Most of the stuff you collect in fall and spring are browns. Most home gardeners have more browns than greens, unless they bring in some manure or have a cow in the back yard. It might be a slower process, but that is OK.ĭon’t make composting complicated. The reality is that if you simply add your ingredients to the compost pile when you get them, and you turn the pile, you will make compost. Who has extra space in their gardens these days?
That is certainly an option, but it is a lot more work, and it needs more space. Some sources recommend holding the browns until you get enough greens and then using them. Secondly, you rarely have the right ingredients available. Firstly, how can you figure out if your fall leaves have a ratio of 30:1 or 80:1? You can’t. You only need the right ratio if you want to make it quickly! The Reality of Compostingįor the average home owner, it is very difficult to have the right ratio of material. You do not need the right C:N ratio to make compost. Composting takes longer and takes place at lower temperatures. The microbes will not be as happy, and they won’t decompose the organic material as fast. So for fast compost it is important to feed the microbes the right ratio of carbon:nitrogen. Fast growing microbes means that the composting process happens quickly and the pile heats up to desirable temperatures. The right amount of carbon and nitrogen makes the microbes happy, and they grow fast. It turns out they grow best when there is a ratio of carbon to nitrogen of about 30:1. These microbes have basic requirements for food, just like you and me. Why is this ratio so important for composting? As discussed in Compost – What is Compost?, composting is a process whereby microbes degrade the organic matter added to the compost pile. Alfalfa hay is ‘brown’ in color, but is considered to be a green since it contains a lot of nitrogen. So is manure a brown or a green? Based on color it is a brown, but based on nitrogen levels it is a green. Wood products and straw have low levels of nitrogen. Green leaves have high levels of nitrogen, but as they go brown in fall, the nitrogen levels drop. For example, fresh green plant material contains high levels of nitrogen.Īs the greens age they lose nitrogen and turn brown at the same time. The greens contain higher levels of nitrogen. It would be better to use the terms high nitrogen ingredient, and low nitrogen ingredient. However the terms are not always correct. It includes fresh grass clippings, freshly picked weeds, plant clippings and most kitchen scraps.Ĭalling composting ingredients brown or green is useful because it is simple for people to understand. Browns are any plant material that is brown, and includes fall leaves, dried grass, wood products, paper and straw. In the simplest form, the terms are quite descriptive.
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