Allotments 4 All

I have been enjoying the destructive nature of my new paper shredder when I had a thought. I have read that torn newspaper can be placed on the compost. Is it possible to use the paper shreddings on the compost if I limit the paper to non glossy material.

Thanks

Andy

Yes, mix up well with other wetter material and watch it rot.

I personally exclude till receipts too (or anything else printed on thermal paper) from my compost heap. 

11 years ago (yikes - it doesn't seem that long ago) I worked in a lab where we made up thermal fax paper samples.  This consisted of coating paper with a slurry made from finely ground colour former and bisphenol-A.  Bisphenol-A has since been demonstrated to disrupt hormones.  I'm not sure whether the concentrations involved are anything to worry about (especially as I used spoon the stuff out) or even if they still use it.  However, as my shredder contents are mainly till receipts, they go in the green bin rather than the compost heap destined for (my) food production.

what a great idea!
i will try this too!
we have a shredder at work so i will have fun!
Jemma

Of course paper shredder can go in the compost but shredded paper takes longer than crushed paper to compost because it does not have airpockets trapped in it.
Crushed paper is , in combination with the kitchen waste, gone in about a week.

But if you like to work with the shredder  :o  ::), composting take a bit longer.

This may sound a little silly but what exactly do you mean by crushed paper Lady Cosmos? Your comments are very useful and I would like to try this technique as well as shredding.

Andy

If you use a shredder the paper strips are is flat and there is no air between the layers.
If you tirr a page and crumble it with your hands into a loose ball , you get a lot of air between the layers ( the same idea you use for paper for making a fire)
The paper does not stick together, is rotting faster.
But shredded paper rotts as well, don't worry. :o

I bought a shredder just after Christmas and have been clearing out files and documents we have been hoarding for years, shredding hundreds of pages. The shredded paper I have been putting both on the compost and putting in the soil where I have been digging with some manure. It will be interesting when I rotivate parts of the allotment in a few weeks whethher it will have broken down.

Shredded paper is good for moisture retention .
The guys I know who show runner beans use a layer  of shredded paper in the bottom of their trenches this is followed by a layer of good compost  then soil ..
Jim..

I used shredded paper as a mulch over a last minute planted row of spuds last year, and when I sug them, the paper was still there and very recognisable.  I do put shredded on the heap as mum shreds, but my own just gets screwed up and bunged on. 

If you are composting a lot of shredded paper, you may need to raise the nitrogen level in the heap by adding chicken manure and enough moisture to ensure the heap is just damp, this way you will get a much hotter and quicker decomposition. 8)

Hello, first post and a bit nervous -  was just looking for an opening.  I've found shredded paper a real asset to my black plastic compost bin which tends to get on the wet side due to lots of kitchen waste.  I only use newspaper or white paper and I find it rots down really quickly.  And no more fruit flies. :)

G xx

Hello Georgie, don't be shy, welcome and take a seat in our big shed, pull up a stool or a wheel barrow take a seat, have a mug of tea sit back and relax, we don't bite, we are mates who help each other. Hmmm! it's quite cosy in here, the more the merrier I say. ;)

Oh BTW thanks for the tip on shredded paper ;) ;D

I've got a stash of paper and envelopes at work that I intend to shred and add to the compost heap at some point. Not at the moment, I have the opposite problem to Georgie (welcome Georgie!) in that my heap is mostly 'brown' stuff, and not enough green stuff. Will add the paper at some point, probably when the council next mow out the front of our flats (and i 'borrow' the mowings :))

welcome Georgie, i scrunch up newspaper in my compost if it gets too wet, seems to keep the worms happier, they're not trying to escape out of the top now!

interesting. my heap is very wet right now...now where did hubby put that sunday newspaper? :D

I only clicked on this link because I thought that "paper shredder compost" might be a new exciting variation on "paper scissors stone" or "fire wood water".
How wrong I was.
Nevertheless, I am a great believer in shredded paper and get mine from a friend who runs a community recycling round in my area. he collects it ready-shredded from the local Social Services office.
DIG

Hey, thanks for the warm welcome Roy, Moggle and Kerry.   ;D

I found this place via the BBC gardening boards and you are certainly living up to your reputation. 

Gosh this place takes some getting used to - took me ages to work out how to reply.   :-\

Now all I need to do is figure out how to add photos and I'll be flying.

