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Re: worms and oak leaves answer

Square Foot Gardening List - http://www.flinet.com/~gallus/sqft.html






Twas said:

>i have heard that compost, regardless of what goes into it, has a pH
>of around neutral!  True?

Yes, this is true, once everything has broken down it tends to be in the
neutral range, 6.0-8.0.

>not sure if there is a prob. w/ black walnut *leaves*.  Juglone (the
>inhibiting substance) is in/from the *roots*.

Juglone  is present in all parts of black walnuts, although different trees
have differing amounts.  A month of active composting is adequate to break
it down; this holds for roots as well if they can be shredded  adequately,
although shredding roots can be tough on equipment....

Leaves and small branches, shredded or chipped, should lose their
"juglonicity" in composting or in mulching in a short time frame, thus black
walnut leaves mulched onto a biologically active soil in the fall, should be
harmless by planting time in spring.

I always liked to collect the leaves and compost them in Baltimore, where I
shared space with black walnuts, because I collected them with the mower at
the same time as the last few cuts of grass clippings, giving me that
clipping-leaves mix, pre-shredded and ready for the microbes.

This is also a good strategy for oak leaves, as is keeping them moist and
adding worms to the leaf pile, once the temperatures cooled down enough for
that. It is also useful to make air channels in the leaf pile with a piece
of rebar, which allows good air flow without tossing the whole pile.
Remember that good air flow hastens drying out, so be ready to mist the pile
every so often, or cover it with compost fleece, landscape fabric, etc, to
keep that moisture in and the evil UVs off the surface, for composting most
effectively...

My predominantly maple leaf composting moves right along, but the oak piles
I have seen that failed to break down were usually way too dry. Leaf
composting is a fungally dominated process, and that needs moisture...

Also, red oaks are a bit more recalcitrant than white oaks, I
believe....(pointy leaves versus lobed leaves, is how you tell them apart,
in general.)


Frank Teuton---just can't leaf this subject alone....:-)


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