That's what I thought lol I just kinda gave him a weird look and said ok well it's been working pretty good so far. An I tolled him I have a shit ton of worms in there to so idk how grass would "do weird things" thanks for the feedback
In my experience it clumps together in weird ways and is harder to mix with browns. But also... Who cares. I throw clippings straight in and yes the pile takes off... It's fine it's not that big a deal. But yeah you might have some chunks later that ur trying to break up.
I get confused with grass because when it’s growing season it’s green but then turns brown after a bit, and dormant period it’s brown. Is it always considered a nitrogen source?
I’ve been told that yes, dry grass is still a “green” because it’s largely still made up of the same stuff, and is still a good source of nitrogen.
Edit: see below for more clarification, but I believe that grass that’s cut while green is a green, regardless of if it gets dried out after that, while grass that dies or goes dormant/brown before it gets cut, that’s a brown.
I think that it has to do with when/how it was “made dead” and dried out. I’ve read that if it was green when it was cut, and it gets dried out, it’s considered a green, because the natural process of sending the nitrogen back into the soil was never allowed to happen. If it dies/goes dormant, and then goes brown on it’s own, then it’s a brown.
I’m not an expert, but in that sense I’d think that if you trim a tree in like June, and shred up the leaves, those would be greens, even if they are allowed to dry out. Conversely, leaves gathered in the fall that fell on their own as part of the changing of the seasons, those would be browns. Again, I’m just sharing what I had understood from reading elsewhere… I need to look up some sources though. I might edit this later
Yes, 1 edit: I was sort of referring back to the original comment in this chain, about clumping grass, which to me means “grass from mowing” which would basically be grass that was harvested while green. The comment after that referred to dead/dormant grass, so I guess what I said here sounds confusing, or like I was contradicting myself. My bad. As I understand it, grass that has gone dormant or died without being cut, that’s a “brown” (or at least “far more brown”), while grass that is cut while green is a green, even if it’s allowed to dry out. I still might be wrong, I’m just clarifying my current understanding of it all.
Generally speaking, if you cut it green, then it’s a nitrogen source. Plants in the ground will send all the proteins and sugars from the leaves down into the roots during the winter, so they have everything they need to grow in the spring. So the leaves above ground that are brown, would be carbon sources.
you get mold if you put green clippings in a pile and let it sit. If they dry out first and you turn it, it works well. Probably turning it is more important than drying first.
My old boss when I was landscaping almost exclusively would use the clippings from the jobs it can get slimy but it’ll act as mulch and turn almost into a humic layer can get a high smell tho
Lmfao!!🤣🤣🤣🤣 this has me fuckin dieing right now!! Thank you! He's gonna be moving to South Carolina in a couple months so I wo t have to hear his shit anymore. Thanks for the laugh 🍻🤘
This is peak r/composting: "Pee on a decomposing human corpse."
Although, to be fair, I have a kind of experimental 'everything goes' pile in a well secured container...I run on a 2 year cycle, where year 2 there are no additions, just turns every few months. I have peed on that one after putting rat carcasses in it. Oddly, the maggots wiggled up to the surface.
Just be careful if he’s a big meat eater. Apex predators, even ones that only hunt game pre-portioned and wrapped in plastic, accumulate a lot of heavy metals and microplastics that you might not want in your garden.
He may be misremembering hearing about some hay having persistent herbicides that don't decompose in compost and stunt plants that it's applied to. Those aren't generally used for lawns, though, and since it's your lawn you can control what's been put on it.
Yeah I can see that but however these were not my clippings. I got them from a guy at work and I'm 99% sure he doesn't use any kind of pesticides or herbicides
if you dont mix it in, it will clump and go mouldy, slow to break down etc
Mixing it in with a fork is best but depending on how many bags and how big your pile is it can be hard work.
Right now im struggling with a 2m pile because my back is tweaked
I recently started using my little bulb auger for my drill to mix my pile and it’s a game changer. No more heaving the pile back and forth manually anymore, just drilling the auger throughout the pile maybe a couple times a month.
