How do I expedite making decomposed manure out of lawn cuttings?

Question

Usually I allow lawn cutting grass to rot in a hip.It takes at least two/three years to turn into manure.

Answer 1

1. Mix the clippings with other compost--dried grass, hay, leaves, anything organic, and not too wet.

2. Turn the compost every day.  This aerates it, and lets the bacteria work faster.

3. Adding limestone, (sprinkle it in when turning the compost), will also expedite the composting.

In 10 days to 2 weeks you should have friable compost, use able in your garden.

I used to make containment areas out of 2x4 in. fencing wire.  I would make cylinders about 3 ft in diameter, 4 ft high.  I would layer the clippings with a layer of grass, about 6 in deep, a layer of other materials, a sprinkle of lime, a couple of hand-fulls of already active compost to provide more bacteria, and the repeat the process until the cylinder is 2/3 full.  Let it work a day, then lift the cylinder from around the composting material, then re-fill the cylinder with the pile of compost, effectively turning  and mixing it.  Repeat every 1-3 days, and in no time, you are done. If you make 3-4 cylinders, you can move the compost down the line to each successive cylinder, until the last one produces the finished product.

Hint: a manure fork, with 5 or more tines makes turning and transferring the compost easier.

Answer 2

The problem with grass cuttings is they are too wet and they compact too much, they need to be mixed with something to aerate them and dry them a bit. i have heard that torn up newspaper helps. Maybe if they are allowed to dry a bit before you compost them?

Answer 3

If you want to make compost out of a lot of lawn cuttings then you should have a bag of  granulated or powdered limestone. Mix a couple of shovels of this into the cuttings and keep it damp.

Lawn cuttings have a lot of acid in them and that is why it is taking U so long. The lime stone nuetralizes it and it works a lot faster. The same thing goes for leaves.

Answer 4

I live in the tropics and just shovel the clipping into the soil to give it a better texture, it  fluffs it up, and I get good results, it seems to turn into compost quickly. I don´t know if this is good practice or not.