G xx

hi georgie - welcome! i still cant do the clever stuff either, but i'll certainly be taking that big black bag of shredded paper home from the office tonight! ;)

Do people who use shredded paper as a mulch find that it acts as a slug barrier?

I use shredded paper in my compost and, having read all this I now want to use crunched up newspaper insred......do I just tear and crush.. and at the risk of sounding daft....can I do it with quite large sheets, (obviously much quicker ) or do I have to tear it quite small. I ask because I put quite a lot of shredded paper in ( including till receipts..oh dear shall have to stop that )....and it does get compacted sometimes.

Hi Frannie and Phil, nice to see I'm not the only newbie around here.  :)  Have you seen all those stars some of the posters have?  They must be very clever peeps.   ;D

Phil, do people use shredded paper as mulch?  Sounds a bit messy to me and I doubt it would deter slugs and snails.  I've known the little blighters to eat the paper labels off plastic containers of plant food before now.   :(


G xx

Hi All

I had always wondered about the benefits of putting shredded papers onto the compost.  My question is, would it be practical and possible to shred paper and wood branches at the same time - awaiting delivery of new garden shredder as I speak.  This way there will be a true mixture of fibres.  I have a paper shredder but don't make use of the end result  :-[.  Has anyone done this or will the paper just get jammed in the new shredder.

Lily :)   

We have a garden shredder but I don't use it for paper, two potential problems that I can see:  Firstly, I think it might clog things up -at least if your shredder is like mine. Secondly, I think you probably want to put shredded paper in your heap to dry it out a bit when you've too many grass clippings or the like. With branches, hedge prunings and the like I think you might just dry out your heap too much.

Jeremy

Thanks you derbex for the sound advice.  I'll keep the paper shredder for paper and the garden shredder for just that, the garden/allotment. I'll probably use the shredded privet hedge as a mulch around the fruit bushes.

Lily

I might try using shredded paper as a mulch around my strawbs this summer instead of hay/straw. 

I just crumple the paper up as it is, I don't wrip it,  Mum does all the shredding and delivers it to me in nice sacks ready for use.

Quote from: EJ - Emma Jane on March 01, 2005, 12:09:09
I might try using shredded paper as a mulch around my strawbs this summer instead of hay/straw. 

This occurred to me whilst I was down the allotment on Sunday.  As I have just bought Mrs Wivvles a paper shredder for her birthday, I shall definitely be testing it out this year!!

What a good idea to put shredded paper around the strawberries.  I was just thinking about buying some straw but if the shredded paper works then I can save some money.

What else can shredded paper be use for, compost, mulch.

Would it be safe to use it for storing fruit and veg at harvest time or will the inks contaminate the produce.  :-

Lily

EJ, let us know how it works using shredded paper around the strawberry plants. I bought a bale of straw last year and still have about half of it left. One bale turned out to be a lot of straw, more than I thought.

I can take an endless supply of shredded paper from work and thought about a use for it in the lottie. I wonder if paper doesn't absorb water too much to put around the strawberry plants causing the strawberries to lay on a wet surface. The straw remains a nice and airy bed for the low fruits to lay on. With my luck, the night after I put paper down, we'd get a gale and the whole complex will be decorated with white ribbons hahaha. I could put the netting over the strawberry bed early of course, right after putting the paper down. The straw, after being patted down a bit, seems to form more of a mat and not blow away so easely.

One tip: Don't put anything around the strawberries too early, you want the sun on the soil in early spring to warm it up quickly.

I can get a lot of shredded paper from work and use it as a base layer under straw and hay in the "bed" part of my guineapig's cage!
Incidentally - our used company newspaper goes to the local vet to put in the cages of the post operative animals. 
Helen

ptennisnet,   does that mean you won't put them on your heap but you will put them on the council's heap?   Does the higher temperature in their heap destroy the bisphenol-A?   This a fairly simple organic molecule:  won't the bugs in your heap break it down?

I'm afraid I put all paper on my heap,  just crumpled up:  it disappears somewhere!

I also use sheets of paper,  laid flat,  as a weed suppressing mulch around gooseberry bushes and raspberry canes.   It looks better if you cover it with a very thin layer of soil!   After a couple of months the remains go on the heap.

I don't know how it would break down - a valid point, it could break down easily, although my compost heap is very definitely cold.  I won't put them on my heap as it would form a much larger proportion of the total compared to the councils' heap.