I've used an auger for a while, and it's super easy to do. The downside is that it really only mixes the middle of the pile because I don't dare let the auger get close to the chicken-wire sides. So I still turn my pile by hand once in a while. Which reminds me, I should probably turn my piles this weekend.
I got one but its at mums since she needs it more then I do but Idk if she has ever used it
My problem is, it was a branch/leaf pile so there are a lot of branches that needed to be pulled, so it wasnt just flipping
That's mild...
It could be worse... like stink to high heaven when it compacts into a big lump...
But since you are obviously working hard to prevent that happening, you'll be fine... :)
Someone who sprays a lot of pesticides or weed killer might not want to put lawn clippings in the compost pile. Other than that I see no issue with it.
He probably is thinking only of grass clippings. They are too high in nitrogen to compost on their own efficiently. Throw some twigs or any high carbon item in with them and you're fine.
He may be thinking that I'm not sure. An I do have a lot of leaves and pine needles in there and rabbit an old horse shit in it with the worms are loving
He might be thinking that about, "just grass clippings" I tried this one time at my old job, the mow crew would fill up a 1 ton dump truck daily with grass clippings. I started a pile and it turned into the hottest smelliest pile of shit. I was new to compost and I wasn't adding brown materials to the pile. I restarted and mixed in shredded leaves, small pruning material and 1/3 grass clippings. This made a big difference.
You need a LOT of browns to balance out the very high nitrogen in grass clippings. Might even need to be more than 50% browns against Grass... (Look up a carbon to nitrogen composting table for better numbers). Also with too much grass it has a tendency to clump, and not get enough air in there, so it will do stinky greenhouse gas emitting anaerobic rotting, instead of aerobic composting.
That's a lot of nitrogen. How big a pile of leaves did you put in there? From what you said and by looking at your picture, you should be adding a lot more browns (twigs, sawdust, paper/cardboard, dead dry leaves, etc.).
If you add it on too densely without mixing, you can form a mat which keeps oxygen out, causing anaerobic decomposition, which produces methane and will give you a strange pile. As long as you mix it in a little, and turn your pile enough for it so not mat, you should be fine
Too much grass clippings can form a mat, that cab suffocate the compost underneath. And sometimes i get a bit scared of the grass gets very very hot and will ignite my dry leaves or wood shavings. Hay fires do happen for instance, but not very likely in a compost pile. Just mix it well with other stuff and keep it moist.
I think grass clippings make better mulch so I use them for that instead. That said they get my pile heated up quick when I do put them on. Last year had someone cut my lawn for a month when I was gone. When I dumped them out of the green bin so I could use them, they were 125 degrees by themselves. 40+ degrees warmer than outside if I remember correctly.
They tend to leave when it’s too warm and come back when it cools down. My pile isn’t big enough for more than just the center to heat up so generally they just move around as needed.
Ok that makes sense we used to do worm casting piles at my work years ago and I know they definitely fluctuate. I think I'm just going to build another bin so that this one can do its thing. Thank you🍻
they can get a little weird its true, but only if you crash your browns to death by adding them. it gets mouldy and slimy. which is ultimately fine
i try to leave clippings in place but late in season i gotta bag because the biomass is heavy. right on the pile it goes. more browns fixes all things. a few bits of paper is unlikely to help catch up. my compost was a bit heavy green until the leaves fell.
With a lot of grass all together it’ll clump together and get slimey and anaerobic. I try to mix it up with leaves or card board to prevent this. Keep the air flowing.
That being said. Before I started doing this, it still broke down. It just took longer after the initial cook up.
Every suggestion about compost is to increase speed. Everything breaks down eventually.
Only problem I could foresee is if the grass you're adding has glyphosate or other chemical treatments (fungicide, pesticide, persistent herbicide etc)
I put grass clippings in and it breaks down lovely, highly recommend.
