Is Cardboard Killing Your Garden?
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- čas přidán 11. 09. 2024
- Gardeners' Gold or Toxic Waste? Is cardboard really killing your garden and poisoning your crops?
In this week's episode Ben uncovers the truth about cardboard and how to use it safely in the garden; what to keep, what to discard and how to put it to best use so you can sleep easy knowing that your garden and your crops are happy and healthy.
For more on how to use packaging in the garden, watch this next
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Former paper mill manager here. Ben's advice is spot on... I'd say if it's brown, put it down. But beware of anything that is white and recycled, like paper towel or the cardboard that comes in that new dress shirt or whatever. We manufactured everything from post-consumer content and that stuff is heavily "cleaned" with lots of chemicals. It can also contain bits of glass, metal, and other debris. Most of it is filtered out but some always remains in the finished product.
Clarifying question: if it's brown, does that mean it's not made from recycled material?
Edit: That can't be right; I've found a paper supermarket bag that claims to contain 70% recycled material.
@@null_matrix1467 Not necessarily, but it's certainly less "refined" than the lighter stuff. No one cares how brown paper looks since it's used in packaging and can easily be recycled many times. The lighter it looks, the more it's to be avoided is my rule.
@@null_matrix1467some brown is virgin paper, which is from trees. But most brown (chipboard) is made from post consumer product (recycled). And is typically FDA approved.
Great advice from someone who knows. Cheers
Wow, thank you very much Matthew, you have taught us all very important things!
I ripped off that paper tape from Amazon boxes and fed it to a worm bin for months. At the end, I had a big clump of those strings. I didn't put that big clump in a compost pile that went to thermophilic temperatures. After several months, there was still a big clump of string. So, in my opinion, those strings are not biodegradable. The only thing I didn't try was UV light.
~ Sandra
I think those strings are plastic
@@LydJaGillers I agree - they kind of melted together after being in my hot compost pile.
~ Sandra
Thanks for this!
I tested the strings with a match it is plastic.
@@NanasWorms seems so counter productive to make the tape “biodegradable” and then mix it with a non biodegradable plastic material 🤦🏼♀️
Hi Ben - the white stringy stuff is glass fiber, as used in making 'fiberglass' and the tape is usually referred to as fiberglass tape.
Always enjoy your videos !!
Thanks for confirming this. 😀
Printing press operator here, many of the "soy based" inks on the market at least in the United States have a large portion of petroleum content. They have soy oil in them as a way of making them seem more environmentally friendly, so be careful. If it's a heavily printed box I wouldn't use it in the garden.
Thank you! This is exactly what I was saying.
I was thinking that the pigments in the ink may also contain things like cadmium? Not saying they do but most pigmented things are made with some mineral or other, titanium, cobalt etc. The amount is miniscule but it might be a good idea to find out if it is or is not a problem. The soy and whatever is the medium, the pigment that colors it is something else.
Really useful insight, thank you.
Inks for most offset printing are “soy based” …. But that just means the carrier is soy. This equates to 4-40% of the ink (depending on the method). This doesn’t mean the remaining ingredients are bad, but they should be looked into if cardboard is continually being added to your compost.
Also as additional info on colored printing like the cereal box, almost all color printing for retail products and mailers gets a varnish coating added to protect the printing from scuffs and the like. Varnish is plastic and would become micro plastics in the garden.
Thank you for this! We farm cardboard for every reason you listed and more! Our potatoes love cardboard and we've been able to construct elaborate hugelkültur beds using cardboard and other sturdy biodegradable materials. ❤🎉 I will be sharing your video! My tomatoes love cardboard. My worms love cardboard! It blocks my chickens from ruining ground. It sucks up snow melt and freezes fast to the ground and then holds the snow and ice that falls.... Protecting my carrots, potatoes, garlic, horseradish and other tubers over winter because cardboard holds in heat! (Wisconsin USA)
Hi Wisconsinite! Yes, cardboard is very useful. Works great in paths covered with arborist chips in my garden.
Great to hear!
@@CloverleafFarmsDC if this string gets stuck on the limbs or necks of birds, amphibians, mammals like hedgehogs it will either die of asphyxiation or lose a limb or worse die of sepsis. This is an URGENT plea to the Great Grow veg channel to get the word out that this internal plastic string is a hazard to our small beneficial mammals such as shrews and hedgehogs and our birds, even toads and lizards. Do NOT use this tape...remove it all and dispose of carefully in the bin then the card is garden safe.
