Composting leaves

[David 29971]

I do try to compost all my garden and kitchen waste and at this time of the year have several, metre cubed bins, available for leaves. My neighbour does not have bins but told me a few weeks ago that he intended to use black bags this year for his aboundance of leaves. I mentioned that I had heard good reports of this method provided the leaves were kept fairly moist etc etc.
However, yesterday, I noticed he was using clear not black bags. Would the clear bags still provide the potential of good compost or is the lack of light in a black bag an essential element for compost production?
Any advice would be very much appreciated

[Urban Fox]

>> is the lack of light in a black bag an essential element for compost production?<<

Hi David

If the bag has a few holes in it then some worms will find their way in to help with the composting process.

Now, composting worms like to be in the dark - so, I guess they'd prefer a black bin bag to a clear one.

Christina

[David 29971]

Thank you very much Christina.
That is a perfect reply and just what I wanted to know.
Very best regards

[Monika]

Hello, David, I think the worms would make their way well into the rotting leaves to find the dark, so the clear bags wouldn't worry them, but I would think by letting light to the leaves, any weeds or weed seeds one might have picked up with the leaves, would germinate and multiply, so, yes, presumably black bags are preferable.

[David 29971]

Monika.
Thats another excellent reply and much appreciated.
Thank you very much
David

[Geoff]

Last year I followed the advice from here of hanging those bags that a tonne of builders sand or gravel comes in from some stakes so they just touch the ground. I filled two up and put some plastic mesh on top weighed down with stones and topped up as the level settled, which it did quite quickly. Early this Autumn I combined the two now less than half full bags and added a third to the row so I am now filling up two again like last year. Seems to be making good stuff.