No, soaking won't do much to help break it down faster. If the materials are soaking in water, the water will block out the oxygen that's needed by the decomposing organisms, and slow down the process all that much more.

What will help shredded leaves and branches break down faster: making sure they are shredded as finely as you can reasonably get them, keeping them moist - not submerged in water, but regularly sprinkled - and turning the pile every few days. It's a little process we like to call "composting." :-)

Well, if the material was sopping wet, it could contribute to composting, but little degradation would actually happen while it is being soaked. In fact, soaking, and then draining the soaking water would probably just wash off a lot of the microorganisms that you'd be relying on to do the composting. So I'd have to say that soaking the material is not in your best interest.

I mean, that's mainly what compost tea is supposed to do. Or at least what it formally succeeds in doing. Washing microorganisms out of compost (and a little bit of nutrients). By soaking the stuff, you're just making pre-compost tea, and throwing it away.

I'm going to ask you back, not to laugh. If the materials are mostly leaves and branches, which are carbonaceous, you could speed up the composting by sprinkling urine on it now and again. You could pee in a tin can indoors and dilute it in a watering can and your neighbors will never even know.

Hi Highcold, that's an excellent idea. I could start a urine drive instead of a blood drive .Instead of giving orange juice I could hand out bags of compost! lol Just playing you ,I already do that, BUT I could always use more SEND ME YOUR URINE! Regards Bill I'm looking for a chicken farm.

"Wondering, if I soaked that shredded stuff in a bin of water for about a
week or to would it break it down faster, hence faster composting?"

No, it would become slimy and stinky and anaerobic.

If you put it in a compost pile and soak the entire pile once a week you can speed up composting in a dry climate.

Keeping the shredded materials moist, not wet, and turning to expose and mix in more air would speed it up. Me, not into turning but you can.

Get yourself a "Compost Thermometer" to help you know when it is heating up.

Throwing a few shovels full of soil onto the pile of leaves and stuff is also a good way to get things going, along with keeping it moist.

If it gets warm within a couple days of shredding, that's good. If it's just warm and you want to get it going faster, you can add more nitrogen in the form of grass clippings, fresh (not aged) manure, kitchen scraps, coffee grounds (large volumes available from a coffee shop), and the aforementioned pee.

A temp of 120-140 is ideal for composting. But it will compost even if it never warms up, it's just slower.

I've never intentionally soaked leaves and certainly wouldn't for a "week or two". Having said that, I have used bags of very wet leaves (not exclusively) in a tumbler batch and I don't think they broke down any faster than the ones that went in dry. I will say that using a quantity of wet leaves gave the batch a perfect moisture level as far as I could tell. Adding water to dry leaves is a pain.

Actually the fact that this stuff was green when shredded means it already has enough moisture to start composting on its own. It will dry out if it gets warm and steamy, but it certainly doesn't need much to get going.

Urine alone is not enough to help compost shredded wood and leaves. Unless you have a large quantity of nitrogen like chicken or cow manure I would just use your shredded branches and leaves as a mulch.

Aside from the fact that this was ramial material (leaves and twigs) so it has some N already, there are plenty of other choices of materials besides manure. Grass clippings and kitchen scraps are the most easily found. But this stuff does make great mulch, no argument there. It will degrade faster than plain wood chips and bark from large branches, so it's good for feeding soil.

In fact, it may break down in less time than it takes to hash over the proper procedure on Gardenweb.

Hi Bill,

The best way for the leaves to break down into compost is first shred them, the smaller particles the quicker they will break down. You can do this by running them over several times with a lawn mower or using a weed wacker. Since leaves are carbon, make sure you add nitrogen (green) items to the pile after. Keep the pile moist, and the more you turn the pile to supply oxygen the faster the leaves will break down. Hope this helps!

Tim

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