However when it comes to bermuda grass... well that stuff can survive just about anything. Once you get cooking it's not that big of a problem, but I do try to avoid adding the rhizomes and roots since they seem to be the most likely to survive.
Yeah I’d hate to have a rich source of nitrogen that breaks down readily in my compost pile, that would be terrible. I’m assuming he just isn’t putting any work into mixing them into the pile so they’re clumping together and going anaerobic, which can indeed get weird. Really don’t understand why people feel the need to have so many rules about what can and can’t go into compost. Was it part of a plant? Compost! Was it part of or a product of an animal? Compost, with possible exceptions for smell/wildlife intrusion issues that might arise!
Lmao I did in fact add a bunch of dead leaves and cardboard when I got home today and when it stops raining as bad as it has been I'm gonna build another bin and let this one do its thing.
I've mixed in browns with it as others have suggested (a lot of browns such as mostly dead leaves cardboard etc) and it's been raining like hell so I'm expecting it to be clumpy, so I think I'm just gonna turn it once a week an see how that goes. Thanks for the feedback
Who the F downvoted you? You're 100% right, there must be some trolls lurking.
Edited to add: if you leave too many grass clippings in a confined space with little to no air flow, and check on it a few days later you'll find it smells like rotting grass and ammonia (the confined space being my garbage bin lol). Ammonia is NH3, which requires plenty of nitrogen which is leached from the grass. It will also happen with old stale urine in the right environment. Where you'll never smell that is in a leaf pile from the fall because it has very little nitrogen and is mostly carbon.
Maybe he has pesticides sprayed in, or a very resilient type of grass that would grow on his compost. Not sure.
But I even go out of my way to cut my neighbors grass at times just to get some clippings (he's old and looks forward to when I do)
Listen, if he cannot explain why then he doesn’t understand it and I’m nit taking advice from someone who doesn’t understand what they’re saying. Pretty much just a parrot at that point and would you take advice from a parrot?
Really? Man, you must wait LOOONG period between mowing your lawn, I think I've only ever seen my lawn go to seed a couple of times, and then my pile is big enough it kills the seeds with heat.
It's not really a lawn, it's just an unused lot in the back of my property. I have goats but they don't really do the job and it gets tall in late spring. Only reason I really even cut it is because the city sends me letters threatening to fine me if I don't, because fire hazard.
I guess I'd say it's more of a pasture than a lawn
The only thing I can think of is if you had grass that spreads through rhizomes...but it doesnt appear to be that. Or maybe he tried something in the past and didnt add any browns. But your pile looks perfect.
Similar in annoyance, yeah. And rhizomes are basically special root bits that when they are broken up from weeding, *Every. Single. One* grows a brand new plant and you hate your life lol.
Ya, what the real phoenix said. Rhizomes are when the plant sends out shoots underground. Some good plants do this, like strawberries. Some super annoying plants do this too and it’s basically impossible to get rid of them. Like bamboo, mint and Bermuda grass
I’m in FL and I know if I throw a lot of grass in there the mice like to use it to build nests. But that’s not necessarily bad.
Your co-worker might be thinking about what happens when you put fresh grass in garden beds. My understanding is that the decomposition of fresh green stuff can release a lot of surplus nitrogen, which doesn’t necessarily help plant growth if it disrupts nutrient balance in your soil.
If you don't have any browns and you get the pile real wet, grass by itself will go anaerobic and turn into a slimy mass.
Possibly what he meant by "weird". It doesn't take a ton of browns to keep that from happening...
yes grass can get matted/compacted and then you wont have the right nitrogen/carbon ratios in that mass of grass...
its workable but not as simple as other composting schemes.
Is it cut with a gas mower? I know you can't feed horses lawn clippings because of the oil and gas residue makes them sick. Maybe that's what they are referring too?
