speeding up decomposition

[Yeahman]

have a job coming up where i'll be leaving all tree waste on site, not chipping it. the site is bushland, lots of grass and scrub. issues are: fire hazard, unsightly. i'll be cutting debris up small as possible, spreading it out to quicken the breakdown process.

wondering though if there is anything else i can do, other then chipping it that will increase the speed of it returning to the earth?

And no i can't set fire to it.

Thanks

 

[JohN Dee]

You could bury them in the earth, that would probably speed it upto twice the speed.

Hope that helps...

 

[Ekka]

Find some dead timber fungi, look around some old stumps and stuff and get them, spread the spores.

Also here for our compost bins we buy some saches of organism bacteria that helps digest dead stuff, you mix it with water and chuck it on/in your compost bin .... spray some of that around.

And finally, get a bunch of goats in.

 

[John Paul Sanborn]

Look for the regs on slash piles, I think they need to be like under 3 feet high, cut up small and compressed.

Maximum surface area of xylem and contact with the gorund.

For the stumps and larger wood, you can buy eddible fungus innoculum online. Then in a year or two you can go out and harvest some garnish.

 

[Fumbler]

Too bad you can't just burn it...

 

[Canyon Angler]

Too bad you can't just burn it...

Is that you in the picture, Fumbler?

 

[Fumbler]

Nope, she's one of the other foresters in my office.

This is me

 

[Canyon Angler]

Nope, she's one of the other foresters in my office.

She can come and burn my slash anytime!

 

[ASD]

? y not chip it??????????

 

[Canyon Angler]

Seed it with termites? :hmm3grin2orange:

 

[John Paul Sanborn]

? y not chip it??????????

I get on projects like that often, where it is a PITA to extract and would cost the client 3x more to chip due to manhours.

Far away from access, up a steep slope...

Just slash pile in the woods and let the critters take care of it.

 

[Curbside]

Hire someone with a forestry mower and mulch it all up. It will decompose in a matter of weeks.

 

[Yeahman]

Thanks

Yeah thanks for the positive responses, much appreciated.

good ideas in there, i'll defiently be giving some a go.

 

[smokechase II]

burning safely

You could burn piled slash when it is wet.

 

[LightningLoader]

If you can till it in a little bit or throw a little dirt over it.

Maybe apply some fertilizer. According to my husband, who's a fertilizer salesman, the microorganisms use the nitrogen during the decomposition process as fuel (that's if I'm understanding this correctly). That's why people try to always compost materials before spreading them on the garden, because you'll loose much of the nitrogen you apply to the composting process instead of feeding the plants with it.

Don't know if I'm explaining this well. Can someone back me up on this one?

 

[TheTreeSpyder]

Cut it smaller to expose more surface area; especially across grain. Some say buttermilk has lots of active bacteria to form innocullant. Provide aeration by not compacting too tight etc.

 

[arboralliance]

Make sure...

Make sure logs (billets, rounds etc) are all end grain up as the "rays" (cracks that appear on the face of a cut) will open up and allow water and other pests fungi disease in from above and below...opcorn: