Composting with cardboard and potting soil

[Ostrodamus]

I have a ton of cardboard that I want to use in the compost bin as I currently don't have any brown materials to work with. I work with a catering company, offloading my produce, and sometimes I bring back their kitchen scraps for the compost. This leads me to always have much more green than brown.

What's the best way to "shred" the cardboard? (hand, shredder, scissors)
Is it really necessary to shred it, or can I just put large rough hand-torn chunks in there as well?
Where on the scale of efficiency is using leftover bagged or potted (used) store bought soil for aiding composting?

 

[Anniekay]

When it stays wet it falls apart after a few weeks so, you could put it in 30 gallon trash bags, soak it really well and in a short time it will fall to pieces all by itself. This happens in my garden where I line the walkways between my raised beds with cardboard; it deteriorates quickly and then I add more.

(I frequently buy from Amazon)

 

[Logan]

It doesn't matter how you break up the cardboard, just put it in layers. It all depends on what type of bin that you have, but it should be mixed up from time to time. I have those cone shaped ones with a lid and a doorway down the bottom.

 

[Zigs]

I don't shred it, but it helps to take off the packing tape. Makes it easier to fork over later.

Don't put too much on at once, like young Logan says, layer it with green stuff.

As a child I used to dig up land fill sites. I once found a Victorian catalogue that had been burried 6 feet deep. It hadn't rotted down but had become the consistency of clay. You could still read the pages but it disintergrated as you opened it.

 

[Anniekay]

I don't shred it, but it helps to take off the packing tape. Makes it easier to fork over later.

Don't put too much on at once, like young Logan says, layer it with green stuff.

As a child I used to dig up land fill sites. I once found a Victorian catalogue that had been burried 6 feet deep. It hadn't rotted down but had become the consistency of clay. You could still read the pages but it disintergrated as you opened it.

Hah!! And I thought I was bad dumpster diving for a Victorian mirror !!

 

[Meadowlark]

...Where on the scale of efficiency is using leftover bagged or potted (used) store bought soil for aiding composting?

I definitely do not use cardboard in the veggie garden because of unknown suspect content...but I can maybe add some thoughts on the last question.

That left-over store bought stuff goes into the mix I make for flowering potted plants. I mix equal parts of composted cow manure, composted Sunn Hemp, and that sorry store bought stuff. After composting the whole thing, I generally sift it and it makes a fantastic potting soil which is far superior to the original store bought stuff.

 

[skinyea]

I use cardboard in my compost. amazon boxes togo bags etc. i put all through my paper shredder. very small pieces mixed with grass clippings and weeds create very hot compost piles.

 

[Logan]

 

[Zigs]

Very interesting Logan

He's quite right about removing tape and the glossy cardboard, however, the Centre for Alternative Technology did a study about 25 years ago looking into any residues in the compost from printing inks. They were concerned about metal contamination from the inks and quite rightly.

They found no trace of them in the finished compost. I only use the plain brown cardboard and although there might be some inks on them, overall I think there's other things more concerning to worry about than that.

Here's a pic of my heap this morning, the big box just poking out was sitting on the top last week

 

[Tetters]

I definitely do not use cardboard in the veggie garden because of unknown suspect content...but I can maybe add some thoughts on the last question.

That left-over store bought stuff goes into the mix I make for flowering potted plants. I mix equal parts of composted cow manure, composted Sunn Hemp, and that sorry store bought stuff. After composting the whole thing, I generally sift it and it makes a fantastic potting soil which is far superior to the original store bought stuff.

If only it was easy for us to obtain farmyard (cow) manure, I'm just a bit jealous. I bought a whole pallet full of this once (expensive), but had no way of knowing for sure that the cows were just grass fed, or if they had vaccines etc. Unfortunately we don't all have access to the real thing, and some of us only have limited space in which to garden as well.
My eldest son who lives in Tasmania told me about a crop he grew called Tagasaste (tree lucerne, a member of the Cytisus family.)
I wonder if you know of this plant for feeding cattle and/or using as fertiliser @Meadowlark ? I understand some are for it and others against the idea. My son fed the goats with it I believe

 

[Zigs]

Just been watching a video from an allotment grower I follow, he brought up the fact that the cardboard we have been using as mulch and for composting now contains a percentage of recycled cardboard that will have "forever chemicals" in it.

Looks like the best thing to do is what Meadowlark says and avoid using it altogether in the veg garden.

From now on I'm lobbing it into the council recycling bin, got plenty of wood chip since I fixed the chipper.

 

[Meadowlark]

...Looks like the best thing to do is what Meadowlark says and avoid using it altogether in the veg garden.

...

My policy is if I don't know exactly what is in it, I absolutely do not use it in my garden...applies not only to cardboard but anything potentially being added to veggie growing soil.

 

[Meadowlark]

...
My eldest son who lives in Tasmania told me about a crop he grew called Tagaste (tree lucerne, a member of the Cytisus family.)
I wonder if you know of this plant for feeding cattle and/or using as fertiliser @Meadowlark ? I understand some are for it and others against the idea. My son fed the goats with it I believe

Not familiar with it @Tetters but is it a Legume and what I read about it sounds positive.

Interesting, it came to Australia via UK, "Tagasaste has been grown in Australia since at least1879, when seeds were sent from the Royal BotanicGardens, Kew, in England, and grown at the AdelaideBotanic Gardens"

Tagasaste: A new feed source for West Texas - SARE Grant Management System

projects.sare.org

 

[Tetters]

That's an interesting article @Meadowlark - it mentions feed for goats, but I wonder if it would also apply to cows?? They are, after all both dairy animals. My son has kept goats for years.