That gets it cookin'!!!
* * * * Weezie
Don't forget to be kind to strangers. For some who have done this have entertained angels without realizing it. - Bible - Hebrews 13:2
quote: use chicken wire to build round bins and throw leaves in there with some soil and whatever manure, etc I can come up with, quick and easy compost bins.
What Terry said, I have done too... Holds it all in one area...
You can call me Pepper, or you can call me Norman, or you can call me Dave...but Obywan probably doesn't want you to call me Terry!
* * * * Dave Even my growlights are getting restless! Plants: 2290 | From: norman, ok | Registered: Apr 2005
| Seeded: 69.30.170.166
posted
whereabouts can i get a machine or whatever you guys are using to chop up leaves for compost piles?
Plants: 189 | From: Michigan | Registered: Apr 2006
| Seeded: 24.11.42.112
posted
I bought an electric leaf shredder used, it was called a Leafeater. It sets on top of a trashcan, and you feed leaves through the top of the machine...It worked great, but I eventually wore it out. I now have a big Craftsman lawn vac that is okay, but I should have gone with another Leafeater. They only cost about $80 or $90 new, I think.
* * * * Dave Even my growlights are getting restless! Plants: 2290 | From: norman, ok | Registered: Apr 2005
| Seeded: 69.30.170.166
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that I was about to put out for trash pick up day. I ran a cross a forum with everyone talking about composts.I do not have a machine to brake it down. 
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till the following Summer, I can do it!![[Love]](graemlins/love.gif)
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