I am new to composting but with all my granite soil I have to do something. I have 26 liquid amber trees and 6 birch that the leaves all come off at the same time. My green source would be cuttings of my Burmuda grass. Would I just be planting (Heaven forbid) more Burmuda grass or should I find another green source? Should coffee filters and the tea bags themselves be added to the compost pile? Should I use pine needles in compost pile? What do you think of these tumbler decomposers? Do they really work or am I going to waste my money? I have osteoarthritis so it is sometimes hard to turn the pile with all that weight of debris (liquid gold). Have a source of horse manure also. If anyone knows info. about any of these things it would be greatly appreciated. Karen

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Forgot the pine needles....They are great but will take a bit of time to render down.. I take a huge pile and run over them again and again with my lawn mower and end up with tiny pcs. That will get them going quicker too. Also there's a kind of compost starter you can add to the bins that get the stuff going quicker.... I only use that when I have a pile of unchopped leaves I want to get activated or in the spring when the pile is wet and I'm adding stuff and it's just trying to recover from the winter (again warmer climates may not have that problem???)

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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





http://photobucket.com/albums/y250/weezie13/

Well, let's see if I can remember all the questions, I personally don't know if I know about Bermuda grass specifically, (I have a grass that sounds like that stuff, runs on runners through the ground and is very tough to get rid of.....I think of the time I was trying to get it out of my vegetable garden and as we rototilled I grabbed the long strings of roots and did a reasonable good job...Put all of it in a black plastic garbage bag and thought I'd leave it there to self compost there (also a technique for composting fallen leaves, but you must be extremely patient for this method, many many years!!!!! Just throw everything into a black/or brown plastic bag and throw it on top of something, I do this sometimes to kill something underneath it~Wild White Yarrow is a nemisis of mine. One of many!!! The heavy black plastic kills what's underneath and inside the bag heats up with the dark color and semi cooks the stuff to death but also can keep it alive at the bottom because it's moist and it can stay alive to a looooooooooong time. After 3 years or so the bag started to break down and the grass escaped into my strawberry patch, I am now moving the strawberries to a saver area. And then will just mow where it was....... You said you had access to horse manure, though a good source of "crap" that too can be a nemisis as the seeds, to some things, don't get broken down into the stomach of the animal and are pooped back out, the grass seed is one and will regenerate if the pile is left to set...... Composting is alot of science and to kill the weed seeds it has to be a cetain temperature inside the pile some seeds are way harder to kill....Tomato seeds can with stand composting heat, My own personal feelings for my composting is.... No weeds, No roots of weeds.....and No flower heads that have seeds of weeds.... I don't have a thermometer for my piles, all done by site and smell and time....... If I am going to use weeds I do two methods #1. for the pile I cut up just the stalk of the plant and through out the seed heads and roots... #2. for weeds I pull in my garden I put into a small pot that I got plants in along my beds. (usually small 2" pots all the same color ~green or black~ and then leave the weeds in there to dry out!!!!!!!!!!!! A long time to make sure those little critters don't come back to life......) This helps with the weeding and kinda of looks matched and then when they are fully dried up and I mean dried up will I use them, I'm funny about weeds, I have enough of them and figure I don't need to defeat my purpose if I'm planting weed seeds when I think I'm putting on nice organic stuff. THE DREADED BERMUDA GRASS, tell me, when you cut the lawn and you would use the grass, does just the leave come off or are you getting roots too? Not firmiliar with the grass but find out if the grass roots from the leaves or blade?? (not the roots or the nodes on the runners of the grass, the actual leaf it's self~or blade of grass I should say....) Seems like if you are only getting the leaf or blade of grass and not roots or runners possible..But again I am not firmiliar with that grass as I live in the North and supposedly it doesn't grow up here. Do you not use the kitchen scraps??? What about rabbit manure or chicken poop? Or worm composting???? I use mostly kitchen scraps.. Banana peels, apple, peels and cores, any fruit top or out layer and all veggies (can't think of one you can't use), egg shells, coffee bags and tea....lettuce leaves. Go to your local grocery store and see if you can get the trimmings from the produce department or a restaurant kitchen if you know someone or a place well enough to ask (I used to do both when I worked in the rest. business for 16 years......)I dont' need to because I have my mom, tenant and another neighbor donating "green" stuff too..Find out from someone who really sells that grass to help you with it...... Fall time is a great time to use the clippings from the lawn when you mow under all those dead leaves, gets them piles cooking immediatly. Well, I think they are going to shut me off from answering questions any more and I'm awefully long winded!!!! Keep me posted!!!

