How many grass clippings?

My son in law ( I live behind my daughter and son-in-law) mow about 1 1/2 acre of the land here. The rest is woods. My question is how much grass clippings is enough. He hates to mow so usually only does it when wild animals start coming out so there is enough grass clippings to cover most of Texas when he does mow.

Since there is so much, I'm wondering how much is too much. I put about a 4 inch layer in my compost piles, then leaves and now I'm putting more grass clipping. Am I doing too much. I can probably make these layers forever. He'll have to mow again someday. LOL

In my opinion, you can't have too much grass clippings in compost.

I mow six acres, and I've started compost piles with as much as a heaped-up 18' trailer load plus a heaped-up pickup truck load of grass clippings, and nothing else. That fills a 12' x 12' bin about 6' deep, and boy, does it get hot.

As the outside layer of grass clippings dries out, it becomes a "brown". You have to keep turning the pile (which I do with a tractor), and it works quicker if you have dry leaves or other things to mix in - but the grass clippings, mixed with a little dirt, will make good compost all by themselves.

I agree with Ozark with the one side note - if the clippings are wet, sometimes they'll clump together and you get a sticky mess that can smell like ammonia. If that happens, add some more brown stuff or some drier things and turn it a bunch until everything has kind of aired out.

But the grass clippings break down quickly and very nicely.

Thanks to both of you. I'm also glad you told me to turn it. I wasn't sure. I am mixing it with leaves. So, now back to raking. Not to worry, my 2 year old twin grandsons "help" I'll let you figure out what that meanS!!!

Uh huh! I know *exactly* what that means.

But just think, you're teaching two of the next generation valuable lessons in natural processes. And getting compost out of it!

Ozark: Wow, with that many grass clippings, I'm surprised that you don't produce enough foul odor to drive every man, woman, and child out of the state! If my small bin is just a little heavy on the grass clippings with insufficient brown, it's smells awful within a day.

How often do you turn it with that tractor?

Karen

Another question. Do ;you wait until the clippings are turn ing brown and drying out or do you put them in green. I always thought I should wait until they had lain there a couple days before adding them

I can't imagine that many clippings Ozark. What do ;you do with it. Do you have a farm or just a huge garden.

Yes, Pagancat, they are really helpful. Only problem they get their buckets and just go to where I've already raked up and put in a pile, then they just fill their buckets up with mine.

"I'm surprised that you don't produce enough foul odor to drive every man, woman, and child out of the state!"
-------------------

We're lucky to live in the country, I guess the odor could be a problem if we had close neighbors and were in town. When grass compost is fresh and wet, it does have kind of an "outhouse" smell when I turn it. But I don't have to get close or handle it - I'm just driving a tractor and using a front end loader.

We live on six acres with bigger farms all around us. There's hardly another house in sight and our neighbors all have cattle (so we smell better than they do, lol). My compost piles are about 100 yards from our house, behind the barn.

I don't have any schedule for turning compost, I just do it when I have the tractor out for mowing or something else. I hauled in five free dump truck loads of old oak sawdust a couple of months ago, and I've been composting that with the grass and stuff from the vegetable garden.

Lorraine, when it's green and fresh, it's a green. When it's dry and faded, it's a brown. Use it for whatever you need at the time.

Lorraine: The is a recent thread on GW re: the dry grass green-brown issue. You might be interested in some of these opinions and explanations.

GW thread: http://forums2.gardenweb.com/forums/load/soil/msg0814235418941.html

Karen

LOL - fun thread. Sounds like you'd better just count the grass clippings as greens, no matter what the age, unless you find them in a tomb somewhere....

O.K. The proportion you want is 30:1. 30 parts carbon to 1 part nitrogen. Equal amounts of browns and greens will have the ratio 30 C: 1N

Pagancat, I'm glad that you enjoyed the read and had the perseverence to read it through. There is a lot to *digest* there.