I put torn-up egg cartons and other soft cardboard in my worm farm to balance the moisture from veg and fruit peels. Worms seem to absolutely love it
I always have tons of worms under cardboard I've laid down in the garden.
My worms go for that compressed paper too. I avoid most other cardio types unless I see the worms go for it, otherwise it's recycled.
Cardboard is how I started growing vegetables, laying it down for my no-dig patch. Three years on, and it's going great!
Same. I did the same this past summer for what will be my cabbage bed, in the spring. I’ve now dug it over, removed all stones and weeds, dug in some composted donkey manure (I live near a sanctuary,) and have covered it back over with the cardboard, to let it rest.
I was a bit worried by that title for a moment.
I first use cardboard to line my new ducklings 'nest' and food trays (as they are quite wet and messy), adding a layer of hay on top of the card in their nest tray.
I change this cardboard daily, putting in fresh for the ducklings, and putting the used stuff down around my young basket willows and blueberries (to keep weeds down).
For the past 2 autumns we have been using layers of cardboard topped with mulched leaves to suppress weeds in a garden under a walnut tree. Last year I had a large tote that had gathered rain water and found that after a very brief soak, packing tape peeled right off and the cardboard was more pliable to lay down. A real game changer
Great video, as always. I flatten my brown boxes and lay them on top of my compost until it rains. The idea is that it keeps the compost heat in. After the rain, all labels and tape come off easily and the cardboard is easy to break down into small piles. I can also frequently separate the outer layer in one pies and use it on top of empty beds as mulch before planting.
Great video! I'm saving up a bunch of cardboard to smother my entire lawn and replant it with something more environmentally friendly, but every now and then some folks comment worrying about glues and chemicals. This will be a nice, informative video to direct them to!
Thank you ,as I’m creating a new garden I’ve found cardboard helpful for killing the grass. Excellent video with lots of good tips cheers From Australia 🇦🇺
Same. I usually start my new beds in the fall, cover the grass with cardboard, compost and mulch. Often the cardboard still isn't completely decomposed in the spring but it's easy enough to tear out or dig thru.
I use cardboard often and with all of the methods you showed. I got the idea originally from Charles Dowding. Thanks to cardboard I've established a wonderful growing space I've enjoyed for over two years. You answered my questions about gardening with cardboard quite thoroughly, thanks!
This video hits every area you need to know about cardboard use in the landscape and garden. 👍🏼👍🏼
This is how I started my raised bed garden. Works magnificent. The cardboard broke down great in my area and climate. No digging!
Main way I use it is to pasteurize it, along with some vermiculite, used tea leaves and a small bit of powdered gypsum to grow Pink oyster mushrooms in containers.
Once fruited and harvested, I save a small bit of the mycelium for the next round, and the rest goes in the wormery (along with kitchen scraps and garden waste) to produce some really great compost, and some compost tea which I add to my micro-drip irrigation setup.
I have some pinks - what percantage of cardboard do you use? Is it just cardboard and tea-leaves nutritionally? Very interesting. I've been using pastuerised sugar-cane straw and wood chips, but I find more woodchips increases my contamination rate. Cheers.
@@octoBadger I'm still experimenting on the ratios of everything, but I've recently found that you really shouldn't skip the vermiculite, seems the cardboard + used tea leaves don't contains enough minerals by themselves... (Or, maybe, I would need to up the amount of tea leaves, but I only get through so much...)
From the past attempts that worked,
About 5L (about a gallon) of torn cardboard
About 0.5L of used tea leaves
About 2L of vermiculite
A couple of tables spoons.of powdered gypsum
@@dwavenminer interesting!, thanks for the reply
How do you pasteurise cardboard? Apologies for my ignorance, I've never heard of the method before!
@@ricos1497 simple: just add (boiling) water, in a sealed container and wait about 10 minutes.
For air and water flow, i would suggest perforating the cardboard sheets with a thick pitchfork or just a wooden stake. Will probably save a bunch of manual watering trying to soften it up. I've also been growing some single seed potatoes in empty liquor boxes this year in my driveway because my main garden is growing squash and corn.
