I have an area that is roughly 25 yards in length, two yards wide, and in some places at least a yard deep of open ground, filled with leaves and debris from a variety of different trees, grass, sticks, etc., all organic materials. My goal is to compost all of this material...

The leaves on top are all dried up and brown, of course, but below that, toward the bottom especially, time, pressure, heat, moisture has broken most of it down in to very small particles. And at the very bottom, the stuff is turning black and slimy.

The only thing that is stopping most of it from turning into compost, as far as I can see, is the lack of water, heat, and bacteria. I can easily provide that by keeping the area wet and dousing it with a water/molasses mixture.

I don't need to worry about covering the pile. The pile is already so deep that the debris on top and in the middle will easily provide all the cover that is needed to keep everything in place, and to keep the heat down in the works. And workers will continue to pile more on top of it all, as the trees are trimmed regularly.

I was looking into buying a chipping machine to chop all of this stuff up and start composting it. But this further research has revealed to me that that would be an expensive, unnecessary mistake.

I can't see any reason why composting the debris right there on the ground, right where it sits already would not work. Can you? Any more-experienced hands on the forum who can help steer me in the right direction here?

I think I'm gonna go for it! I went to the tack store and got the molasses already! Starting tomorrow!

Not a bad idea, but as you said they is a lot of debris ect ,they will also be a lot of weed seeds ,so you could be making a lot of work.

You will have to cover all the heap with a plastic sheet seal it so air can not get in ,if damp it should produce some heat ,which should kill off the weed seeds ,or most of them, use molasses+ EM.

I would think you would need to cover it for at least 2 months.

Not a bad idea, but as you said they is a lot of debris ect ,they will also be a lot of weed seeds ,so you could be making a lot of work.

You will have to cover all the heap with a plastic sheet seal it so air can not get in ,if damp it should produce some heat ,which should kill off the weed seeds ,or most of them, use molasses+ EM.

I would think you would need to cover it for at least 2 months.

What's EM?

I got it: effective microorganisms. Thanks.

Where do you get that?

A big pile is hard to turn.

Never heard of mollasses treatment for big piles.

..".And at the very bottom, the stuff is turning black and slimy" doesn't sound good.

Composting needs air, water, warmth.

Air:During composting, the material collapses on itself and with time the rotting process will become anaerobic, which you don't want and smells bad. when you make a new pile it should heat up, with time it cools down again and this is the time that you should remake the pile, stuff that was at the bottom or inside should gain access to air.when you get to stage whre there are plenty of worms, it is nearly finished,

You should reckon with turning at least every three months, maybe sooner. The molasses idea will be time consuming, you can give it a go.

I certainly wouldn't add unchopped twigs and branches to a compost heap unless I had a lot of time on my hands.