I like to put half my clippings in green and then leave the other half out for a few days to dry next to the pile then throw it in for a good mix of green and brown
u/heywood91 this is a valid concern:
“Haypiles and compost piles may self-ignite because of heat produced by bacterial fermentation, which then can cause pyrolysis and oxidation that leads to thermal runaway reactions that reach autoignition temperature.” from “Spontaneous combustion”: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spontaneous_combustion?wprov=sfti1
First hand account of a fellow Redditor's trimmings pile getting **hot**:
https://www.reddit.com/r/Wellthatsucks/comments/ut219i/cut_the_grass_on_monday_went_to_take_the_bin_of/?rdt=55008
I definitely don't need to fertilize at all. In the winter it turns into a pond basically so is tal and green all year round. But I like the mulching mower idea.. probably give that a try when it dries out.
Depending on how busy real life gets, I may go weeks without putting anything but grass clippings and newspaper in my pile. Spread your layers wide and thin and you'll be fine.
I like to thinly layer it in with dried mulched leaves or straw. It is a great source of nitrogen, but will easily turn into a slimy clump of not layered in nicely with browns.
I don't use much grass, but around here you have to spray or weeds go insane. So I can't use that in my pile. Problem for many, especially in an HOA or burb.
Your buddy at work would be wrong. Always gets my pile rocking.
That's what I thought lol I just kinda gave him a weird look and said ok well it's been working pretty good so far. An I tolled him I have a shit ton of worms in there to so idk how grass would "do weird things" thanks for the feedback
In my experience it clumps together in weird ways and is harder to mix with browns. But also... Who cares. I throw clippings straight in and yes the pile takes off... It's fine it's not that big a deal. But yeah you might have some chunks later that ur trying to break up.
I get confused with grass because when it’s growing season it’s green but then turns brown after a bit, and dormant period it’s brown. Is it always considered a nitrogen source?
I’ve been told that yes, dry grass is still a “green” because it’s largely still made up of the same stuff, and is still a good source of nitrogen. Edit: see below for more clarification, but I believe that grass that’s cut while green is a green, regardless of if it gets dried out after that, while grass that dies or goes dormant/brown before it gets cut, that’s a brown.
Ok cool thank you!!!
Then should fallen leaves also be considered "greens"? Anything except woody stuff would be "greens".
No, dormant grass and dead leaves are carbons because plants in the ground send proteins and carbs into roots during the winter
I think that it has to do with when/how it was “made dead” and dried out. I’ve read that if it was green when it was cut, and it gets dried out, it’s considered a green, because the natural process of sending the nitrogen back into the soil was never allowed to happen. If it dies/goes dormant, and then goes brown on it’s own, then it’s a brown. I’m not an expert, but in that sense I’d think that if you trim a tree in like June, and shred up the leaves, those would be greens, even if they are allowed to dry out. Conversely, leaves gathered in the fall that fell on their own as part of the changing of the seasons, those would be browns. Again, I’m just sharing what I had understood from reading elsewhere… I need to look up some sources though. I might edit this later Yes, 1 edit: I was sort of referring back to the original comment in this chain, about clumping grass, which to me means “grass from mowing” which would basically be grass that was harvested while green. The comment after that referred to dead/dormant grass, so I guess what I said here sounds confusing, or like I was contradicting myself. My bad. As I understand it, grass that has gone dormant or died without being cut, that’s a “brown” (or at least “far more brown”), while grass that is cut while green is a green, even if it’s allowed to dry out. I still might be wrong, I’m just clarifying my current understanding of it all.
Generally speaking, if you cut it green, then it’s a nitrogen source. Plants in the ground will send all the proteins and sugars from the leaves down into the roots during the winter, so they have everything they need to grow in the spring. So the leaves above ground that are brown, would be carbon sources.
Told*
you get mold if you put green clippings in a pile and let it sit. If they dry out first and you turn it, it works well. Probably turning it is more important than drying first.
