Pine straw tends to acidify the soil as it breaks down, so it's good to use around azaleas and other acid-loving plants. Straw and sawdust mulches use nitrogen as they decompose, so you may need to add some nitrogen fertilizer if you use them. Replay Video We're sorry, there seems...
Leaves are not the quickest items to decompose, especially if you are composting them by themselves. The leafmold might be ready within a few months, but it is more likely that you'll need to wait a year, possibly longer. Procedure Poke a few holes in the bottom of each trash bag with...
they decompose without oxygen, producing methane—a greenhouse gas that contributes to climate change, Mizejewski explains. Landfills are a major source of methane emissions, and much of that comes from organic yard waste like leaves, he says. So, by keeping the leaves in your...
If you manage your compost pile by turning and watering it regularly, it will decompose into finished compost within a few weeks. But conditions have to be balanced for efficient decomposition. You have to make sure your compost pile gets: Plenty of air: Turn it every four to seven days, ...
Soft tissues, like skin, muscles and other organs, decompose. Minerals from the soil make their way into the bone, turning it to stone. Fossilization doesn't happen very often, so there are gaps in the fossil record — periods of time when conditions weren't right for fossilization. ...
1. True or false: Tennis balls take 400 years to decompose. True. It takes 400 years for tennis balls to decompose. During this time, they produce a whole lot of methane, a greenhouse gas that contributes to climate change. Read More: 11 Smart Uses for Old Tennis Balls 2. What is th...
Actually, they might be beneficial by working to decompose the organic matter. But if you live in an area where termites are a major concern, you will want to keep the beds at least 30 feet (9 meters) from your home. As long as you have an outdoor space and access to some woody ...
Returning nutrients to the soil During the spring and summer, trees pull nutrients and minerals up from the soil and convert them into new leaves and branches. Nutrients and minerals are returned to the soil when the leaves fall off the trees and decompose on the ground. Pound for...
Alternate layers of brown and green matter when building your hot compost pile, and add a few shovels full of garden soil to contribute to those essential soil microbes. The more green matter, the hotter the pile will get, and the faster it will decompose. Heat also helps to kill off dis...
One approach to analyzing factors is to do model comparison; this is akin to the ANOVA omnibus test, and again leaves it unclear which groups differ from which others. An alternative approach is to base analyses on contrasts, which allow us to code factors as independent variables in linear ...