I read somewhere that the strings holding packing tape together are made of fiberglass. Love your content - thanks for the videos!
Thank you, Ben, for this video. I use cardboard for all the reasons you have listed and it's highly effective for the compost bin. Your garden looks beautiful !
I used it in my flower beds before mulching and in my garden beds, as you did. It seems to hold back the weeds best in the shady areas. Some of those industrial weeds still break through after a few months, especially where it is sunny. I'm in the southern part of USA and if I haven't got a handle on the weeds by the end of May, I've lost the battle. haha
I use card board since the 90 and never had any issues, always had good healthy veggies and fruits don.t be afraid of everything
And yes I even had my soil tested and it was very healthy
So glad you are tackling this subject Ben. I am always a bit confused. God bless you and yours and please pet that little puppy dog for me. Lol.
Thank you, I will :-)
I’ve heard that worms actually eat the glue in cardboard. Anecdotal evidence in my garden suggests that maybe that’s true, since I always get plenty of worms in any area where I use cardboard. Of course it could be the trapped moisture, but who knows. I use cardboard all the time, especially in ornamental applications. I’m trying to reclaim some areas from invasive weeds. I use it flat to suppress weeds and shredded in the compost pile.
I have used cardboard in my compost for years I just removie the tape and labels and sometimes staples. Tear it up into small pieces as you said and give it a good wetting after adding it to my compost and then cover it with 'greens' . It's good to see you doing the same.
I was always very specific when adding my cardboards to begin with. Always soft cardboards, never amazon boxes (I can't trust them) and as little dyes as possible. Things like egg cartons, toilet paper and paper towel rolls, cereal boxes (rarely) and regular tissues and paper towels. Some regular cardboards, single corrugated cardboards. Not much else.
I forgot to mention, I only add them to my worm bins as a 4 inch base that they can dig through. Only when I can't recognize it, does it then go into my garden. Sifted of course
what up with amazon boxes??
In our humid Florida environment and pure sand cardboard is a dream! I will flip beds and start new ones with a thick double layer that will be permeable in as little as 3 months with compost or other growing medium on top. I prefer 6 to 8 inches of free compost because of our lifeless sand.
I have a friend in my local big box hardware supply that saves large 6 foot by 8 foot sheets of double walled corrugated with no ink, tape, glues or even labels that is used in the shipping process of large appliances. I can pick up anywhere between a dozen or two sheets. All I want whenever I need! I am a HUGE corrugated cardboard fan!
Thanks mate. Useful information, swiftly delivered and without any unnecessary pessimism.
Always welcome!
I don't use heavily labeled or taped cardboard in my garden but I don't remove the tape or labels on the cardboard that I use. As it breaks down the tape pops through the mulch and I remove it then. Using cardboard has been a game changer, my plants have never looked better. If I find a stubborn spot of weed growth, I just move the mulch aside and tuck in some new cardboard and recover with mulch. I had a very weedy patch of ground cover. Here I used crumpled paper bags and wet it thoroughly and within one season hardly any weed growth. I was surprised how well that worked. I do use about three layers of cardboard, wet it down thoroughly before topping with mulch and just replenish the areas each year where I see weeds.
Your videos aren't usually this clickbait style, people will believe and stop using cardboard without even watching because they've grown to trust you. Your videos are usually my favorite and the fill my "watch later"
🙄
I wanted to grab people’s attention with this one as it’s a question I am often asked. Hopefully enough people will click to reveal the truth. 😀
@@GrowVeg I wouldn't have clicked without the bait. You're doing the right thing.
Thank you, Ben - good advice! I use cardboard under chipped bark to keep the path behind my growing beds weed-free. It really cuts down the time I have to spend on weeding.
I'm doing this tomorrow. How many layers of cardboard do you use under your mulch?
I want to make the ground weed free. I have raised beds and am not sure if I should put gardening fabric then cardboard and mulch or just cardboard and mulch. 😅
For most weeds, just adding cardboard and then mulch would be fine. I tend to just use one layer of cardboard for normal weeds.
@@GrowVeg Thank you!
