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Dried vs. fresh grass clippings
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Posted by avajay (My Page) on Thu, Jun 11, 09 at 15:47
Forgive me if this has been answered lately, the search link wasn't working, so here goes....
Is there a difference between dried grass clippings and fresh, as far as being a "green" for my compost? I mowed some fairly tall lawn last week intending to use the clippings within a few days and raked the clippings into rows, and now they're kinda dry, although lots of moisture within the mass. They've now been gathered into 3 large trash bags. One website with an article on composting mentions dried clippings as a brown, while "grass clippings" was listed under "green". Is there a rule of thumb to follow. I don't want to be using layers of my clippings (using them for lasagna beds too) along with my dried leaves, just to find that I'm layering brown upon brown.
Also, are peanut shells considered green?
Joyce |
Follow-Up Postings:
RE: Dried vs. fresh grass clippings
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| Dried grass clippings may lose a little nitrogen during the drying process, but mostly, they lose water, so they're still a green. Peanut shells would be a brown. |
RE: Dried vs. fresh grass clippings
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| So, mostly dried, yet damp-inside-piles, due to recent rains, they're still green? At what point do they become a brown? |
RE: Dried vs. fresh grass clippings
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| "At what point do they become a brown?" They don't. Grasses will become a brown if you let them grow, produce seed and die, then cut what is left. But that's not what you're doing. You're cutting green grass and drying it. Drying it removes the water but doesn't affect the C:N ratio. Some nitrogen will be lost to the atmosphere, but not much, so it remains a green. Anything that is lower than 30:1 C:N is a green. Anything that is higher than 30:1 is a brown. Removing water removes H2O so it doesn't change the ratio of Carbon to Nitrogen. |
RE: Dried vs. fresh grass clippings
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| I often dry grass clippings for later use. Spread thin and left to dry. When I add it to the compost pile I water it down real good and it starts cooking. However, once it's been left in a big pile and started to heat up (black and slimy) I don't think it works as well. What's eveyone elses experience with grass that's been left in piles and turned to slimmy globs? |
RE: Dried vs. fresh grass clippings
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| "What's eveyone elses experience with grass that's been left in piles and turned to slimmy globs?" Well, I didn't leave mine quite that long but it *was* pretty smelly. I just added it to browns (wood shavings) and then added more browns when it was still smelly. It started heating very quickly. |
RE: Dried vs. fresh grass clippings
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| That depends on how those clippings are dried, you can have a high Nitrogen product a or a slimy mess. Some people think that after grass clippings loose that chlorphyl that makes them green they must be a "Brown" but that is no more true than it would be of hay that is cured properly. Any moisture that is still in those grass clippings can cause them to start being digested, so if those clippings are to be stored for any time at all they should be quite dry. |
RE: Dried vs. fresh grass clippings
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| The other thing is that you may need to add more water or other source of moisture, if the clippings are dry, to get a good moisture balance in the pile. For me, my "greens" are usually wet, and browns are dry, so one reason to mix is not just for green-brown combo but to even out moisture content. So, dry grass still adds nitrogen but can help keep my garbage can compost bins (used for kitchen waste)from getting as garbagy-smelling even if I don't have quite enough paper, dry leaves etc to balance out. And sometimes if I have a lot of grass at once, I intentionally spread some of it out to dry so it's easier to work with (no gobby clumps)and not so wet, because I may not have enough other stuff to balance it out right away. Grass is a pain when it is all smelly, but still useful if you can mix it up or spread it out amongst dry brown stuff.
If it's totally putrefied (which happens quickly in current hot weather) it can be too gross to work with. When I was an extreme newbie, I had NO idea bags of grass would start to smell, or even that thick layers of fresh green clippings would start to smell (and SO bad, like, what just DIED here?). But now I know to move fast or take measures as above. |
RE: Dried vs. fresh grass clippings
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- Posted by chao South Ga (My Page) on
Tue, Jun 23, 09 at 12:33
| Would the dry clippings be better to make a lasagna bed than the fresh grass clippings. Red |
RE: Dried vs. fresh grass clippings
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| "Would the dry clippings be better to make a lasagna bed than the fresh grass clippings. " They'll work equally well, but the dry clippings won't have as much water in them. |
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