yeah, when it doubt... throw it out!! speaking of the leaf mold though.... do you just pile up the leaves and let them compost on their own for a year or so??? sunny location or shaded location for the pile?? anything you like to add to it? i have a couple big maple trees in the back yard and they're not going to the curb this year lol. my gf is like, seriously you're keeping all the leaves???
Edit: Oh i misspoke, it looks like a Fairy Ring mushroom. google the image. pretty cool.
I'd go with a shady spot, think of it like a replicated moist forest to break it down faster.
And i'd add kelp meal to the pile at a minimum, and if you are like most organic farmers you may have leftover guanos or fish meal or whatever, THOSE are awesome to use as a nitrogen input tp your pile, and will accelerate the thermophilic process of the compost.
grass clippings work well for that too.
Yep, just piled in the yard. I bought some chicken wire and enclosed the pile so that I didn't have leaves blowing all over. I mulched them with my lawn mower to break them down a bit and create more surface area. They are almost all carbon by the time they fall off the tree, so adding a source of N (I used alfalfa pellets from a feed store) will help speed up the decomposition. Then just wet it down and forget about it. The pile will heat up substantially, and will reduce big time. 12 months seems to be the minimum when adding a source of N. If you just pile them up and leave them it can take upwards of 3 years.
As usual good advice man.
If you have layered alfalfa in there it'll break down faster than 12 months. At least it did for me, i had pure black crumbly humus in like 6 months. BUT i amended the bejesus out of it, and turned it a lot too.
Pure leafmold can take three yrs, but that's with nothing added.
If you like those pellets maybe see how much a bale of alfalfa is, sometimes they break it up or sell it for hamsters or whatever, but that stuff fresh can boost the temps fast, and that'll break it down faster.
I can't remember the advantage of having a PURE leafmold as opposed to a mixed amended one, or if there is. I seem to remember somebody saying it was better for some reason.. Maybe on grasscity or something.
Anyways, i use the fresh alfalfa, kelp meal, fishbonemeal, etc, etc, etc.
If you wanted to keep it a strict plant based compost i would add kelp meal to it.
Layer it, and break it down, and absolutely run it through a leaf mulcher or a lawnmower, that speeds it up bigtime.
