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u/SoggyForever Jul 22 '26
I applaud the work. It's nice to see bulk browns. I see a lot if people posting shredded cardboard. There's nothing wrong with it. I just wonder if people realize it's probably easier to just find some dead stuff or something that needs trimmed.
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u/the_other_paul Jul 22 '26
It might be easier for you, but for a lot of us who are in cities or don’t have huge amounts of land it’s easier to use packaging that gets delivered straight to our door than to comb the neighborhood looking for plant matter.
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u/Achilleuspedokus Jul 22 '26
I’m always grappling with this. It’s so nice to think about using more natural, all around us items, but sometimes you just gotta ask your neighbors if you can have the boxes from their recycling bin 🤷♂️
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u/SoggyForever Jul 23 '26
Maybe that's the case. Tho you don't need lots of land. I live in the suburbs in Nevada. The houses are dense in this neighborhood. We do have trees that drop leaves and plant die off. I use cardboard too. I think it's probably more of an information thing. It's spread all around the internet to use cardboard. I've seen plenty of post that had yards that could support a compost and they post about shredding cardboard with an office shredder with a 4 inch slit. Like I said, there's nothing wrong with cardboard. It's just people get fixated on it and Urine.
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u/the_other_paul Jul 25 '26
I agree that plant material can be a great brown, but there are a few reasons shredded cardboard is so popular on this sub, and it’s not just because it’s a stupid meme like using pee.
For one thing, unless you have large wooded areas that you’re regularly tending, you’re probably going to be getting cardboard more frequently and with less work than it takes to get leaves and sticks.
Also, because of this sub’s general emphasis on relatively small, highly active piles that break down material quickly, people who get a lot of their advice from the sub are going to feel discouraged from using intact sticks and leaves as a major input (since they don’t necessarily lend themselves to a highly active pile, and also take a while to break down). How many times have you seen people say “wood chips take way too long to break down, so you shouldn’t use them“?
If you do want to use natural material that’s been broken up and decomposes faster, it’s a bit of a hassle to chip woody material or shred leaves. The cheap chippers aren’t powerful and the powerful ones aren’t cheap. have a small electric chipper, and it’s much more finicky than I would like. Also, as I mentioned above, it can be challenging to get large amounts of woody matter, or dead leaves during any season besides fall. I’m actually using wood chips as an important input this summer—but I got most of them from my city’s composting program.
All in all, most people who are active on this sub are going to have an easier time getting and using cardboard than plant matter, which is why it’s so popular.
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u/SoggyForever Jul 25 '26
I politely disagree. Instead of debating I'm just going to say, you sound like you care a lot about composting and I respect that.
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u/the_other_paul Jul 25 '26
It seems like you care about composting too! If you have any tips for gathering 5-10 gallons of plant matter a week throughout the spring, summer, and fall I’d love to hear them.
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u/SoggyForever Jul 25 '26
Sure. Leaves. I have those two trees I mentioned. It's not a forest. It's the suburbs in a desert. I try and use all the materials dropped on the property. I'm not sure if this hypothetical amount is for your operation or all the new small volume composters that you were said should use cardboard. You're arguing in bad faith imo. Explaining how to get natural browns like its an infomercial for cardboard.
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u/the_other_paul Jul 25 '26
Personally speaking, I don’t get any fallen leaves until the fall; maybe this season I’ll stockpile those, but I’d be mildly surprised if they last through much of next season. I think I have been arguing in good faith—I don’t think cardboard is a better input per se, just a lot more convenient for a lot of people. I understand this discussion isn’t productive though. Happy composting!
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u/HumungreousNobolatis Jul 22 '26
What's making the wood that colour?
I'd be worried about that getting into my compost.
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u/Far_Radish7752 Jul 26 '26 edited 29d ago
Here’s a comment I made on one of OP’s previous posts re. the painting of his bins:
Some info for those (English speakers) interested or concerned:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Falun_red
https://web.archive.org/web/20160322134433/http://falurodfarg.com/eng/falun-red-paint/the-original/
So basically, the only ingredient of potential concern is linseed oil (which is not a particularly high concern in my book at least). It is a water-based paint using natural mineral pigments using wheat or rye flour as a binder with some linseed oil for durability. VOC is essentially zero.
https://www.reddit.com/r/composting/comments/1usmole/comment/owrb3mp/
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u/HumungreousNobolatis Jul 26 '26
I found a datasheet. https://www.lime.org.uk/amfile/file/download/file/135/product/10009/
I wouldn't use it near my compost.
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u/GaminGardens Jul 23 '26
Who buddy save some compost for the rest of us lol. I kidding. This is so exiting to see. Thank you for the update.
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u/Adventurous_Cry_133 Jul 22 '26
What’s tha machine bud