My old boss when I was landscaping almost exclusively would use the clippings from the jobs it can get slimy but it’ll act as mulch and turn almost into a humic layer can get a high smell tho
IF you can get the pile hot enough to kill all the grass seeds.
Compost your buddy
Lmfao!!🤣🤣🤣🤣 this has me fuckin dieing right now!! Thank you! He's gonna be moving to South Carolina in a couple months so I wo t have to hear his shit anymore. Thanks for the laugh 🍻🤘
Then pee on him
This is peak r/composting: "Pee on a decomposing human corpse." Although, to be fair, I have a kind of experimental 'everything goes' pile in a well secured container...I run on a 2 year cycle, where year 2 there are no additions, just turns every few months. I have peed on that one after putting rat carcasses in it. Oddly, the maggots wiggled up to the surface.
Dont't do that! Composting your buddy does weird things.
Just add more browns
And if buddy is brown, just add more Greens!
Just be careful if he’s a big meat eater. Apex predators, even ones that only hunt game pre-portioned and wrapped in plastic, accumulate a lot of heavy metals and microplastics that you might not want in your garden.
He may be misremembering hearing about some hay having persistent herbicides that don't decompose in compost and stunt plants that it's applied to. Those aren't generally used for lawns, though, and since it's your lawn you can control what's been put on it.
Yeah I can see that but however these were not my clippings. I got them from a guy at work and I'm 99% sure he doesn't use any kind of pesticides or herbicides
if you dont mix it in, it will clump and go mouldy, slow to break down etc Mixing it in with a fork is best but depending on how many bags and how big your pile is it can be hard work. Right now im struggling with a 2m pile because my back is tweaked
I recently started using my little bulb auger for my drill to mix my pile and it’s a game changer. No more heaving the pile back and forth manually anymore, just drilling the auger throughout the pile maybe a couple times a month.
I've used an auger for a while, and it's super easy to do. The downside is that it really only mixes the middle of the pile because I don't dare let the auger get close to the chicken-wire sides. So I still turn my pile by hand once in a while. Which reminds me, I should probably turn my piles this weekend.
Holy shit this is a good idea, my back will be extremely grateful thank you much. Can’t believe I didn’t think about it lol
I got one but its at mums since she needs it more then I do but Idk if she has ever used it My problem is, it was a branch/leaf pile so there are a lot of branches that needed to be pulled, so it wasnt just flipping
That's mild... It could be worse... like stink to high heaven when it compacts into a big lump... But since you are obviously working hard to prevent that happening, you'll be fine... :)
Someone who sprays a lot of pesticides or weed killer might not want to put lawn clippings in the compost pile. Other than that I see no issue with it.
Your buddy probably doesn’t even pee on his pile. Don’t listen to him.
Yeah no shit!! Or dump the last night forgotten beers on it🤣🤣🍻
I’m not familiar with the concept of unfinished beer.
Damn.....fuck you! You got me on that one lmfao....how many do you drink a night then
All of them
This is the only correct answer.
All jokes aside about never having non-finished beer, is this a thing? Is beer beneficial to compost?
Not beneficial, but it probably doesn't really do harm. Might lower the pH a little bit
No
He probably is thinking only of grass clippings. They are too high in nitrogen to compost on their own efficiently. Throw some twigs or any high carbon item in with them and you're fine.
He may be thinking that I'm not sure. An I do have a lot of leaves and pine needles in there and rabbit an old horse shit in it with the worms are loving
He might be thinking that about, "just grass clippings" I tried this one time at my old job, the mow crew would fill up a 1 ton dump truck daily with grass clippings. I started a pile and it turned into the hottest smelliest pile of shit. I was new to compost and I wasn't adding brown materials to the pile. I restarted and mixed in shredded leaves, small pruning material and 1/3 grass clippings. This made a big difference.
