Greens and Browns

What you put in or leave out of any composting setup is your choice. The following lists may help you decide. If in doubt, leave it out!  Contact us if we may be of help.

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When adding materials to your compost, think in terms of "greens" and "browns". Greens are usually fresh and contain a preponderance of nitrogen.​ ​Note that "greens" can be any color. In fact some greens are actually brown in color. These are noted below with an asterisk. The key is that they are rich in nitrogen. Browns are usually dry and contain a preponderance of carbon. They are usually (but not always) brownish or yellowish in color.

 

A rough guide for the green/brown mix in your setup should be 1:2 by volume. For every measure of green, add two measures of brown. This mix provides an ideal diet for microbial nutrition and proliferation thereby enhancing the decomposition process.

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Keep your compost moist at all times, in all seasons. Add bulking material (mentioned below), to provide air flow.​​

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Home Composting Additions: Greens

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• Alfalfa, freshly cut, bales, pellets, and meal

• Brewery and wine making leftovers

• Blood meal

• Coffee grounds*

• Egg shells, crushed (they contain calcium carbonate, the albumin lining is nitrogenous)

• Feathers (keratin)

• Fruit scraps and juicer pulp

• Green leaves, green grass clippings, fresh yard and garden trimmings, green pine needles

• Green weeds without seeds (avoid noxious weeds/pernicious invasive plants such as bermuda grasses, puncture vine, aka goathead, and field bindweed)

• Hair/fur (keratin)*

• Manures and urine from vegetarian animals and chickens (be sure it is herbicide and vermicide free; hot process composting is suggested for all manures to destroy weed seeds and pathogens)*

• Tea leaves*

• Vegetable scraps and juicer pulp

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*These are brown in color but a good source of nitrogen so are not considered to be "browns."

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Home Composting Additions: Browns

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• Cardboard that has not been coated with chemicals, shredded

• Charcoal ash that does not contain petrochemical fire accelerants

• Charcoal products produced from pyrolysis of organic material

• Coconut coir

• Cotton products such as fabric, cosmetic cotton products, q-tips, natural fiber menstrual products

• Cork, shredded

• Corn cobs and stalks, chopped

• Egg cartons made from uncoated paper, ripped to small pieces

• Fruit pits

• Leaves which are dry and brown

• Match sticks and toothpicks that have been used

• Nut shells, crushed

• Paper products such as used napkins, towels, coffee filters, tea bags, brown paper, shredded

• Newspaper, black and white section (avoid glossy slick heavily color dyed products)

• Peat moss

• Pine needles that are brown (dry pine needles will decompose in a timely fashion if they are shredded before adding to composting setup)

• Pine cones (leave whole to promote air flow)

• Potting soil that has been used, add sparingly

• Wood products that have not been treated with chemicals such as bark, wood chips (large wood chips may serve as bulking material, to promote air flow)

• Yard trimmings such as dry grass, dry plant parts

• Saw dust, wood shavings from wood products that have not been treated with chemicals

• Soil from an amended garden, add very sparingly

• Straw, hay, used animal bedding, garden mulches

• Sticks and twigs, dry, chopped (or leave in bigger pieces for air flow)

• Sunflower stalks, dry, chopped.

• Textiles from natural fibers such as cotton, wool, silk, felt, burlap, string, thread, rope

• Wood ash from untreated wood (add very sparingly, this is very alkaline and not needed in desert soils)

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Please Do Not Add the Following to Your Backyard Compost Heap

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Note that with the Bokashi composting method, some of the following may indeed be composted. These are indicated with double asterisks (**).

 

• Bones with meat, as the scent may attract unwanted critters**

• Cardboard products with shiny water resistant coating (PFAS chemicals)

• Charcoal (ash) used for barbecue which has been treated with a petrochemical accelerant

• Chemicals such as herbicides, pesticides, fungicides, vermicides, petrochemicals

• Coal ash

• Dairy products in large amounts, as the scent may attract unwanted critters**

• Diseased garden plants

• Dog, cat, pig and pet bird manure, as they may have diseases communicable to humans (chicken is ok)

• Fats, oils, grease, butter, margarine, lard, as the scent may attract unwanted critters**

• Food packaging made from plastic or styrofoam

• Glossy, slick, heavily dyed paper, junk mail (put in the recycle bin)

• Inorganic materials such as plastic, metal, glass, aluminum, styrofoam

• Manures from vegetarian animals contaminated with residual persistent herbicides

• Meat and fish, as the scent may attract unwanted critters**

• Pernicious invasive plants such as puncture vine (goathead), bermuda grass, field bindweed.

• Wax/plastic coated paper products

• Weeds with seeds

• Wood products treated with chemicals

• Wood ash (or use very sparingly, very alkaline and not needed in desert soils)

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**These may be composted using the Bokashi method.