This is dedicated to LumperDawgz and his insane amount of organic growing knowledge that he shares with us. I don't have any experience with this stuff but found a simple explanation on the net. Leaf Mold - Making and Using Leaf Mold Hopefully if there is other and better information out there, someone will post it up here. Might be time to invest in one of those compost bags Chunk mentioned. Seems like this time of year is perfect for collecting some leaf. Does anyone know if there are types of leaves one can't use? Like Eucalyptus?
Black Walnut is a tree I've read about several times while learning to make compost. Some sources say it can be used if composted properly but it's toxic and can affect plants and even animals. If you have a black walnut, stay away ftom it Thanks for the instructions! I will be collecting leaves soon and this sounds like a good use for them rather than adding them to my pile: which is extra work.....
Found this. Nothing new to us here really but thought it worth putting up. Just shows what one can find by poking around on the interwebz. Leaf Mold
for people that are thinking about composting on a small scale agricultural type level this tid bit may be heapful. Wiki Leaves alone can take between one and two years to break down into rich humic matter with a smell reminiscent of ancient woodland. While not high in nutrient content, leaf mold is an excellent humic soil conditioner. To speed up the decomposition process, fallen leaves can be shredded, for instance by using a rotary lawn mower. Adding fresh grass clippings[3] to autumn leaves will also speed the process. For best results watch the pile to keep moisture content high enough, observe temperatures, and turn the pile occasionally to improve the cycle. To that i'd say yup, sounds about right. decaying leaves do have a pleasant sweet earthy aroma, on a hot summer day, wearing a dust mask might make sense. Though the idea of monitoring temps and moisture for *ahem, some of us may be something we are just now looking into. A nice big pile will melt snow all through the winter.
Geez. I'm so embarrassed. MI Wolverine had already posted a link to the same web page as I linked to in post 3 here. Inthedirt4good, I wonder about that reference to using grass clippings. My impression, and I could easily be wrong, was that using tree leaf material that is high in carbon and not nitrogen, is desirable for the fungal content it creates. To my limited understanding, grass clippings encourage bacterial growth which leads to a faster curing of the compost pile. So while it may go quicker, adding grass clippings may hinder the reason why one goes for Leaf Mold Compost.
Maybe. Here is what I found on another website. Leaf mold is another way to build your soil by John Fuchs Issue #41
sounds alot like what i have minus the blood meal. leaves get double ground, all sorts of leaves, oak, maple, birch, willow, pine needles, acorns, various small sticks a little trace of horse manure,some grass clippings (not enough to be really noticable but they are in there), get flipped thrice in their first year and once every year there after. the outer shell is pretty leafy still, the inner stuff is dark dark brown, black when wet you'd want to break up then could spread with a pitchfork. left to itself all sorts of grasses and roadside weeds grow all over it. rototilled a load in a garden, ph neutral
Hey this is kinda cool. Compost Guide:tips for home composting 'The ability of leaf mold to retain moisture is almost miraculous. Subsoil can hold a mere 20 percent of its weight; good, rich topsoil will hold 60 percent, but leaf mold can retain 300 to 500 percent of its weight in water.'
ATTRA is an agency at USDA which helps farmers move from conventional to transitional and then finally sustainable methods (organic based) This article titled Potting Mixes for Certified Organic Production is an article to Bookmark and keep for further reference. It covers using leaf mold in your potting soil mixes. This approach is much better, IMHO, than the 70-year old Cornell Mix. Just an opinion............ LD
Dont be embarrassed! This is great info that I would have never found if you didnt post it! thank you soooo much! Never ever be embarrassed even if someone else posted it a LONG time ago. Its all about sharing with our GC pals and helping out each other! +++++REP!
Hey WeeDroid! Good to see you again Thanks for the info! I had been just mixing my leaves into my soil bin. Would a 5 gallon bucket with a lid work? I can drill a few holes along the side or top for air flow
Don't know. I would be curious to know if such a small amount would get inoculated with the fungal growth it needs and how fast it would compost
I live in an appartment second floor and so my space is limited. Might be something I wouldn't be able to do but just wondering
You should read up on how to make a cooked rice inoculation trap for fungal growth. Collect some fungi and then put the inoculated rice in your 5 gallon bucket to speed up the process. LD talks about somewhere around here. There is a kindle book you can download that tells how to do this. Your Own Beneficial Indigenous Microorganisms and Bionutrients In Natural Farming Written by: Gil A. Carandang Gil A Carandang, . (2011-03-17). Grow Your Own Beneficial Indigenous Microorganisms and Bionutrients In Natural Farming (Kindle Locations 4-7). Bronze Age Media. Kindle Edition. There is an excerpt on Tribe.net that is the heart of this book. Also linked in the post LD has on this.
This needs to be repeated imo. If you are building your own soil mixes, you need to read this. Cheers LD. One good side benefit from the above link is finding groworganic.com, the online presence of Peaceful Valley Organics, a California organic supplier. I'll be comparing their prices (plus shipping of course) with my local grow shop prices. As I've mentioned before though, I love having things shipped to me.
Wee.....I think you meant to state uncooked rice but in fact stated 'a cooked rice inoculation '. Please, correct me if I am wrong. Sam
hold the presses. Let me get that recipe. I believe it is cooked rice. Okay, so I can't copy from the kindle book. Smart folks there who made the software. Anyway, the lacto-bacteria recipe (a substitute for EM-1) calls for rice water rinse (the water one uses to rinse starch off of uncooked rice). The forest fungal recipe does call for cooked rice however. Buy the book and discover. It's only $9.99 and the kindle app download is free. Plus it describes how to collect other fungi that may be useful. Far cheaper than buying pre-made inoculations. Time for a bong rip.
WeeDroid, This thread spells out making rice wash and also contains a lot of other good information. The following link is a pdf file of a manual on EM-1 and it's relationship to agriculture. It is a pretty comprehensive read that will further help your continuing education. I know that it has been a go to for me......hope it helps you and others. http://www.apnan.org/APNAN Manual.pdf Cheers, chunk