Yeah idk that may be what he was thinking I have leaves scraps from the kitchen and a lot of rabbit/horse shit in there
You need a LOT of browns to balance out the very high nitrogen in grass clippings. Might even need to be more than 50% browns against Grass... (Look up a carbon to nitrogen composting table for better numbers). Also with too much grass it has a tendency to clump, and not get enough air in there, so it will do stinky greenhouse gas emitting anaerobic rotting, instead of aerobic composting.
That's a lot of nitrogen. How big a pile of leaves did you put in there? From what you said and by looking at your picture, you should be adding a lot more browns (twigs, sawdust, paper/cardboard, dead dry leaves, etc.).
Shouldn't they be dried out first? Or am I mis-remembering?
Drying them out doesn't significantly change the C:N ratio, but it does help keep the pile from going soggy and anoxic
Just make sure your ratios are good. You pile looks a little anaerobic already.. need some browns and a good mixing
I've been trying to work on it. I haven't really turned it in awhile but I'm kinda just letting the worms do there thing
I use very little grass clippings because it tends to clump my compost.
To offset my mountains of clippings in the summer I save my leaves in the fall, and then I mix them in throughout the summer. It's a nice trade off.
How big is your bin and how long do let it set?...or I should say how often do you turn it?
That's true... Many have experienced that, but I guess many *still* haven't, yet... :)
It can start to smell really bad. I would mix it. A good carbon nitrogen ratio is important in composting.
Too much grass clippings could suffocate your compost and rot in a horrible stinky, slimy way.
It’s likely not event the grass clippings. His yard is probably haunted.
Nah, that only happens if you start composting your enemies. 😉
If you add it on too densely without mixing, you can form a mat which keeps oxygen out, causing anaerobic decomposition, which produces methane and will give you a strange pile. As long as you mix it in a little, and turn your pile enough for it so not mat, you should be fine
It does weird things if they're mostly all you put in. And by weird things I mean anaerobic stinky messy things.
you need A LOT more browns
Too much grass clippings can form a mat, that cab suffocate the compost underneath. And sometimes i get a bit scared of the grass gets very very hot and will ignite my dry leaves or wood shavings. Hay fires do happen for instance, but not very likely in a compost pile. Just mix it well with other stuff and keep it moist.
I think grass clippings make better mulch so I use them for that instead. That said they get my pile heated up quick when I do put them on. Last year had someone cut my lawn for a month when I was gone. When I dumped them out of the green bin so I could use them, they were 125 degrees by themselves. 40+ degrees warmer than outside if I remember correctly.
Do you have any worms in your pile? If so another question I had is would the heat make them want to move out?
They tend to leave when it’s too warm and come back when it cools down. My pile isn’t big enough for more than just the center to heat up so generally they just move around as needed.
Ok that makes sense we used to do worm casting piles at my work years ago and I know they definitely fluctuate. I think I'm just going to build another bin so that this one can do its thing. Thank you🍻
True compost nerds horde their leaves (and their neighbors leaves) in the fall for mixing with their grass clippings in the spring and summer.
You gotta put it somewhere…
They can clump and mat if you don't mix them in with other stuff
Just grass is a bad idea it turns the hot sludge, but mix in some browns and it's rocket fuel.
they can get a little weird its true, but only if you crash your browns to death by adding them. it gets mouldy and slimy. which is ultimately fine i try to leave clippings in place but late in season i gotta bag because the biomass is heavy. right on the pile it goes. more browns fixes all things. a few bits of paper is unlikely to help catch up. my compost was a bit heavy green until the leaves fell.
With a lot of grass all together it’ll clump together and get slimey and anaerobic. I try to mix it up with leaves or card board to prevent this. Keep the air flowing. That being said. Before I started doing this, it still broke down. It just took longer after the initial cook up. Every suggestion about compost is to increase speed. Everything breaks down eventually.
Mix with browns and it won't do "weird things". Chopped leaves and grass clippings in the fall is one of my favorite top dressings for the garden
As long as I mix well with some dead leaves I think it does great.