I actually follow both forums regularly, and enjoy and learn from both.

Karen

I used to do Gardenweb exclusively until it was bought by iVillage. I know for a while they had closed down the composting forum, glad to see it up and running again.... it really is a public service, in some ways. But funny how cantankerous people can get on there.... well, any forum, I guess! BTDT!

Awwwe, we're all so nice!!!!

Well, most of us.... there's always a few rabble-rousers around! It's easy to let yourself get rubbed the wrong way - you really have to give people the benefit of the doubt when it comes to the written word with no facial expressions.

That's so funny. I would have never thought you could say gardeners and rabble rousers in the same sentence!!! Especially those who make compost piles

Lorraine: Well, compost wackos can get pretty wacko. Some forums aren't always so warm and fuzzy.

Karen

Dirt lovin' radicals!

Not to be confused with free-radicals...

I can see the headlines now. "Watch out for composting rabble rousers. Are considered armed and dangerous. They carry gloves and rakes. Do not attempt to stop them"

Are you kidding, Lorraine? Any compost wacko worth his weight in leaves travels with a pitch fork!

Karen

This is true. Don't know why I didn't think of that. that would make them extremely dangerous

Okay. So I'm not a scientist (not that I don't find the threads fascinating, but I can't sit still because I always feel like I need to get up and "do something about it." LOL). So I have a pile of grass clippings that has been accumulating for the past four years. I do put leaves in it in the fall. I haven't been turning it, but now I'd like to start formally working it into good compost. Eventually, maybe in the spring, I'll even build myself a couple of simple bins to keep track of what is in what stage of composting.

The clippings do get kind of "muddy", but the pile doesn't really smell too bad. Is that a good sign?

What's my next step here? How long do I keep amending what I have and how do I know when it's ready?

Also, I'll be thatching my mossy lawn next year. Can I put moss in the compost pile? And what about fir and cedar needles. Is there any problem with those getting into the mixture? I'll read up in the separate threads about amending the pile with coffee grounds. I have dogs, and at night there are probably raccoons, so open composting using discards from the kitchen probably isn't a good idea for me.

I'll keep reading up a little at a time on the composting science. Do they mention an appropriate ration of brown to green? As in, half leaves and half grass makes the best compost? Or do I need to buy a test kit of some sort and check what I have?

Thanks for any and all help!!

Kathy

hmmm...did someone mention compost wackos? LOLOL!!

it's just a rumour....

katie: earlier in this thread someone said 30:1. 30 parts carbon to 1 part nitrogen. That works out to be about equal browns and greens.
kitchen waste is an important source of greens. If it gets smelly, you need more browns.

Hi Katie - fancy seeing you over here!
A large wire bin made from 4' high fencing came in handy until I built my permanent bins. The raccoons did not get into it, and it was easy to deal with. Placed it under the evergreens, so it did not get too wet from the rain.
I believe I have some extra metal stakes if you are interested, but no wire fencing left over.
Let me know if you need help...

Gloria - help me - 30:1.... that's 30 parts parts brown to one part green, isn't it???? You lost me, girlfriend!!!!

This is a quote from the gardenweb post cited above: tom. Aug.29.07.4:44 p.m. citing the "Berkeley Rapid Method" the thread is talking about how confusing "brown & green) is, trying to "simplify' instead of talking about carbon:nitrogen ratios.
QUOTE:
http://www.fao.org/AG/agL/agll/compost/docs/On-farm%20Composting%20methods%2014%2005%20021.doc.

For the composting process to work most effectively, material to be composted should have a carbon to nitrogen ratio of 30:1. Mixing equal volumes of green plant material with equal volumes of naturally dry plant material will give approximately a 30:1 carbon to nitrogen (C/N) ratio. Green material can be grass clippings, old flowers, green prunings, weeds, fresh garbage and fruit and vegetable wastes. Dried material can be dead, fallen leaves, dried grass, straw and somewhat woody materials from prunings. END QUOTE FROM tom.



