A Gardeners Forum Forums Members History Forum Life 2005 Composting Grass Clippings

Hello,
When I cut my lawn I save all of grass clippings in piles to reuse it in the garden. I've found that after a few months--or even a year--the grass develops a white mold amidst the pressed layers of grass that develop in the piles. The mold can be quite pungent. Some of the piles even get wet and gooey over time. I often use the grass as a mulch to prevent weeds from growing in the rows between my garden beds. I was wondering, is this mold bad for the garden...should I not be using it? Sometimes I also work some of the older grass clippings into my garden soil hoping it will add nutrients as it decomposes. Is this a bad thing, considering the mold? Any advice will help!
Brendan from Vermont

Brendan,
I am not an expert in the mold area/??
Not sure..

But I can help you with the grass clippings,
when you pile the clippings, you need to have a pile of brown a side of your other pile, then as you go along putting in the grass you layer the brown into it **Think of Lasgna* when you do this process...
And you actually need more brown to green ratio for your pile to work effectively!!!!
Think of the brown, ie; dried leaves, dried things from your garden *flower stalks, etc.* as the paper or wood on your fire...
Think of the green, ie; grass clippings, kitchen scrap's, etc... as the gasoline on your wood or paper...
The green gets the brown going!!!
When you only have green *grass clippings* the gas has nothing to ignite and just turns to a slurry of mush....


The mold is a product of the grass
NOT GETTIN ANY AIR, when it starts to decompose, it has no where's to go, thus trapping in moisture when it heats up in the decomposing process, and causing the mold..

I would not be qualified enough to say that it is not bad or good for the garden...
I would think the mold would be one of natures way in the decomposing process when there's no air to a product, it has to do some form of decomposing??? Nature has a great way of taking care of her self, when things aren't quite done right!!! Now whether or not that stuff then harms the other plants it goes on as compost/cover I am not sure!!!

Hope this helps a little!!!

Weezie

This helps a lot! It makes perfect sense. I also make piles of dried leaves, and they seem to break down on their own pretty well (albeit slowly), but the grass clippings get too compressed without the browns and can't breathe. I learn something new everyday! Thanks again.

I am lucky enough to have a friend who runs a woodmill. He gives me large quantities of wood shavings (not sawdust) which I mix in with the large quantities of grass clippings I get from my lawns. By mixing at approx. 50/50 ratio I end up with a wonderful friable compost. This year I also added a small quantity of horse manure and the heat created from this mix was amazing!
Just in case you have the opportunity to get hold of wood shavings I thought I'd pass this information on.
Do you have any friends that keep rabbits or guinea pigs? The soiled bedding from these animals is great as long as you compost it for at least 6 months.
Happy composting!

Hi,

A useful tip would be to use garden lime on your compost or grass heap.
lime speeds up the breakdown process.
sprinkle a handfull over the heap and water it in.
also remember to turn the heap which will aerate it.

Ben

I recently posted a reply advising composters to mix grass clippings with wood shavings. I have been reliably informed that you must let wood shavings rot thoroughly because they can take nitrogen from the soil if left to decompose in your garden.
Happy gardening.