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clumps in the compost

Gardening Reference » Gardening in 2006
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by tkhooper on May 24, 2006 02:18 AM
I just use grass and leaves in my compost and from time to time I get black clumps These things hang together until I pick them up and pull them apart. Is there a way to avoid getting them or an easier way to break them apart? Is it happening because I'm not turning my pile often enough or because the grass isn't getting mixed up enough in the pile? Can someone help me please.

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by johnCT on May 24, 2006 03:34 AM
No real easy way unless you do what you say and turn the pile more often or break them up by hand. When the material is finished, those clumps should break apart almost by themselves, so you could just leave them til its done.

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John - Zone 6
by tkhooper on May 24, 2006 08:43 AM
Thanks for the information John. I didn't want them to become junior rocks in the garden lol.

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by comfrey on May 24, 2006 04:36 PM
Tammy I don't turn mine often enough either, But mine doesn't have those clumps you mentioned either, in fact when I turned it last time, I was impress at how much it had broken down and that nice rich dark color it was taking out...mine still has some left over stocks from the garden in it, so I will have to pick those out. But I think using a sifter might help you to be able to use some of yours and throw the big balls back in the pile. Which is what I will do with those stocks since I don't have a shredder.

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by porter57 on June 13, 2006 10:04 AM
im kinda wondering,did you shred your leaves before adding? ive added leaves to my already started pile which i had shredded and im finding the ones i didnt shred in clumps just like you said. the leaves i didnt shred were the ones i had pulled over my garden last fall as protective mulch. i didnt shred them for some reason before adding them and i reckon they will take longer to break down .
by tkhooper on June 15, 2006 02:23 AM
The clumps are grass not leaves. I can't shred my leaves because I don't have a way to do that. But I do crumble them up before I add them if they are dry. It doesn't work in the fall when they are still moist but it does the rest of the year. And turning the piles usually helps crunch them up some too.

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