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Composting browns and greens.

  • 14-09-2014 6:05pm
    #1
    Worztron
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 8,795 ✭✭✭


    Hi.

    I'm compiling a list of compost brown and green materials. Do these lists look right so far?

    Are tea bags and coffee grounds actually greens?

    Browns:
    • Cardboard and Paper
    • Dried Leaves
    • Dryer Lint
    • Egg Shells
    • Pine Needles
    • Sawdust
    • Straw or Hay
    • Tea Bags
    • Wood Ash
    • Forest Duff (Twigs, chipped tree branches/bark)
    • Coffee Grounds
    • Peat Moss
    • Corn stalks
    • Cotton fabric

    Greens:
    • Fruit & Veg Scraps
    • Grass Clippings
    • Seaweed and Kelp
    • Animal manures (cow, horse, sheep, chicken, rabbit, etc. No dog or cat manure.)
    • Garden Plants (Trimmings from perennial and annual plants)
    • Annual weeds that haven't set seed

    Mitch Hedberg: "Rice is great if you're really hungry and want to eat two thousand of something."

    Tagged:


Comments

  • #2
    magicbastarder
    Moderators, Category Moderators, Arts Moderators, Sports Moderators Posts: 50,895 CMod ✭✭✭✭magicbastarder


    'green' in this context essentially means high in nitrogen, i think; so high in fertility.


  • #3
    Worztron
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 8,795 ✭✭✭Worztron


    magicbastarder wrote: »
    'green' in this context essentially means high in nitrogen, i think; so high in fertility.

    Greens are high in nitrogen or protein, thus organic nitrogen sources.

    Browns are high in carbon or carbohydrates, thus organic carbon sources.

    Mitch Hedberg: "Rice is great if you're really hungry and want to eat two thousand of something."



  • #4
    Worztron
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 8,795 ✭✭✭Worztron


    Are egg shells in the right list above?

    Mitch Hedberg: "Rice is great if you're really hungry and want to eat two thousand of something."



  • #5
    my3cents
    Closed Accounts Posts: 9,764 ✭✭✭my3cents


    Egg shells imo don't compost, they look just the same when you take them out as when you put them in. Its like saying is garden lime or chalk brown or green.


  • #6
    Worztron
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 8,795 ✭✭✭Worztron


    my3cents wrote: »
    Egg shells imo don't compost, they look just the same when you take them out as when you put them in. Its like saying is garden lime or chalk brown or green.

    Break them up and they are fine.

    Mitch Hedberg: "Rice is great if you're really hungry and want to eat two thousand of something."



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  • #7
    magicbastarder
    Moderators, Category Moderators, Arts Moderators, Sports Moderators Posts: 50,895 CMod ✭✭✭✭magicbastarder


    egg shells would be rich in calcium - they're made from calcium carbonate, so would definitely not be in the greens column; but wouldn't necessarily be in the browns column as the carbon compounds wouldn't break down in the same was as for woody debris, i'd suspect.


  • #8
    baaba maal
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 772 ✭✭✭baaba maal


    Agree with list- just to add that the paper, cardboard and cotton should be well shredded (in the same way that you only put thin twigs in)- it's not just the mix, it is that the materials are "fine" enough to break down. I've been able to read three year old headlines from papers I've put into composters that I haven't shredded enough!


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