Shredded Paper for Compost or Mulch
Tips, Tricks
Shredded Paper for Compost or Mulch in your garden. Do you have ideas or uses for shredded paper? Please post your thoughts and comments.
Comments
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I used shredded paper as a mulch in a shallow container of flowers and found it to be amazing. The flowers, which used to dry out all the time, haven't really needed me to water them since I added the paper. I added the paper last week of June.( I live in central TX- think HOT) We have had a wetter summer than normal, and I water the yard once a week with a sprinkler when it doesn't rain, and that container gets watered then. But I was having to water daily by hand. Not anymore. The paper seems to hold a lot of water. It's not real pretty, but I can cover it up with leaf mulch (which seems to hold very little water) or wood chips.
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Wouldn't be that keen putting the ink thats on the shredded paper into the food chain.
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look up brightening agents in paper
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Thanks for this. I am adding it to my bin today!
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Paper and cardboard are something easy to recycle and possibly better for our environment than composting. Shredded paper should not be recycled as such because of its size it falls through the processing equipment. It should be placed in cardboard or paper containers so it is a larger, single item. People often complain that disposing of documents and large volume cardboard boxes is difficult. Simple answer:- don't bother shredding just soak them and 'paper mache' them into balls or shapes (for fun). No-one will be able to pull apart your sodden, squished up tax returns, bank statements etc. let alone read them. Soaking the Tax Man, rolling him up in a ball and throwing him in the bin is good for your psychological well-being. If you are paranoid about having you identity stolen then shred documents and paper mache them; the recycling process can then handle them. The FBI, CIA or Internal Revenue (in the US) and the Tax Man or ASIO (in Australia) will never find you! Your kids can have fun making animals, shapes and models out of them (turn the Tax Man into an 'ass'). You can turn a years statements and documents into a bucket sized item. Hose down and soak the cardboard box that your refrigerator came in until it squelches, fold it over and stand on it then repeat this several times and it will then fit into the vegetable crisper drawer or the meat drawer (almost! depending on how much meat you eat) in your fridge. Much easier to put in your recycle bin also.
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I use shredded paper in my vermicomposters, the worms love it. Breaks down quickly
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In my day dreams, after winning the Euro millions, I buy a large country house with a walled garden and, amongst other activities, collect paper and cardboard to shred to use as bedding for livestock.
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Concern would be thermal based printed shredded paper in ingredients unlike soya based ink which is consumable. As most high print users would use thermal laser printers as are cheape to run put not said to be healthy or good for the garden unlike soya which are much more expensive to run per cartridge
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Potted Soil Aeration for quick drainage
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I use it also as cat litter.
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Make paper mache' Mardi Gras floats.
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I use it as a mulch around my strawberries, works well for me!
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I would not use shredded paper for compost in my garden. The possible contaminants such as chlorine bleach used to process the paper turns into dioxins when it breaks down and furthermore there's no nutrition in shredded paper. It could be used as mulch in a non-edible garden bed.
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I have a mini tiller and I till it into the soil, the worms make short work of it and I noticed the birds take some for nest building
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Don't use plastic coated paper though.. if using junk mail
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I used shredded paper as mulch in my back yard. I spread it around simply to try to prevent weed growth. I live in a fairly windy area and it never went into my neighbors' yards. I wetted it soon after application. It prevented weed growth for awhile and after about four months, with the help of rain, it was totally assimilated into the soil.
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I started composting in May. I started adding hand-shredded paper to my compost in August. It immediately changed the character of my pile. I've never been very rigorous about it, but based on casual observation, the pile has gotten much colder and wetter. In the short term this is somewhat gross and less satisfying- more smells and I no longer feel a flash of heat when I open the pile. But since I live in the midst of pretty much eternal drought conditions, the moisture retention may be good thing in the long run.
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I do the same. Free compost ingredient sent to me daily via junk mail.
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I do the same thing.
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If you use shredded paper for mulch, what if it rains? would the paper would just turn in to plup because of the water?
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