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| THE COLONY NEWS | JULY 2023 | 15 Evaluating Organic Mulches On May 26, eight Landscape Advisory Committee members and one HOA Board member (Kathy Stevens), along with the Landscape Department staff, took a tour of AgriService, an organic recycling center in Oceanside. We wanted to see composting in action and see if there were alternatives to the type of mulch we use in The Colony greenbelts. Upon arriving at the facility, we dodged trucks and trailers filled to the brim with various types of vegetation waste, waiting to be checked in on the scale. After weighing in, the drivers take their loads to several locations in the facility, depending on load composition. Green waste (from landscapers) is dumped and picked through by staff to separate huge pieces for further grinding. Yard waste (from homeowners' curbside yard waste) goes to a separate area. That pile was full of palm debris, which is also picked over by staff before further processing. Actually, management says 60% of their workload is picking stuff out of this curbside yard waste, and it goes to the landfill. NOTE: Waste Management green bin waste from The Colony does not go to this yard in San Diego County. To save the workers from the need to pick out palm debris from your green bin, put it directly into your garbage bin (maroon). After piles have been picked through for suitable long or big items (sent to other chippers), the rest goes through the grinders. For green waste, it's a trommel, which spits out mulch. For yard waste, it's a huge circular, heavy lid which settles over a steel cylinder that has steel "fins" which rotate to grind up yard waste, and a big magnet to catch nails and other metal. Whatever the category, the material is spit out into tall rows. Then each row is "fluffed" up by a huge machine that passes over the row, metal fingers reaching down and tossing the material as it goes over. All along, the various rows may have had additives, depending on what the users want. For instance, some piles have shrimp shells added to minimize Phytopthora root rot (phytopthora cinnamoni) in avocado trees. The variety of custom blends there boggles the mind. Then the rows "sit and cook." As they do, air is periodically piped up from underground lines into the material. This hastens microbial action, breaking down the cellulose and avoiding putrefaction. The water which drains from the piles is captured by a sump and recirculated, sometimes sprayed on top to cool the piles in the summer. Internal temperature of the piles is strictly monitored to assure proper decomposition. As we walked through these "mountains" of material in various stages of decomposition, we could notice a slight odor. However, AgriService is located somewhat near homes and is mindful of being a good neighbor. So that there is no odor going to neighbors, the "sitting" time and aeration for these "mountains" is for longer periods than other yards. And neither is there a bad smell in the finished products. Local residents can back their trucks up and load prepared yard waste for free. One can even get compost "tea" for plants at this facility. So, did we find a suitable alternative to the Stonewood mulch we use here in The Colony? We still favor our present type, which is not yard waste or green waste, but is strictly ground-up almond trees from central California. There are no leaves or ground-up pallets in it. It doesn't blow off the ground. It has been tested for fecal contaminants and other pollutants, and it doesn't decompose as fast as green waste. That means we only need to replenish the mulch in three to four years vs green waste's one to two years. The mulch material itself would cost about the same from Oceanside, but their delivery costs make it more expensive than our present supplier. They have smaller trucks, therefore requiring more loads. The larger trucks our present supplier use mean less freight costs to us, hence less total cost for Colony mulch. LANDSCAPE ADVISORY By Jan Foster, 951-698-0170

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