I know these will compost, even if it takes a while due to their woody structure. Does anyone have any special methods they use to speed up their decomposition?
I’ve put them in my compost tumbler before, and they tend to stay half-recognizable after 2-4 months, but they get much softer. I was debating trying to fill a 5-gallon bucket with them and then adding water and letting them soak in there for a month or more prior to adding them to the next bin, to see if that helped. I would imagine it would be easy enough to grind them up but I don’t have a wood chipper.
by TheElbow
31 Comments
I like to chew on them to soften them up a bit, then throw them in a pile and hit them with some pee.
Jokes aside, get an electric chipper/shredder and run them through that.
My best advice would be figuring out how to integrate them into soil like putting them aside all year and then digging a trench when you’re planting vegetables and putting them in the trench then filling it back.
If you optimize the chemistry of hot composting, they’ll break down faster, but we all know how tricky that can be.
They have branch shredders that cost like $150.
Lawnmower? Spade? Just put them in whole and let the decomposers do their thing, sift and if they’re still intact throw them back in to keep going?
Free mulch that will deter rabbits!
I see you’re using a tumbler, but for simple compost piles, these things are good for aeration.
smash them with a cinder block — or a tamper if you have one — before you compost them.
I have a fast pile and a slow pile. Sticks and things like sweetgum ball go on the slow pile along with whatever get sifted out of finished compost.
run a lawn mower over them.
These are the devil in plant form. Burn them in your fire pit.
just burn them. PITA to compost.
Not a composting answer but my dad and I used them like a golf driving range at the house I grew up in. Just grab a wedge and chip them into a bucket for giggles then do whatever you want with them. They take ages to break down under most conditions in my experience so I’d struggle to compost them at all
Crush em and mix em into the compost.
Get a big pile of them. Add miscellaneous dry woodland paper, now douse the pile with about a cup of Everclear. Add to the pile as needed.
It actually doesn’t take that long. No longer than a small stick. Soaking them probably will help quite a bit.
That said I’m experimenting with using them to fill the bottom of planters this year to help with drainage. I’m so excited about this idea, if it works out it would be nice to have a good use for them.
The worst thing about these is that they fall from about October until June of the next year. Just constantly picking these up.
Cut them in half.
Collapsible saw horse
Throw them in the fire pit and burn them, compost the ashes
After about a year in my lazy compost, they become finger-crushable
Apparently you can make an antiviral like tamiflu from them
Burn them and save your self the headache
I rake them into berms, and leave them there to slow erosion on banks, and direct water. Or, I rake them into gullies/dips to raise the level.
Gradually the grass grows through, and they collapse down a bit.
It is autumn here, and I have much raking in my future. The liquidambar pods have created a skating rink.
I use them as mulch. Keeps the critters away from my planters. To get them to break down quicker in a compost pile, I put them into my small electric chipper. They have to go in 2 at a time though.
I put these in my hot compost pile last month and I cant find a trace of these anymore. My pile however is basically a perpetual HOT compost. I keep flipping it twice a week and I add grass clippings constantly so the pile stays around 150-160F for the entire month without ever cooling down. Stuff I put in my pile breaks down fast.
Hear me out here
Big mortar and pestle
Sweet gums are such lovely trees. It’s a shame they feel the need to make thousands of caltrops every year. And surface level lateral roots that enjoy cracking any sidewalk or concrete slab they meet.
That said, unless you’ve got a really good hot pile going, burn them, chip them, or dispose of as yard waste in accordance with local ordinances.
Wonder if you can trade them for like, white rot wood that would break down nicely – people like these for isopod keeping.
running them over with a lawn mower does the trick for me
My compost pile is currently 145 degrees, you need something like that.
Wondering if you could soak them in water for a few days, then throw them in a pile? I’m testing out my theory with pine cones in water right now. Started the scientific process last night.
Just save them as tinder if you have fires. Otherwise id smash and piss on them and let them soak in water before adding them
The soaking in bucket for a month definitely gonna help a lot. It’ll get stinky though.