Happy Birthday ICMag! Been 20 years since Gypsy Nirvana created the forum! We are celebrating with a 4/20 Giveaway and by launching a new Patreon tier called "420club".
You can read more here.
Important notice: ICMag's T.O.U. has been updated. Please review it here.
For your convenience, it is also available in the main forum menu, under 'Quick Links"!
I couldn't find straight alfalfa. I got a few bales of 50/50 Timothy/Alfalfa. I threw a little bit in the compost bin and 3 days later it was covered in white fuzz. I can only imagine that this is a good sign. Thanks a lot for your help guys!
With all the talk about oak leaves that got me thinking about something. I was cleaning gutters at the house of a family member and they have this immense oak tree that looms over the place. The gutters were full of this fluffy moss-like leaf mold that I was thinking might make good mulch. Should I mulch it or just put it into my composter?
sometimes you get these goodies & the real problem is deciding where you want to use it. i would at least put a chunk in the compost for whatever micro-life might vary from your existing compost. sometime when mulching w/ aged leaves, there's some layering/leaf structure intact & i struggle w/ whether to break it up or leave it in order
Fungal colonies often benefit from being broken up, if done at the right time. Let the stuff really mold and colonize out and then turn it, and then leave it alone again for a while.
Ive been spreading the fall leaves (maples) and lots of food waste across the garden. Trying to get a nice 2-3 ft thick of leaves and food scraps across the entire garden to create a nice compost/humus for the spring planting. Been turning weekly, and finding its breaking down nicely and full of worms. Ive been plucking out worms by the hundreds and adding them to my indoor worm bins.. I have one bin thats all soil, and another from shredded dead leaves. First time using all leaves for a medium, looking to see how long it takes to devour the leaves.