Dried Grass - Green or Brown?

Is dried grass considered a green or a brown? I pick up leaves set out on the curb in my neighborhood. Several bags were a mixture of dried grass & leaves. Since I have so many leaves now, I need to add some green to my compost bins.

Jo-Ann

Dried grass is a "brown" since the nitrogen was consumed or released as the grass went from green color to brown color.

In this case, the color is the same as the compost category: green grass clippings add a lot of Nitrogen.

By the time grass clippings have dried out, they have also faded from green color to brown color as the Nitrogen is consumed. Then, they mostly add Carbon to the pile, not much Nitrogen.

Coffee grounds and kitchen scraps are good sources of N.

Thanks so much Rick. I thought that was the answer, but wanted to make sure.
Jo-Ann

Girl,
Go get those coffee grinds, LOL!

I just made contact with a co-worker who has 5 chickens. She brings me the BEST TASTING EGGS!!!

It occurred to me that I could get her eggshells and the chickety doo doo from her coop. Turns out, she lines the cement floor of the coop (a converted shed) with doggie trainer liners, and didn't think it would work since the liners absorb most of the poop and the odor.

Little did she know those liners contain moisture absorbent GEL CRYSTALS! So now, when she rolls the five layered pads into a tootsie roll, instead of going into the trash bag, they're gonna go into the Rubbermaid tub with a lid that I'll pick up from her once a week on my way home from church. Even the pick up is convenient, LOL!

I had to explain to her that I'm also collecting my niece's twins' tinkle-y diapers for the same purpose. Absorbent gel crystals AND hormone-free nitrogen for the raised beds/compost pile.

Ain't life grand?

Hugs!

What a good idea - using doggie trainer liners in the chicken coop. At least on the poop board. That's a shelf that's under the roosting bar where the chickens sleep at night. Now, we scrape the poop off once a week and it goes into a separate compost bin for aging. I'm going to try the liners and see if that makes life easier.

Linda, you do know that chicken poop has to be aged & composted about 6 months before you can use it. The nitrogen is so hot that it will burn plants is not aged.

Jo-Ann

Thanks for that. I had forgotten, and would've put it in my almost-finished Geobin!

Soon as I put some pain meds in my body, I'm gonna start rebuilding the Geobin. It needs to be re-fired. It never stayed hot enough to burn off the weed seeds, so I'm not gonna spread it on the beds yet.

I'll use what's been in the cans for about a year, instead, then use them to hold the chickity doo. Do I need to add other compost material to the doo bins like I do with the Geobin?

Thanks for that. I had forgotten, and would've put it in my almost-finished Geobin!

Soon as I put some pain meds in my body, I'm gonna start rebuilding the Geobin. It needs to be re-fired. It never stayed hot enough to burn off the weed seeds, so I'm not gonna spread it on the beds yet.

I'll use what's been in the cans for about a year, instead, then use them to hold the chickity doo. Do I need to add other compost material to the doo bins like I do with the Geobin?

i mix leaves in with my chicken poo. About 1 part poo to 2 parts leaves. I'm currently using my homemade rotating barrel for my chicken manure. I'll add to that for a total of 6 months & then let it age. I have another pile that's aging now & should be ready in about 4 months. This way, I get 2 composted manure piles per year.