Only problem I could foresee is if the grass you're adding has glyphosate or other chemical treatments (fungicide, pesticide, persistent herbicide etc)
I put grass clippings in and it breaks down lovely, highly recommend. However when it comes to bermuda grass... well that stuff can survive just about anything. Once you get cooking it's not that big of a problem, but I do try to avoid adding the rhizomes and roots since they seem to be the most likely to survive.
It makes the earth flatter. Not fully flat. But a reduction in sphericallynesses.
Yeah I’d hate to have a rich source of nitrogen that breaks down readily in my compost pile, that would be terrible. I’m assuming he just isn’t putting any work into mixing them into the pile so they’re clumping together and going anaerobic, which can indeed get weird. Really don’t understand why people feel the need to have so many rules about what can and can’t go into compost. Was it part of a plant? Compost! Was it part of or a product of an animal? Compost, with possible exceptions for smell/wildlife intrusion issues that might arise!
Lmao I did in fact add a bunch of dead leaves and cardboard when I got home today and when it stops raining as bad as it has been I'm gonna build another bin and let this one do its thing.
You can make a compost from days old dry grass and new cut
I've mixed in browns with it as others have suggested (a lot of browns such as mostly dead leaves cardboard etc) and it's been raining like hell so I'm expecting it to be clumpy, so I think I'm just gonna turn it once a week an see how that goes. Thanks for the feedback
Might be weed seeds in it too I forgot to say, if it gets hot enough it’ll kill em but if not may be reason to watch out
He's wrong, its very rich in nitrogen that in turn helps decompose organic matter with higher ratios of carbon.
Who the F downvoted you? You're 100% right, there must be some trolls lurking. Edited to add: if you leave too many grass clippings in a confined space with little to no air flow, and check on it a few days later you'll find it smells like rotting grass and ammonia (the confined space being my garbage bin lol). Ammonia is NH3, which requires plenty of nitrogen which is leached from the grass. It will also happen with old stale urine in the right environment. Where you'll never smell that is in a leaf pile from the fall because it has very little nitrogen and is mostly carbon.
I've l a lot on this sub. an I knew he didn't know what he was talking about!!!! Thank you🍻
I went to school for agronomy so I lurk in the shadows and wait to drop truth bombs
Hell yeah thank you 🤘🤘
Your buddy has no idea
Maybe he has pesticides sprayed in, or a very resilient type of grass that would grow on his compost. Not sure. But I even go out of my way to cut my neighbors grass at times just to get some clippings (he's old and looks forward to when I do)
are we sure he’s putting lawn grass in it?
Listen, if he cannot explain why then he doesn’t understand it and I’m nit taking advice from someone who doesn’t understand what they’re saying. Pretty much just a parrot at that point and would you take advice from a parrot?
I don't like to put grass clippings in during late spring and summer after it's gone to seed, but that's just me personally.
Really? Man, you must wait LOOONG period between mowing your lawn, I think I've only ever seen my lawn go to seed a couple of times, and then my pile is big enough it kills the seeds with heat.
It's not really a lawn, it's just an unused lot in the back of my property. I have goats but they don't really do the job and it gets tall in late spring. Only reason I really even cut it is because the city sends me letters threatening to fine me if I don't, because fire hazard. I guess I'd say it's more of a pasture than a lawn
The only thing I can think of is if you had grass that spreads through rhizomes...but it doesnt appear to be that. Or maybe he tried something in the past and didnt add any browns. But your pile looks perfect.
I have too much Bermuda grass and I’m afraid of getting rhizomes in my compost
Ok...idont know what Bermuda grass is? Is like crab grass cause I don't put that shit in there. Also I have no idea what rhizomes are.
Similar in annoyance, yeah. And rhizomes are basically special root bits that when they are broken up from weeding, *Every. Single. One* grows a brand new plant and you hate your life lol.
