We have two very large oak trees and a community of very active squirrels so we end up with a lot of shells in our yard. How long do you suppose it would take for them to break down in a compost heap? Would you say as long as sticks and twigs?
by Moonspeckle
7 Comments
Considering how many of them I see, intact, in the woods year after year, I suspect they’d be like peach pits.
In other words, don’t add them unless you’ve got a really excellent hot pile.
Youd need ligninolytic organisms , fungi especially since these shells contain a high amount of lignin. They do have tannins too, that hinders microbial activity aswell. Oysters and reishi can work there quite well, but im noz sure if they would colonize since composts are areas of high microbial activity, which equals competition of space, Oxygen aso.
Dude, why throw perfectly good mulch in the compost?
These things are AWESOME at keeping down weeds.
Why not use them as a mulch?
if you want to compost these hard organic material fast, beside having an insulated hot compost bin, try adding biochar, what that will do will provide a home for teh bacteria that break down these hard outer shells, kind of like lignin for wood, the bacteria who breakdown these material, and im sure only a few bacteria can do it and increase the populations in your biochar, then next year, just add this charged biochar to your next pile and it will break it down fast, but that’s just me.
100% the most acorn shells I’ve ever seen
I would put in the bottom of a potted plant to provide drainage