Great advice Ben.👍🏻 The only thing I do differently is tearing up the cardboard into much smaller pieces, which takes along time to do. But is very relaxing, especially when sitting by my pond.🐟
Sounds like a meditative process even. 😀
Love using cardboard in my compost bins, it's such a direct way of recycling and much less resource heavy compared to shipping it off for processing. Id be willing to bet the strings are nylon given it's low cost and impressive strength
The thread can be either nylon or glass fibre.
I love using the cardboard from all the "stuff" I order online on all my pathways, covered with wood chips. Some weeds do get through, but no so many that I can't keep up with them. I do take oof all tape, including that paper tape that Amazon uses. I believe those filaments are made of nylon and they simply don't break down. I purchased a 12 sheet shredder to make bedding for my worms and it handles the cardboard pretty well. I'm pleased to find out I can add it to my newly built compost bins!
Thank you very much Ben!!
As always I am very grateful for your advice!!
Happy Gardening Everyone!!😊❤
Namasté 🙏🕊️💞🌟
Andréa and Critters. ...XxX...
Happy Gardening!
There are a few older posts online that say the threads in the water based Amazon packing tape are fibreglass. However, the threads melt and burn very easily, whereas fibreglass has a very high melting and combustion point. And when they burn they smell a bit sugary, so could be starch based bioplastic? Can’t find any info from Amazon itself.
Could well be. Thanks for sharing this info. 😀
You are such a delight to watch, I've learned so much from you, and I so very much appreciate your Love of life!!!❤️❤️❤️
Thanks so much! ☺️ Happy gardening!
My allotment had lots of perennial weeds, so I’ve used cardboard on top of wood chip, covered by compost to start no dig beds.
When cardboard is recycled, I would imagine some of the nasty components end up being ground up and included in the newly made cardboard. I think most cardboard contains some recycled cardboard. So probably a tiny percent of what you don't want in most otherwise excellent cardboard. Probably very small.
I tried to research soy based inks and they seemed to be a scam to comfort the consumer. I saw claims that ink only needs ten percent soy in it to be called "soy based" and the soy does not add the color. LOL. I couldn't find any good information, so I try to use cardboard with minimal black ink on it and hope the black is carbon ink.
Never thought of using cardboard boxes for growing potatoes, may try this next year i get tons of boxes from work lots of medical stuff so i just rip tape off. Great videos, info and the same for your subscribers we get good tips and tricks. Thank you all
I just found out in our water well could contain alkaline which can keep some vegetables from growing so the lady in Florida explained she added some worm stuff and a little bit of sulfer,, mixed it up in her soil and her plants did Great. 😊❤ Thank you Sir for teaching us all 😊❤
I've used cardboard for most of my gardens. I've also used landscape fabric and the cardboard wins every time for keeping weeds out. I loved all the other tips you gave and, to be honest, didn't always get rid of the tape and labels but will the next garden I start! Thanks!
Good video! I use cardboard a lot. To convert lawn to garden, to attract worms to the surface, to mulch; and to brown up my compost piles. It makes a fantastic mulch for new trees and shrubs, with a few inches of wood chips on top. For a small hedge of ninebark shrubs in a hot sunny location, it made a huge difference I could see within a couple of weeks. Flowering and rapid growth.
Its such a useful resource, Its something that can really make a difference for time and effort if used right
Absolutely Tony. Hope you are very well and you’re enjoying a productive summer. It’s going too fast!
I remove all tape, staples & glue & don't use coloured cardboard in my compost.
So far this year, I've shredded over 200kg of corrugated cardboard to mix with grass clippings, roughly 50/50 by volume.
I used huge amounts at the beginning of last year to sheet mulch my new, 6m x 13m mini allotment, with 7-8cm of compost on top (5m³ of which half was my own & the rest bought, green waste compost).
I have a stock tank I make liquid fertilizer in. I add chopped comfrey, urine and weeds to the water. I soak the cardboard in that before it goes on the garden. It breaks down much faster.
Thanks for the info. Ben! I have 2 buckets in a closet that I collect my brown cardboard. Every 3 months , I take an hour or so and run the brown papers through my 10 sheet paper shredder and it looks like paper Easter Basket filler. I use it in my composter, worm bin, and in summer I use it around my vegetables as a top dressing mulch. Worms use it up and keeps soil moist and cooler during hot 100* days in Illinois, USA.