In short to make compost add everything organic you can get your hands on. If the compost doesn't do anything, add more fresh materials - "greens". If the compost gets smelly, add more 'browns' (leaves/newspaper) and turn it to let in air.

Interesting... thanks!

Perfect, Gloria. That was just what I was asking. I don't have enough of an attention span to be an exacting composter; I was just looking for a rule of thumb to get me somewhere close. I gleaned the necessary carbon to nitrogen ratio from the posts, but didn't know how that translated to "wheelbarrows full." LOL.

My brain just must have gotten tired before I got to the Berkeley Rapid method. Thanks for translating. Whew!! :-)

Hi Katye - good to see you in this forum (we are both in the PNW forum a lot).

Funny, not long after asking this question, I got a d-mail from another PNW member asking if I'd like some of her goat manure. Figured that maybe Poochella saw me ask on this list. But maybe all of us PNW-erners are changing our focus now that the rains have started.

And boy have they started - with more wind to boot. I've already had one standing dead tree fall on my fence. Last winter's December storm was enough for me for the next 20 years. Hope we don't have a return of that!!

Katie

Yipe - be careful, Katie! Hope this winter is much milder for you.

Thank you, pagancat. I'll take all the good wishes I can get. Rain again tonight and for the foreseeable future . . .

I think all you people with rain are so lucky. I have been irrigating my 2 acres ever since Feb. until a couple of days ago. Costs quite a bit for electricty for pumping the water and sure takes a lot of time to irrigate. Had no measurable rain since June until last Friday, and then again S unday a light rain and none since. Had a lot of wind yesterday.

I have very little lawn area and when it is mowed all is allowed to fall right into lawn and thus add some compost, I do have 6 small compost piles but still can't make it the lazy man's style, as fast as I use it. I put most of my kitchen garbage (no meat or that type) into my tumbler compost, but not in winter as it would just freeze and i don't try to turn the tumbler in the winter. So I have to make compost without lawn clippings.

Donna

rutholive: how about growing a patch of covercrop to provide greens for your compost? Not sure what's growing this time of year in your area. Here, buckwheat is just finishing. I plan to put in a crop of rape.

Rutholive: I can relate somewhat to your drought. But I'm just a home gardener with about 1/2 acre yard. We have had a few rains since April but we are about a foot below our normal, with temps in the 90 to 100 range much of the time. VERY unusual for us. It has been really rough for farmers in this part of the country.

I think I recall some of the beautiful photos you have posted. Your view is one to be envied, if I'm not mistaken about the source. Don't you have huge compost mounds with beautiful mountains in the background?

Karen

Karen, yes I do have great views from every room in the house, and fairly large compost piles. The mountains are mostly Ponderosa pine here in the foothills. A little higher there are now lovely Aspen and Larch.

I did plant a small area, all that was available, a month ago to buckwheat, which yesterday was mowed, to improve the soil. I also planted a 36" pathway with red clover the middle of the summer, too crowded to mow it until the tomatoes are cleared away. It was 32 degrees this morning and we did have 30 degrees a week ago, but so far only thing damaged was top of summer squash.

Donna

32 degrees this morning!! Already? Brrrrrrr. Surely it's too early for that to be normal for you.

Rutholive: Your pictures were memorable, obviously. You have a beautiful setting.

It's hot here. Supposed to reach 90 today, and humid. I've been out collecting seeds and even that makes you feel wasted in this weather. We did have some cooler temps last week, and I transplanted some perennials. They're looking pretty sad now so I'll soon go back out to water them. This is my air conditioning break.

We really need some cool weather, and a foot of rain. It's so dry; I've never seen anything like it. I need cool weather!

Karen

kqcrna: same here. Hot hot hot hot.
But just now we had a cloud burst. It lasted less than 10 minutes, but my dogs got doused and had to be dried off. Oh. Boy.