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Garden State Pumpkins

I am having truckloads of uncomposted leaves brought into to back fill my clay/rock pit...I know it will be fine in a couple of years the guys are turning them with a backhoe every few days and I keep throwing on some lime and a little compost accelerator...I mulch as much as I can and turn what I can into the clay but have a feeling I will be planting on a pile of leaves next year...Any suggestions or other additives...one of my buddies added leaves and got a ton of slugs should I add stuff as a preventative? Thanks Chuck

11/7/2002 6:06:02 PM

colorado

If you want you can add a whole lot of orange peels to keep the slugs away......

11/7/2002 6:36:48 PM

Ctpumpkin@optonline.net

Brown organic matter takes a while to break down unless you either add a bunch of green matter like fresh leaves or grass clippings. The other option is straight urea nitrogen 46-0-0. I supply municipal composters who are pressed for time (& thus space). The nitrogen gives the composting microbes fuel to consume the leaves.
Turning the pile for aeration & and some moisture management is all that's left to do.
Steve

11/7/2002 7:00:59 PM

In the shade - PDX, OR

Chuck - Sounds like a lot of work but if you could get a leaf shredder I think you could be in business. I used a leaf shredder/ blower last weekend and came up with a really fine mulch. I'm sure that the smaller pieces will break down much quicker.
That might be a heck of a lot of work for you though if you are having multiple truck loads delivered.

I wouldn't worry about the slugs now - heck they might even help to break down some of the leaves if you are lucky. Kill 'em off when you plant in the spring.
Good Luck.

11/7/2002 7:52:44 PM

Garden State Pumpkins

Been raining to much to go down into the pit so the best we can do is push the piles around with a backhoe...Will start adding the urea to help them little microbes do their work..Actually I'm pretty surprised how hot they get in a couple of days! There are some grass clippings from the lawns...thanks for the advice guys..but thats alot of oranges to eat...they say unsalted peanut shells and egg shells will help also!

11/7/2002 10:21:26 PM

Down Stream

Chucky I used a push lawn mower to mulch my leaves up. Really did a good job. They will break down much faster after chopped up. But beware of forein objects in the leaves if you do so.

11/7/2002 11:00:45 PM

Caceres, Spain

I like Ceis and Guy ideas, Chuck, and if you can mix the chopped leaves with manure you'll get a great compost in no time. Same weight of manure than leaves (more or less) and, if you can, look for weed seeds free manure (rabbit or stabulized animals).

11/8/2002 1:31:58 AM

Deer Park WA

I add a little garden soil and manure to our leafe piles and turn them every month or so. If there warm to hot inside then your doing it right!

11/8/2002 11:20:43 PM

Caceres, Spain

Turn it monthly is good, but do it weekly is even better, the process is more aerobic and the resultant compost contains larger number of beneficial micoorganisms.

11/9/2002 12:17:15 PM

Garden State Pumpkins

Busted my tail back there all day...was rototilling after dark! learned that trick from lobsta! trying to double dig my clay pit..gonna try and go down two feet into the clay and roto till as much of the leaves in as I can. then add a three foot canopy of the rest....regardless of what I do the bottom will be solid clay so it's sorta an artificial raised bed. Compost is cooking good about six truckloads in now and the first pile is black and smoking!!!

11/9/2002 5:57:14 PM

Deer Park WA

Hay Don Q, You are correct in turning every week or so, except when you have 8 piles of about 4 yards each thats alot of work! Also I don't know about your growing area winters, but here it gets really cold sometimes 0 degrees or lower. I found that over turning causes the compost piles to cool way down or stop composting all together. Last winter I had to put electric heat tapes in the center of a few piles to get them to heat up!

Best wishes

Gerry Gadberry

11/9/2002 10:56:41 PM

Puyallup, WA

I do not "turn" my piles. However, it takes 5 months for them to "break down". I spread my piles twice a year. Once, the end of October and then again in April. I layer
maple leaves with horse manure as well as any other
"goodies" I can find. I say that I probably have at least ten yards of compost every six months.

11/10/2002 1:14:06 AM

Cape Cod

I posted this elsewhere, but it might reach additional members here:

Oak leaves contain (apart from their being high acidic) a compound that inhibits the growth of many plant varieties. It is not productive to put uncomposted/undecomposed oak leaves into your garden if they will not have fully broken down by planting time in the spring. I did one year, and a some of my vegetables -most notably broccoli- I forget which others- went into a month long funk. I didn't have a clue about it until I read a scientific paper on the subject, and then it all made sense.

11/11/2002 6:49:44 PM

CT

I live in an oak&Pine forrest with just a little maple. One of my plants is vertually under an oaktree. :(

11/11/2002 10:07:16 PM

Menomonie, WI (mail@gr8pumpkin.net)

What dderat is refering to is the chemicals oak leaves emit called phenols. They occur in the leaves for 6-9 months during normal decomposition. They are known to inhibit root growth. I agree if you just threw a pile of Oak leaves on to your garden, this would be a problem. Most of us add manures, till and speed the decomposition process.

11/12/2002 12:34:35 AM

Caceres, Spain

I live near a dairy village where people use manure on pastures. Old fashion way was to turn huge (long) piles by hand monthly, dozens of men at work, many days. Nowadays one guy do all the job with a scrabble tractor in one morning.
I turn little piles (2 yards) by hand twice a month, the big ones (20 yards) only when I can get a tractor to came.
Ah! the worst of leaves world are eucaliptus. Here at least, nothing grows under them, near them or where their leaves are.

11/12/2002 1:46:27 AM

porterville,california usa

I live in the San Joaquin Valley. The most productive agricultural region in the entire world! One hundred years ago this valley was covered with eucalyptus,valley oak,live oak, scrub oak and black oak trees. Almost a continuos grove everywhere. Today millions of these trees are still scattered through-out the valley floor. And I`m here to tell you weeds and grasses and ANY fruit or vegetable plant grow right up to the tree trunk as if to squeeze it out of the ground. I don`t know where you`re from, but out here the leaves from these trees are what made, and still make this soil so productive! Just my two bits. Booth

11/12/2002 4:11:19 AM

Cape Cod

No doubt there are many processes going on, and the super rich soil you mention likely can overcome a lot. And then not everything is similarly affected. Some of my vegetables thrived. But here in the northeast we have cold winters and cool springs and falls, and decomposition is a slower process. You results may vary :-)

11/12/2002 5:41:07 PM

Caceres, Spain

Hey Booth, congratulations for such a great soil. I meant only Eucalyptus, to be precise Eucaliptus chamaldulensis, not mixed woods. Nevertheless other eucalyptus species can be less selfish, and is nice to know from your information that some plant generus can have different behaviour in different places. Defenetly in the midwest of Spain that one I mentioned is a tremendous egoist.
Don

11/14/2002 2:41:44 PM