Maple tree helicopter seeds - green?

[watermelonpunch]

I have lots of maple tree helicopter seeds.

Some of my trees make seeds twice a year!!

Most of the ones that land on the lawn, I leave be unless they're highly concentrated in bunches. And they disappear, and baby trees do not appear in the middle of the lawn, so I haven't worried about that.
I just rake up the areas that have bunches that look messy, and leave the rest to decompose into the lawn after getting chewed up when my husband mows.

But they're on the street - which kind of looks like our driveway, but there's an easement though it's a dead end, that's paved a bit along the house, (so the city can charge "paved access" taxes for the property no doubt).

So this area I sweep up the helicopters.
It's just helicopters - nothing else really (maybe a few twigs).

Anyway, depending on WHEN I sweep, or how long I leave them lie there...
Well on the pavement, the helicopters quickly dry out & turn brown.
Does that make them brown like fallen leaves??
Or are they still green even when they're not green anymore??

Last year I heaped them into the compost. Both when green and after turning dried out brown.
My husband got panicky about that because it did look like a lot.
But then we had a lot of autumn leaves - far too many for the compost in fact.

But now the old compost heap, where I put most of the seeds... well, it looks "done" to me. THere's nothing recognizable, certainly not any helicopters. It's as if 1/3 of the pile disappeared really.
But we'd put heaps & heaps of leaves on it, and the 2nd pile I started.

I still have heaps of autumn leaves too - which have not broken down - which I was planning to add to the new compost pile as needed.

So wondering...
Anyone have any thoughts on this??

[RamonaGS]

I would think it's the same as fallen leaves...brown if they are dried out, and green if they are still fresh. But maybe someone else has a better answer.

[applestar]

Hmmm... But the nutrient content of the seeds may make them GREEN?

[watermelonpunch]

Yes, both of your responses are things that I was considering.

At any rate, I haven't had a problem with them breaking down - they seem to break down well. I mean that I have put wheel barrels full into the compost and within a couple of months, it's pretty much like they've disappeared. They seem to "disappear better" than leaves. I don't know if that means anything though.

And I see no special tendency to try & sprout or anything in the compost. lol So with all their nutrients, surely they must be a very good compost addition?

[rot]

..
Well if the seeds aren't propagating I say there's no problem.

From my dim memory of helicopter seeds and my own thin knowledge of seeds in general, I think the seeds are green, the leafy part is is on the green side with some carbons and the stems and twigs are carbon.

I think you can mix that stuff in more or less as a neutral. It's not going to add lots of greens nor browns. Just more balanced stuff. Kind of neat.

to sense
..