Grass clippings as compost

[roscioli]

Well, its been a while since I started a new thead, but here goes: And, if you feel this is in the wrong forum (although I dont think it is), feel free to move it.
For those of you with experience:
I occasionaly (spring and fall,not summer) bag my clippings, and most of the time just dump on site. Once in a while I load the truck up with them. Now I have a few questions. Will grass clippings make good compost? How long will they take to decompose? Is there any fire risk, because overnight (on a cold night), the small pile I left in my truck bed got very warm to the touch? Should I mix them with leaves? At what ratio?
OR, are they useless and I should just dump them into my crap pile? Thanks guys,
Michael Roscioli

ps... YES, I have been doing this for a while, but have never really tried keeping clippings separate from the rest of my mulch pile, which quite often contains food products from my family's restaurant... Now I want to know if they will be good compost without mixing them with food, etc... Thanks

[hustlers]

yes,
I do composting heres how
I buy on truck load of black dirt,
maybe get some free manure
1) mix black dirt,grass, leaves, etc
every week or so
2) leave a separate pile of dirt for food scraps
3) the dirt mixed with manure,grass leaves
decomposes over the summer for fall use
4) probably need a loader to mix the
compost for faster action or it will
take 1-3 years naturaly
jason

[Butchs Lawn]

grass cliping make excellent compost even with leaves.even the food scrapes are ok i guess as long as there isn't bones etc.....decomposing process varies depends on size pile .how hot it is how wet it gets etc..speed up the process you need to turn the pile every so often.have a local lco who sells all his compost.he always sells out .i'm thinking about doing the same.seems to a market for it in certain areas.

[David Gretzmier]

fresh grass clippings are very "hot" with nitrogen. I mix them with brown shredded leaves and old compost, along with food scraps. mix well every week if possible. put it in flaower beds after several months and charge the dickens for it. daveg

[lawnboy82]

You can take grass clippings and mix them with lots of sand. I do mean LOTS of sand. This will make a good topdressing.

[vipermanz]

i have a compost pile in the back corner of my yard, i take the grass i bagged up and dump it in a pile with dirt and about every 2 weeks i run through it with my cultivator, it rots quite nicely, maybe adding food scraps will help the process some, but then i might have mice to deal with:( , But,,, the dog will solve that problem!:D

[MOW ED]

It is some great stuff but just be aware of what was spread on the grass before you add it to the pile.

If the lawn has been treated with Pre-M in the spring, I wont use it . I also am careful on remembering the time interval that it was sprayed with herbicide before I use it.

The best stuff is the grass that has only been fertilized with N-P-K.

Good Luck

[stslawncare]

hey guys. there are two things u need for a good compost pile, greens and browns. u got your leaves that are brown, BUT be advised that to many can be mad (to much nitrogen i believe?), then u have ur lawn clippings, they are perfect, at first they are green, then they turn brown, LAWN CLIPPINGS ARE GREAT!, food is risky, only food u can really use are ones that come from the ground, no meats, or dairy products or anything, mainly just ur salad products. try to stay away from larger branches, try mainly just twigs if u insist, saw dust is great as long as its from nontreated wood! that brings me to my next point ABSOLUTLY NO CHEMICALS. a finished compost pile can be great, take some of it in a bucket at water let it sit for a few days and poor it on all ur plants inside and out (places sell that type of mix) also use it for ur lawns (good fertilizer) and also ur gardens. ANother thing i forgot is watch what manure u use, dog manure is HORRIBLE, mainly horse, cow, and sheep, and chicken is great. watch for to much however cause it can burn. well enough blabbering, good luck. email if u have any questions.

