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| I'm looking to get some organic compost. There is a company that sells bulk compost an it is suppose to be grass clipping and leaves. Its a big operation so my quetion is , would you be afraid in their grass clipping there are weed and feed chemicals in them thus being bad for my tomato plants.. I would think they are getting the grass clipping and leaves that aren't allowed in the public dump.. |
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| Will the company tell you where they are getting their feedstocks from? If it is from private yards I'd have less concern than say a golf course or park. I'd also ask if their compost has been tested for chemical residues. Lloyd |
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- Posted by gardengal48 PNW zone 8 (My Page) on Sun, Nov 27, 11 at 14:17
| Ask some questions about the heat of the composting process and how long it is maintained. A sufficiently hot compost maintained for an adequate period of time will neutralize the effects of nearly any previously applied pesticide with only one or two exceptions. And those exceptions tend to be highly regulated as to their use and the disposal of any plant matter thus treated. If only residential grass clippings and leaves, you should be fine. |
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- Posted by jonhughes So.Oregon (jonehughes@hotmail.com) on Sun, Nov 27, 11 at 21:09
| Lloyd,How do you deal with that issue, you are the "poster child" for getting tons of "stuff" without ANY way of knowing where it came from, what have you been able to ascertain as to the suitability of the unknown and as far as I can tell, your continuation of the "drop off a ton of stuff" program. IE... Apparently it doesn't bother your harvests enough to cause a concern. |
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| Two issues here, the fields that have the materials worked into are for growing wheat. There are not a lot of herbicides that are commonly used in a household setting that will have any effect on wheat so it isn't really an issue there. As for the windrow composting, I rely on heat and time. I ensure all the material is subjected to high temperatures of around 150 and are mixed/turned many times. After the heat cycle, the materials are cured for an extended period. No compost leaves my yard until it is two years old. Doesn't matter who or what it is for, it can't go out early, period, full stop. This is not negotiable. Having said that, I have incorporated 1.5 year old compost into my Aunts garden in the fall but technically nothing was grown there until the spring so it met my two year rule. The material I get from the parks in town is not treated with chemicals (I asked) but I still don't use this material in the windrow composting, it goes into the fields. I do not use manures of any kind and the straw I use is from my fields and I know what I spray them with. Am I overcautious? Perhaps, but in my 'real life' line of work, there is no such thing as being too cautious. Lloyd |
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- Posted by jonhughes So.Oregon (jonehughes@hotmail.com) on Mon, Nov 28, 11 at 11:52
| That sounds very prudent...As I have said before "You ARE the Man ;-)"
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