What a great system you have there. 😀
I used cardboard to cover my weeds. I didn’t want to use weed killer, so I put cardboard down and mulch on top. It’s been about 3 years and the weeds still haven’t shown up.
I thought that from the title this video was going to be something of a scare-mongering, but no...
Thanks for making everything so clear and for supporting these valuable methods for re-using/recycling cardboard!
We like to source large pieces of brown cardboard from furniture warehouses or bicycle shops. They're happy to give it away and we're happy to use it to start our no dig gardens. It's a win win :D
This was somewhat helpful. But when we drive for vacation we pass several cardboard MAKING manufactories on the way. The chemical stench from them is nauseating & I always wondered what actual chemicals go in that process. That wasn't addressed here--does anyone know? I don't use it in the veg beds, but I do use it in flower beds, as I don't eat them.
We have some paper mills in Wisconsin, US and they don’t smell pleasant. I just asked my husband why that is and he said the wood is pulverized and it has starches/sugars in it and sort of like a brewery.
@@dustyflats3832 It's not a brewery smell the ones we go by in NC; it's a strong chemical smell as I said above.
@@laurieanne9712it depends on the type of paper that the mill makes. I suspect that mill makes SBS. It’s a solid bleached sulphate. A virgin pulp that is bleached white and has a nice coating. Very expensive printing paper.
I shred cardboard and add it to my worm bin - which becomes worm castings for the garden. I also like to use it to keep the weeds down as well though.
I always shred my brown cardboard up and layer them in the compost bins.
How do you shred the boxes?
@@zoundstreetop By hand, I pull the boxes apart then put them in my compost bins.
@@Junk_World_Templar thanks! I was wondering if anyone had tried shredding larger quantities in a wood chipper.
@@zoundstreetopI don't think a wood chipper would shred effectively. My Bosch doesn't - just clogs.
I've been using a 20 sheet crosscut office shredder for 7 years now.
I cut corrugated cardboard into 6" wide strips & it handles them easily.
I can shred up to 10kg at a time without the shredder's cut out tripping due to the motor getting hot (it's only done that once & I think that time, I'd shredded 15kg in one session)
I do the same by hand. I found if the cardboard is really tough, I leave it out in the rain. By wetting it first makes it a lot easier to break up.👍🏻
Thanks for confirming what I thought, and do. I actually stopped worrying about cardboard’s effects when I saw how the worms thrived on the shredded cardboard mixed into their bedding. On that, I use a 10-sheet shredder which is fine for cutting the thinner cardboard.
Very welcome and good idea! :-)
I never use cardboard in the garden because it might be recycled material containing chemicals.
Great information, especially about all the potential pitfalls of using cardboard. Most of my raised beds are on concretes flags or have a wooden base with fabric under them, so they don't need cover at the bottom for weeds. However the 3 metal beds I set up in the past year have had cardboard placed under them to prevent grass and weeds from seeping through, as well as my small bed on the side of the house for my sunflowers and bee-friendly garden patch.
I use cardboard in my compost. I cut it with a stanley knife into manageable chunks, and then place it in a box of water before I start mowing the lawn. I then layer on top of my grass cuttings, and I find that with the water exposure, it can quickly be torn down further and also peeled into the various layers so that it mulches quicker (I think!).
I have very sandy white oily soil in my garden. A few years ago, I started shredding cardboard, then allowed it to soak overnight before digging it into my garden. This was a tremendous help. My sandy sand garden started holding water and the oil disappeared. Today, I have healthy soil with earthworms (not sure where they came from). Yes, compost in place has helped tremendously too. The secret was cardboard - shredded, soaked and scattered
Sorry to report I heard potatoes are heavily treated with various toxic pesticides so I only eat organic potatoes. If the glue in cardboard fibers are made from potatoes they likely also contain toxic chemicals.
OMG!😮
I've used cardboard to suppress weeds. Snails, slugs, ants and voles have all much appreciated this. Now I use it for that only if I have time to cover it thoroughly.
Other than that I use it for composting or storing potatoes, carrots and garlic.
Thank you for this deep dive into cardboard! I do love using it for many things, like ripping up and using in my compost pile, and of course sheet mulching under woodchips. And I give it a good soaking in a tub of water or as you did, with a watering can, as I’m laying it. I definitely remove any tape or stickers 😊
I shred my carboard with an office shredder then use it as a mulch and also in my compost. It works very well.