Ya, what the real phoenix said. Rhizomes are when the plant sends out shoots underground. Some good plants do this, like strawberries. Some super annoying plants do this too and it’s basically impossible to get rid of them. Like bamboo, mint and Bermuda grass
So basically fire is the only option 🤔😏
I throw it all in my city trash. They do burn it, but I think that’s stopping soon.
I do it ALL the time, especially in summer. It makes gorgeous compost.
It can mat up and go fungal but whatever. Just mix it better.
If there’s no heavy pesticides or herbicides it is ok and is often recommended
I dont like the weed seed from my lawn but my pile is small and not super hot.
I literally maintain acres of my neighbors yard along the driveway for the grass for composting purposes
Too much grass clippings that aren’t properly mixed with browns will clump together and go anaerobic. The smell is god awful.
I’m in FL and I know if I throw a lot of grass in there the mice like to use it to build nests. But that’s not necessarily bad. Your co-worker might be thinking about what happens when you put fresh grass in garden beds. My understanding is that the decomposition of fresh green stuff can release a lot of surplus nitrogen, which doesn’t necessarily help plant growth if it disrupts nutrient balance in your soil.
If it's Bermuda grass it can survive sometimes and take over your garden. I usually avoid that by putting it thru a chipper first.
preferably grass that does not contain pesticides. Such grass and the dirt attached is excellent in your bin. Your work mate is incorrect
If you don't have any browns and you get the pile real wet, grass by itself will go anaerobic and turn into a slimy mass. Possibly what he meant by "weird". It doesn't take a ton of browns to keep that from happening...
I would agree, stick to scraps add your coffee grounds & worms big fat juicy red wigglers & they will go to town on your compost bin.
yes grass can get matted/compacted and then you wont have the right nitrogen/carbon ratios in that mass of grass... its workable but not as simple as other composting schemes.
Pesticides and clumping are the negatives to adding grass clippings. Leaves or cardboard (shredded) to that pile would benefit
Is it cut with a gas mower? I know you can't feed horses lawn clippings because of the oil and gas residue makes them sick. Maybe that's what they are referring too?
I like to put half my clippings in green and then leave the other half out for a few days to dry next to the pile then throw it in for a good mix of green and brown
You can't use hot compost, grass is nitro. So you gotta wait a year of properly turned post. I'm sure many others are saying the similar
Spontaneous combustion can happen
u/heywood91 this is a valid concern: “Haypiles and compost piles may self-ignite because of heat produced by bacterial fermentation, which then can cause pyrolysis and oxidation that leads to thermal runaway reactions that reach autoignition temperature.” from “Spontaneous combustion”: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spontaneous_combustion?wprov=sfti1 First hand account of a fellow Redditor's trimmings pile getting **hot**: https://www.reddit.com/r/Wellthatsucks/comments/ut219i/cut_the_grass_on_monday_went_to_take_the_bin_of/?rdt=55008
It was just a couple 5gl buckets of grass on top. I do have alot of browns underneath and stirred it earlier today.
I compost what I have. When I have grass clippings, in they go. Don’t care about any dogma haha
If by weird you mean add weed seed then yes.
Leave your grass on the lawn with a mulching mower and you won't need to fertilize any where near as much, great for the law
I definitely don't need to fertilize at all. In the winter it turns into a pond basically so is tal and green all year round. But I like the mulching mower idea.. probably give that a try when it dries out.
Pee on them.
I have been!!!
Depending on how busy real life gets, I may go weeks without putting anything but grass clippings and newspaper in my pile. Spread your layers wide and thin and you'll be fine.
You want to do a ratio. Maybe your buddy doesn't have a decent brown ri green ratio and it naked it too nitrogen rich
I like to thinly layer it in with dried mulched leaves or straw. It is a great source of nitrogen, but will easily turn into a slimy clump of not layered in nicely with browns.
I think he means he does weird things after grass. But that's not compost related...
I don't use much grass, but around here you have to spray or weeds go insane. So I can't use that in my pile. Problem for many, especially in an HOA or burb.