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| I do the kitchen scraps, I collect the neighbor's leaves and suck them up.I get UCGs from the store.
I'm afraid to put any weed type materials or old tomatoes into my pile! I'm afraid of weeds and tomato diseases! The thing is , is I haven't had weeds or diseases!LOL Too paranoid>????? Nancy |
Follow-Up Postings:
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| If the plants do not have any diseases then there are none to put into your compost. For many of the "weeds" if there are no seeds there will be no new growth from them, although some can root from stems and roots, Keep in mind that when you throw away any healthy plant you also throw away valuable nutrients that you need not. I have composted Chickweed and Purslane, by burying them in the compost with no new plants growing from that source. |
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| In order to not increase the amount of weeds in my garden I place all weeds into dark plastic bags for a few weeks before they go into the compost pile. They decompose anaerobically and are a slimy mess but any potential seeds probably don't survive. I'm not very concerned about plant diseases here in this northern dry climate as we don't have many. However, it might be different in your much warmer zone. Do you hot-compost? If a compost gets hot enough I wonder if it will eradicate plant disease organisms. |
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| We have a slow, open compost pile, that is mostly browns, and therefore it never heats up beyond 80 degrees F, or so. I routinely compost diseased plant material, from the garden, and from the yard. However, I am in no hurry to use this material-it typically sits in the compost pile for a year before it gets dug out and applied to the garden. I am not seeing evidence of weed seeds that survive the composting process. My guess is that they eventually get composted along with everything else in the pile. Soil microbes that are labeled pathogens apparently meet the same fate. |
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| .. Paranoid? Maybe not. What works best is what works for you. I try not to worry about that stuff too much. Too much is out my control and after mulching a bunch, weeds come out of the ground real easy. to sense |
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- Posted by strobiculate none (My Page) on Sat, Sep 8, 12 at 21:34
| Weeds will come. That's why they are weeds. As regards the tomatoes, that's a different ball of wax. Verticillium is a soil borne disease, which is why you are supposed to rotate locations. The bigger issue is the blights, late blight and early blight. And the decision of composting or not is a question for you to make. This year, I will not compost any tomato parts. All remains from the tomatoes will get tilled in. Because this year, we had the blights. If you life in a major potato growing area, I'd be less likely to compost tomatoes. The pathogen that causes the blight is obligate, meaning it needs plant parts to survive from year to year. Major potato growing regions are more prone to outbreaks because of this. The pathogen has mating strains, sorta like male and female for fungi. So far, the mating strains haven't occured in the same locale, so the precautions regarding disease prevention in tomators are prudent, not paranoia. Sooner or later the strains will overlap and the disease will be able to winter on it's own. I'd not like that to occur earlier. |
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| I don't compost any tomato or potato material. I really don't worry about weed seeds - I don't use my compost for starting seeds, and I know I'll have to hoe or hand weed in any case. |
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- Posted by toxcrusadr (My Page) on Mon, Sep 10, 12 at 10:49
| You can always make a separate pile for anything questionable, and use the compost somewhere that it won't make a difference. I kinda wish I hadn't composted my tomatoes for so long, because the garden is almost uninhabitable and I've been forced into pots on the patio for awhile. A good measure of healthy skepticism is not a bad thing. :-D |
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- Posted by tishtoshnm 6/NM (My Page) on Thu, Sep 13, 12 at 14:34
| I do not think you are too paranoid, why invite problems. I allow weeds to decompose in areas that I am not working on currently or too mulch trees (but then again, I have acreage so I have many weeds and many areas to put them out of the way). I will also not be composting my tomato plants. I figure I can accumulate enough biomass other places without inviting problems. I may not be able to compost my corn stalks this year and that will hurt. Some of the cobs have a fungus and I do not want to give it a foothold but this was my first growing corn and I told DH even if it did not work, look at that biomass. Sigh. |
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- Posted by TheMasterGardener1 5B (My Page) on Thu, Sep 13, 12 at 15:50
| I think that is a big MYTH hehehe ;) No really, I have composted weeds with plenty of seeds in a good old "cold" method, never turning or letting the compost heat up. It all truns into soil by the microbes. I am sure they digest disease as well, along with seeds. All turns to soil. |
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