Handy tip!
I used cardboard when I needed to clear a weedy patch of ground for my vegetable garden.I used plain brown corrugated cardboard, no slick coated cardboard, then covered it with about 3 inches of wood chips. This smothered the weeds very effectively. After year 1, weed seeds which were blown in did germinate in the wood chips .In 6 months the cardboard was gone, and the soil was alive with earthworms and other creatures like slugs and earwigs. I could do without the slugs and earwigs .
Love cardboard in the garden. Like you I use it to create new growing spaces. I Lay down cardboard cover in a deep layer of grass clippings. Leave over winter by spring its ready to start planting in.
Really helpful information. I had been wondering about all of those issues you covered. I'll be avoiding the seams now, as well as stripping off the tape, labels and staples. Thank you Ben. You are gold dust!
Thank you! :-)
Coated cardboard/magazines etc have a clay base from what I have read. So they don't break down well. So reason not to use them. And treated cardboard usually is cardboard that held produce (to kill bugs). So probably best to not use any produce boxes just to be safe.
You clarified everything - thank you!!
Great topic Ben!
I’ve wondered if others knew of what could be added to cardboard especially warehouse boxes. I read awhile back about arsenic being added to prevent rodents from eating the boxes. I believe it was more for things like appliances and not sure if that is still done.
Same thing about pallets that many reuse for compost bins or making other items from the wood. Apparently there is a stamp on the pallets that are treated and not kiln dried.
Then there is the whole plastics, metals and glass being used. Oh the garbage we make 🤔
It is a bit of aminefield. On the pallets look for HT, which stands for heat treated.
I have a one hundred year old wool rug made in "Persia". It is beautiful, but so worn out that I am thinking of using it as a carton substitute. I would put it over a stump that keeps sending up suckers. I have a large garden so it would be out of sight. Have you ever heard of using wool rugs in this way?
I haven’t, but it could well work.
Very informative thankyou Ben and ❤to Rosie x
Thank you! :-)
I always thought that the string in tape was leftover floss.
I'd be curious to see a comparison of a bed where you use cardboard and compost/much and just compost/mulch without cardboard to see if the cardboard actually makes and difference in controlling weeds.
I started a brash heap last year. Basically hedge cuttings mixed with some grass cuttings. It seems to be shrinking steadily and I will probably try digging it out next spring. Any had success with this?
I collected loads, and loads of leaves during lockdown and put it a meter long chicken wire enclosure. . It's now down to a few cm of rich brown compost, again fortified with grass cuttings.
Brash may take a bit longer to decompose but should still yield fab compost in time. 😀
This years weeds has decided the use of raised beds for next years garden. I am caregiver for my older sister and her stroke in May has really taken time away from the garden. Its turned into a mass of tall weeds I'm trying g to cut down a little at a time Once that is done I'm going to go ahead and lay off my bed areas and get them ready . already looking forward to a more weed deprived and user friendly garden.
Thanks as always for your info, have a blessed week all.
Nice job Sir, been a question I've needed to better understand, will be using again in the garden.
Glad to help :-)
I usually check places that sell appliances they come in large boxes that do not have lables hardley any glue just on the ends home depot -- costco etc.
I use it as weed blocker and as a sheet mulch. 2-4 layers thick over grass and then about 4 to 8 inches of woodchips on top around trees that I plant.
I did all those things you mentioned over the last few years. Yay. Glad i guessed right. 😁
As with anything Ben, it all depends on the tape maker for the reinforcing material. Most cheap ones are fibreglass but Amazon claim that the Blue/Black Amazon Prime tape they use is fully biodegradable - and I have no cause to disagree with them. Never found any strands in my beds after a few years.
I use a paper shredder to shread up my delivery boxes and packaging,I do remove all the sticky tape and labels,we even use it as a mulch to keep in moisture around tomato plant,and the best thing it's free!
Using a 16 page paper shredder you can shred thinner cardboard. I shred cardboard and use it as chicken bedding and compost browns.
I also use in the compost and for making new beds at the allotment, after removing all the stickies 💚
I've only been using cardboard to put down under wood chips to start killing my lawn, after removing all the tape and staples and lables.