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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





http://photobucket.com/albums/y250/weezie13/

Hello and welcome to this forum...

You have got some good advice here from the members.

Composting in a tumbler can be done. However, I found out that it will not create compost faster than my old hand method. Nevertheless, you have a small problem and turning a pile is now not an option.

Again we are glad you are on this board. Please feel free to ask questions. If there is a problem or just a rant to say how great your garden is going we would love to hear it. War stories are great!!

If you have a defeat and post about it I know we will give to you all of our attention.
Pineapple_Raye

Phil,
I did not know that!!
Is the same for the white paper napkins'???

Weezie

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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





http://photobucket.com/albums/y250/weezie13/

I use a permanent brass coffee filter!
I guess that's unbleached.....

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quote:

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Weezie...No pulp paper is Naturally white.

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Yeah, well, duhhhhhhh!
You are sooooo correct...
But I never thought of the "bleaching" process"

****Phil,
Do you know who has brown paper towels??
Taco Bell!!
*I do save those and load them in....

Weezie

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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





http://photobucket.com/albums/y250/weezie13/

Besides saving my tea water for the plants, I also save my tea bags and coffee grounds. I mix it with the store-bought soil when I'm going to pot something - it stretches the soil, and plants like these things.

They like eggshells and egg water too.

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When sorting seeds, do not whistle.

I'm enjoying all your composting info. Our town hall sells composters, so I started mine in the fall out in the area where I want to put the garden. I've been filling it all winter & read where it would go dormant in the winter & not to expect to have your compost the first spring as it would probably take about a year to get it finished the first time. What is your take on this? Should I be watering it?

Spider_Lily,
How'd you do finding some info on it???

Is your compost pile in an area of land/property
that has a lot of water or standing water/?

Depends on where you have your pile, how much sun that's on it, and what you've put in it,
to determine if you need to water it...

*Does that make sense?*

I have different compost bins, 7 actually and each one acts differently, and the time of year when I start them determines how fast they compost down...

I have a plastic one that's brown that heats up fast, it also has a flat top, that allows no water into the bin, so I do have to water it..
*So I put it in a wetter place to compensate...*
Then I have a green plastic one that has a slit in the top where the two sides to the top meet, and it's wet constantly, when it rains, so I put that one in a dryer place...

I have a twin bin compost tumbler and that's seems to be wet alllllllottttttttttt!!!
So, I make sure I put in alot of dryer stuff...

I start my bins in the fall, and they cook faster, but still don't use them until the following spring time...
I start one's in spring and use those the following year....or if I really need them to get emptied, I pull the stuff out, and put them in dark heavy duty garbage bags..... let them finish up in there, and re~fill the other bins that I need..

Does that help a little, don't hestitate to ask any more questions, always happy to help you out with COMPOSTING!!!! I really love the stuff.

Weezie

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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





http://photobucket.com/albums/y250/weezie13/

Hi Cedar,

Boy, I understand what you are saying about the Bermuda grass; but, weed is probably the more appropriate word. My neighbor has it in their yard and it came over into my yard and flower beds. It is horrid and terribly invasive. When I first noticed it I took it to the nursery and to find out what it was and they identified it for me. When I asked what I could do about it, they told me to MOVE!!! That's pretty scary. I've been waging an ongoing war with it for years, so I don't dare put it in my compost bins and I don't even put it out with the yard waste. I bag it up with the trash and hope it gets destroyed.

patches

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"Lord, I love you and I need you, come into my heart, and bless me, my family, my home, and my friends, in Jesus' name. Amen!"