How to make my "splitter scraps" pile decay faster??

Arborist Forum

Help Support Arborist Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

shorty2000us

ArboristSite Member
Joined
Mar 12, 2013
Messages
52
Reaction score
63
Location
stoughton, wi
My pile of splitter scraps, leaves, grass, bark, etc is getting quite large. To the point I'll have to dump somewhere else, which is easier said than done. With my current layout, it would be a PITA, so is there a way to help it decay faster? I was kinda thinking of picking nightcrawlers and concentrate them there..? Any other suggestions other than a match(very last resort) Thanks everyone!
 
I use a match.

It's the first resort. 2nd resort is to throw em on the brush pile, then see above.

Last resort is to take the bigger pieces, put em in a bag, and set em near the stove for kindling. See above, again.
 
We just burn it a few times a year. In the winter I cart it in wheelbarrow loads in the shop and use it to heat the place.

Last time I did it was on New Years and was the pile from the summer.

I just piled maybe a 10ftx10ft area with all the junk, let it burn and kept feeding it with a bucket load or two from the excavator at a time. Had a pile probably 30x30 and a good 15+ft tall and it was all gone in about 12hrs.
Toward the bottom of the pile was almost dirt and I used all that to level off a corner of the property to make a spot to park some trucks.
 
If your composting it, the smaller the pieces on the pile, the better. You also need water and heat to get the process going.
 
I plan on burning some of mine this summer - rake the top dried layer up once in a while, shovel into wheelbarrow, then shovel into boiler on hot coal bed during the weekly burn. Will at least get some hot water out of it. Once it's down to just some sawdust out there then I'll let nature handle it.

Also pondering building a firepit area in the back yard somewhere - that might take a little bit too when bug season breaks out. The blackflies here in the summer are something else...
 
My pile of splitter scraps, leaves, grass, bark, etc is getting quite large. To the point I'll have to dump somewhere else, which is easier said than done. With my current layout, it would be a PITA, so is there a way to help it decay faster? I was kinda thinking of picking nightcrawlers and concentrate them there..? Any other suggestions other than a match(very last resort) Thanks everyone!


mix with grass clippings, keep pile turned

Also I have noticed the more spread out it is, the faster the stuff decays. I love a bonfire as much as anyone but this stuff makes such black, rich compost , I always hate to waste it
 
Depends on how many cords you are processing. 10 or so a year, run the scraps through a little chipper/shredder, then onto the compost pile more than that it gets tougher, and burning becomes more viable.
 
Even better if there's some old r/r ties kicking around you can stand up in the middle.
Pack 'em inside some old used tires (bias ply work best), add tires to the pile as ya' fill 'em, when the pile get about head high dump 5-10 gallon or so of used oil on 'em, and then use the match... tons-o-fun, burns hot and long‼

Sorry... couldn't resist...
*
You need to lay two ties down put one tire on top of ties with gas in it then do as Ws says.
 
Wood chips need a nitrogen source to compost in a reasonable amount of time. adding grass clipping, vegitable waste will speed up the composting process. If you really want to compost the chips, in a decent amount of time, consider turning the pile every few weeks. I know folks that do tons of waste wood and they can turn the chips into usable compost in about 16weeks. It does take some work to get that quick turn around from organic material to usuable compost, so i guess it just depends on how dedicated you want to be to turning the chips to compost as to how much effort you want to put into it.

Organic material has a 10:1 conversion ratio. 100lbs of organic material will yeild about 10lbs of compost. 10lbs of compost will yeild about 1 lb of humis. If you have a big pile of wood chips to start with, you can break it down to a wheel barrow full pretty quickly. A Carbon:Nitrogen ratio of 10:1 will start the breakdown of organic material to compost, a ratio of 15-20:1 will really speed up the process. Nitrogen ratios higher than about 20:1 will break the pile down fast, but is subject to a lot of smells and can prove to be a breeding ground for E coli and other nasties.
 
Sounds like burning it seems to be the general consensus, however, here's my issues with it

1) my pile is right on the edge of the wood, run risk of woods catching on fire

2) open burning is banned, guaranteed to have the sheriff show up in minutes

The only way I could burn it is if I put it in my burn barrel, one wheelbarrow at a time, & my burn barrel must be covered. That would take a very long time.

@muddstopper , if I add a high nitrogen fertilizer and rotate it frequently, that'll help speed things up a bit? Would soaking it with garden hose be of any benefit? Thanks again everyone
 
I have been spreading the chips and bark around some spruce trees, added leaves this fall. Was concerned about the nitrogen being absorbed in the decay harming my trees so I have been spreading my wood ashes over all of that. I hope that works. I have been thinking of adding some lime, doesn't that help everything break down.
 
Using a high nitrogen fertilizer will help it break down faster, not exactly organic. I also know of folks that use molasses to speed up composting. Heres the thing, nitrogen fertilizer, molasses and that sort of thing breeds e coli. You are better off using grass clippings or other green plants to get the nitrogen levels up. Watering to keep the pile damp, not running wet, just damp and frequent turning is the best way. Adding lime raises the ph of the compost pile and isnt good for any wood eating fungi and could actually slow the composting process. Fungi likes low ph levels and bacteria likes high ph levels.

My splitter scraps consist mostly of bark and small shivers of wood. The bark is actually pretty high in nitrogen and will break down fastest. Unless your chips are mostly wood with little bark, just throw your grass clipping in the pile and turn it every couple of weeks and it will break down pretty fast. Large chips take longer to break down, but if you are using your compost in your garden, just make a screen to set on top of your wheel barrow or bucket and shovel the compost on top. The small composted stuff will fall thru the screen and the bigger stuff you can just throw back on the pile. I usually get several dump truck loads of chips every time the power company trims thier rightofways. I just take my FEL and turn the piles whenever the mood stikes and I can have decent compost in less than a year. I usually get anywhere from 50 to 100 truck loads at a time and I can have that worked down to a good truck load or two in about 8-9 months. Keeping it turned is the key to fast breakdown
 
I pick out the larger pieces for kindling and use the rest for mulch .
 
Everyone keeps talking about grass clippings... why not leave those on the lawn at home?

I sure wouldn't rake up my lawn at home just to cart the clippings to the shop to dump on brush piles. I'm doing good to even cut the grass every week or two!

As far as no open burning, do the consider it ok, if it's in a pit? Done that a few times, just dig a ~10 or 20ft Sq hole maybe 4-5ft deep and burn in that.
 
As far as no open burning, do the consider it ok, if it's in a pit? Done that a few times, just dig a ~10 or 20ft Sq hole maybe 4-5ft deep and burn in that.

It would be ok as long as I could "cover" it, & get a permit. I used to burn any trash like cereal boxes, paper, junk mail, etc until the cops showed up one day. Said at minimum I needed to put a grate over the top of my burn barrel. So to avoid further problems, I simply quit burning. I guess I'll just have to dump my scraps elsewhere for a year or 2 until the other pile decomposes.
 
Back
Top