I had wondered about the inks and glue, but my house is 110 years old and the yard has never been taken care of. I joke that every time I dig a hole that I'm guaranteed to find either broken glass, an old flat nail, or some odd thing I have to google to learn what it is and which decade it's from.
I haven't been overly concerned about accidentally adding anything harmful to the soil, since its full of garbage already, but I'm glad to know I haven't done any extra damage!
Brilliant info from lots of people. Thankyou everyone. 👍😁
Not necessarily about cardboard, but I have been shredding paper, like shopping receipts, and also personal letters, and putting it into the compost. However, someone commented that the inks could be toxic and would contaminate the compost, and so contaminate my food crops. Do you think that this is correct? 🤔
Unsure about inks (when in doubt, nope out) but thermal/receipt paper in that mix is definitely one I'd shy away from for a couple reasons! www.pca.state.mn.us/business-with-us/bpa-and-bps-in-thermal-paper
BPA and BPS are in high concentrations on receipts. They are hormone disruptors.
I have read it is not safe to even touch receipts with wet hands because of endocrine disruptors like BPA and its replacements. Also that they are best to throw away because they also contaminate the paper recycling process, causing toxic effluent in streams.
I shred my cardboard in a crosscut paper shredder. It makes very nice and attractive mulch. It breaks down quickly. I use it on my many potted plants to hold moisture in. It is also very good for composting. I cut my cardboard in 8-1/2" wide strips as long as possible, sit in my lawn chair with an ale and feed cardboard into the shredder. I'm retired...what else am I doing (I wish.) A 24 paper shredder costs about $170.00 on Amazon. This gives you room for a 1/8" thick piece of cardboard. Thicker if your careful and handy with a die grinder. Well worth it. Be sure to keep it oiled with mineral oil. Michael
This is a great tip Michael, thank you. And an ale in hand seems like a very civilised way to do it. 😀
I watched a video a few months ago that claimed that all Amazon packaging is designed to be recycled . Not sure if this is really true , but i put a lot of my Amazon packaging through the shredder now and recycle them through my composting bins.
I learned nothing new and thoroughly enjoyed making sure. :) Depending on the volume available, I use it for compost and/or weed suppression, of which there is a great need in the newest part of the garden.
I've been waiting for a video on this subject. Reassuring to know that I'm removing the right bits from my Amazon packaging. Thanks, Ben.
Living lakeside, our ground is generally very, extremely very, moist, necessitating raised beds! I built as many as I could afford. Then I planted more crops in open ended cardboard boxes - it works! Several years later, I'm still planting squash, tomatoes, and potatoes in boxes. After one or two years the cardboard degrades and easily composts.
What a great idea! 😀
Great information - better because you showed the samples.
We shred carboad to make bedding for our worm bin. Same to add to green waste in the compost pile. Labels & tape always removed & no shiny material. Thnx Ben!
Beautiful Garden!
Ben thank you for this Video❤
Very smart to use it in garden beds. Ill try it
4:20 - it's just 44% Carbon, school level chemistry. If you want it decomposed fast in your compost heap just add some Trichoderma. Even the one collected in local woods will do. Collect dry bracket fungi, wet them and put in a plastic bag for a 7-10 days, it will be covered with thick green mold. It's Trichoderma. Plus it will suppress fungal problems in your garden.
Thanks for this helpful info -- these are exactly the questions that have been on my mind.
Hi, I have been using Morag Gambles approach to sheet mulching in my veggie bed. She actually starts with leaves or grass clippings then compost and the a thick layer of newspaper with straw or leaf mulch on top. on top. I have used this technique for the past 5 years. If Inam creating a new bed, I will do this before the rainy season with a cover crop in top to chop and drop in the Spring. Do thing with all that layer I am creating anaerobic soil environment? Her theory is we need to feed the soil under the weed barrier.And for my perennial areas use cardboard.
You could certainly do that. I think the end result would be just as good. 😀
Great video, I always enjoy and look forward to your videos. I have a 15 page shredder, and that helps the cardboard break down faster, and is great for my compost worms. Thanks
The labels are hard to remove. I throw the toilet paper tubes in the compost. Thanks for the information!
I found that heating the labels with a hair dryer makes them easier to remove.
@@mihancic thanks
Great suggestion. 😀