[vipermanz]

thanks scottie, i remebered you were good at this stuff:)

[roscioli]

Thanks guys,, The food products were only from the ground, wait, no, there were some egg shells in there. Would egg shells be bad? Any idea how long it will take to decompose? Someone said 1-3 years if left alone, is that right? Is there any risk of combustion? Horse manure is good? OHHH BABY! I can definately get my hands on some horse crap. Eww.. that didnt sound too good. haha. Okay, thanks guys, Michael

[stslawncare]

in less u got a huge family that eats a whole lot of eggs i think it will be ok. tell us a little about ur pile, what surface is it on? is it a box? if so made out of what? what size is it? is there a spot to start a second pile? do u have access to a loader if room is available? or is ur pile no where near that big and can be turned over by hand? ur main goal is to keep every thing balanced. Not only with your greens and browns, but u dont want ur pile to just be grass clippings if u know what i mean. i would say an ideal mixture would be manure, grass clippings, straw (might be mixed with manure), some other greens like lettuce etc, leaves, and plant material. out of those i would try to have more of the manure, grass clippings, and leaves, but plenty of the others also.a compost pile with the right ingredients, right moisture, right heat, turned over at the right times can be composted and ready for use in know time. good luck, keep the good questions coming!!

[David Gretzmier]

greens and browns. someone also told me to be careful of the temp, that too much freah grass makes it too hot and kills the good bacteria. I actually dont worry too much about the chemical thing. I add lots of water to my compost, and rarely use( mix with soil and beds) it with fresh green grass. after 6 months or so, there may be some residue in there, but I have had nary a problem in 5 years of composting and putting it in flowerbeds. be careful. daveg

[vipermanz]

what about putting ash in it?

[Rooster]

Vipermanz,
Ashes from the fireplace will be fine.

I have some "formulas" for compost pile I'll look them up and post.


If you just put green cut grass in a compost pile sooner or later it will decompse in less that a year.

[roscioli]

Hey STS- actually, on some days I could throw 100-500 egg shells in the pile.. we eat a lot of eggs.. Haha, no, my family owns a huge restaurant, and I use a lot of the scraps from that, mostly greens, lettuce, eggplant peelings, tomatoes, etc... There would be room to bring a loader in there, but I dont own one, and probably won't for a few years. $175 to rent one is a little steep to turn the pile, ha. Its just a pile, no box. I just started a new one in an area where eventually I would be able to build a garage if I had the money, so as of now, its only grass. I can get manure for free (I could probably get paid to take it :)), so I will add that, and whatever else I can find. The greatest thing about this spot is that we need fill there too, so anytime I get junk, I just go to the other side of the lot and dump away.
-Michael

[pyrocare]

On of those day's that were 100+ degrees out I was dumping grass on a pile and not spreading it out, then about one hour later I noticed the fire department over there puting out a grass fire. The grass had heated up enough to start the wood that was around there on fire. After that they wouldn't let me dump there anymore

Just my 2 cents

[stslawncare]

i forget about the exact ingredients but i would be cautious of putting to many egg shells, also fo r this large of a pile i would consider building a three sided structuree, maybe about 10' high (maybe even a little more) and about 10' wide, wood is the best as it can breath. also protects from the sun to prevent over heating, be cautous as to the amount of water. also a structure deters animals. main thing is to keep balanced, u can put ur 500 egg shells in there, but be sure to put a whole lot of grass in there also. no limit as to how much just keep it balanced. what some people do is have two piles, start fresh put all ur stuff in, after a while move it to the second and do the same all over again, just keep it rotating,have fresh stuff in one, have older stuff doing its thing in another. i have no idea about the size of ur pile but if its not that big just turn it over by hand, but turning over is very important so if its to big will need something to turn it over.
good luck

[kutnkru]

What we do with ourt clippings is to form piles about 2 -3 feet tall and just as wide. Cover them with black plastic or some form of covering that is not transparent to aid in the decomposition. Throw down some unscented kitty litter like you would ice melt in the winter.

Every third day the piles will have reached their maximum temps and then we turn the piles with a pitch fork. Then in about 2 weeks you will have some great materials for planting in.

Just my nickle.
Kris

[stslawncare]

whats the purpose of the kitty litter?

[lawnboy82]

I thought I had heard somewhere that if you put a lot of ash down that there is some form of toxic chemical in there that will make people sick?

[kutnkru]

Scottie

The kitty litter is an activator to aid in decreasing the amount of time it takes to break down the clippings.