canna stalks - how to chop for compost

Those canna stalks and leaves look nice and juicy, but when I put them in with leaves they turn into a big wet fibrous mat. Any way to easily chop them for the compost, or should I just tie them up and put them in yard waste?

Before I had a schreader,I built a simple "gutter"type trought(sp),a bottom,snd 2 sides,and took a sharpe machet-e,put the end under a screw,that I screwed in the opiset side,and used it like a lever,and cut corn,heavy weeds,and yes,canna lilies,in what ever size I wished.Actually,it worked quite well,and some times I wish I still had it.It was like a saw horse,with a board on the bottom,about 6",and 2x4 on each side,with a pan head screw at the bottom of the 2x4 ,where you could put the point of the machet-e,and use it as a lever,and slice right through.Get a screw with as large a head as posible,and adjust it to suit yourself.Hope this helps,(poor man schreader) Mike

thanks- I think I get the idea. I bet you could really go through some stuff once you have it set up!

I have a mass of overgrown gingers in my backyard that I regularly harvest for compost (fairly similiar size/shape as your cannas) - I don't have a shredder, so I'll usually hold a few stalks together and chop them into pieces with some old pruning shears (not the good ones!)... takes a few minutes, but works well!

Timely question. I figured the same thing would happen and I just laid the stalks and leaves down as mulch. Ask me in the spring how it went....

mother nature's black plastic, wasn't it? only slimier

I used the lawn mower before my chipper shredder was purchased.