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Wed, May 18, 11 at 15:05
| My shredded leaves, about 3 foot deep, are not letting water penetrate. I shredded them with my lawn mower and leaf vacuum last fall, piled them up next to my woods and left them alone. I started shoveling them in to my wheelbarrow to put on my tomatoes and only the top layer is wet, kinda moldy below there, except near the ground. And I had about 1 inch of rain yesterday!
Will it be safe to put on my tomatoes? I was planning to put about 6 to 10 inches deep around them. |
Follow-Up Postings:
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| I wouldn't put them on the toms that thick, or again, water won't penetrate. Just use a little, like an inch. Wet them and mix up, wet again. I definitely wouldn't use more than 2". Shredding to a smaller size does help some. Karen |
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| It can take a lot of rain to penetrate a pile of mulch 3 feet thick and a layer of mulch 6 to 10 inches thick is way too much. How deep into the pile of leaves did the rain penetrate, you say only the top layer was wet from the rain. 2 inches of shredded leaves, in my experience, often is not enough but 3 to 4 would be. |
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- Posted by lazygardens PhxAZ%3A Sunset 13 (My Page) on Thu, May 19, 11 at 9:10
| When you are piling dry materials, hoping they will compost themselves, you need to make sure that each layer gets thoroughly wetted as you pile. |
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| It was wet about 1/2 in down. I'll try about 4 inches thick. Thanks all |
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