What happens if I only put grass in my bin?

[Joe]

I've only just got my compost bin and I haven't got much to put in it. I hadn't even got any grass to put in until I begged my neighbour for her grass clippings. I have now half filled my bin with a mixture of mostly grass, some cardboard, a few veg peelings and a bit of pee. It has got quite warm and is currently home to some ants and one caterpillar.

What will happen to my heap and what should I do to improve the final output of my bin. I expect the grass just to become a form of ash. How hot will it get and is there any chance of it combusting?

[weekendwellies]

It is surprising how quickly it fills up. I thought the same as you when I first started using my bin. The one at home I put all vegetable kitchen waste, uncooked only; teabags, and any trimmings from my lottie produce which I take home in entirety and clean up at home. Also guinea pig waste bedding goes in. And some weeds, but not dandelions. As well as grass. If it is too 'green' I put in some newspaper or cardboard.

To make compost mix together items from both the green and brown material

Materials you can compost

Green materials
Tea bags Fruit scraps Comfrey leaves
Grass cuttings Nettles Rhubarb leaves
Vegetable peelings Coffee grounds and filter paper Young annual weeds
Old flowers Spent bedding plants Pond algae and seaweed

Brown materials
Egg shells Dry leaves, twigs and hedge clippings String - natural fibre
Egg boxes Straw and hay Old wool or cotton clothes - cut into small pieces
Cereal boxes Bedding from vegetarian pets Tissues, paper towels and napkins - unless they have been in contact with meat, fats, oils, or disease
Corrugated cardboard packaging Wool Shredded confidential documents
Newspaper Feathers Corn cobs and stalks
Toilet and kitchen roll tubes Woody clippings Pine needles & cones - slow to compost
Garden prunings Cotton threads Vacuum bag contents - if you have natural fibre carpets

[zazen999]

If you just put grass n it will go gooey and horrible. You need half green [grass and veg peelings] and half brown [cardboard, paper etc]. Details in WW's post above.

If you have too much grass and not enough of anything else, you have too much lawn and must immediately dig it up and put more raised beds in.

[Joe]

If you just put grass n it will go gooey and horrible. You need half green [grass and veg peelings] and half brown [cardboard, paper etc]. Details in WW's post above.

If you have too much grass and not enough of anything else, you have too much lawn and must immediately dig it up and put more raised beds in.

Not so easy; its a new garden, soil is naff. Dig down one spit and it's a sand layer. The 'soil' is just muck and I have turfed about 50% of it and I don't intend to cut it regularly. I hope that the guinea pigs will tend to the grass. I've put in a couple of raised beds and will put in a larger one shortly. I can probably find much more cardboard and shredded paper (note to self, needed a paper shredder).

There's not much life in the garden yet. Only worms I've got are two that I brought with me. Should I buy some worms for my bin?

I've only been here a month and progress is slow.

[Alice]

If you only put grass in Joe, it will just go green and slimey.
You need to add some brown stuff - see above for suggestions.
I don't add newspaper, cardboard etc. I'm sure it does a great job but I don't know what's in there.
If you're really stuck buy a bag of compost - the cheapest you can find - and layer it in.
\you will get more out than you put in.

[zazen999]

Worms will find their way to the compost bin if it is kept half green and brown and doesn't dry out.

Have you got any friends with gardens that you can get buckets of their soil with worms in and put it in your composter to kick start it [that's how we got our first one growing, just took soil out of the borders].

[Snadger]

Although apparently not ideal, I have courgettes and potatoes growing in PURE rotted grass cuttings.

Courgette is in a sectional barrel type thingy with holes in the side (skip find) and this is filled with rotted grass cuttings only! It is full of worms and I am gathering two courgettes a day.
I have six raised beds for my maincrop tatties which I couldn't be bothered to dig so I just added a 12 inch inch layer of partly decomposted grass cuttings.(from a sports ground) Used a bulb planter to make the holes and dropped the seed spuds in. I now have a rather good crop of spuds coming along nicely.

Grass cuttings just rot down to the consistency of a cow pat!

[NOG]

To answer one of your questions...yep there is a chance that grass cuttings will self combust...but they need to be wet enough to heat up-----then dry enough to burn....then they need to be turned to add oxygen..Then they can...but it is unlikely. You used to see haystack going up and big piles of manure sometimes combust.

[Joe]

I reckon my heap is about 50 - 60 degrees at the moment and is comprised of mostly grass cuttings and pee, with a few tea bags and guinea droppings mixed in as well with a little bit of hay! I have two bins and I might just experiment with pure grass clippings and pee in one of those.

I'm surprised that composting is not a more debated topic.

[rustylady]

I'm surprised that composting is not a more debated topic.

Oh but it is!! Try checking out some of the old threads on the Vine

[Two_Sheds]

I expect the grass just to become a form of ash.

If only it would. What you actually get is a black, stinking sludge. (anaerobic decomposition).

I inherited two Daleks full of grass clippings, and it's taken me a year to sort them out, mixing in other materials and turning. Nightmare.

[Joe]

Oh but it is!! Try checking out some of the old threads on the Vine

That's what I said but not quite what I meant. I was thinking of more scientific approach where someone might explain why the grass clippings go into a gooey mess rather than just tell me that's what it does from their experience. Is it really inevitable that it will be another gooey mess?

[Two_Sheds]

Is it really inevitable that it will be another gooey mess?

yes
yes
and ... yes

Anaerobic decomposition takes place: grass clippings mat together, preventing oxygen and moisture from getting in.
When oxygen is limited, anaerobic decomposition of the clippings may take place, leading to the production of offensive odours http://learn.ecomowers.com/managing-grass-clippings/63/

[jacob marley]

It is possible to make compost using only grass clippings .
But first of all you have to forget all you ever learnt about composting i make a hell of a lot of compost using mainly grass mowings lots of it and i am learning all the time .
First you put cliippings in compost bin and walk about on it if possible and then cover it up this helps to get it cooking and when you add to it take the cover of and put the stuff on the heap and walk about again on the heap keep doing this and keep the air out of it and you will have good compost....jacob

[weekendwellies]

yes
yes
and ... yes

Anaerobic decomposition takes place: grass clippings mat together, preventing oxygen and moisture from getting in.
When oxygen is limited, anaerobic decomposition of the clippings may take place, leading to the production of offensive odours How To Manage Grass Clippings | Eco Friendly Lawn Mower Blog: Reel Mowers, Electric Mowers, Environmentally Friendly Lawn Mowers

Oh well done on the research TS. Round of applause