Return to the Soil Forum
| Post a Follow-Up
Pumpkins - decomposing vs. molding
| | |
Posted by
jannchgo 5b (
My Page) on
Tue, Nov 9, 10 at 15:29
| Our local paper advised not putting the stringy wet part of the pumpkin in the compost pile to avoid having it "mold" instead of "decompose". In a cold compost pile - isn't it always going to mold first - isn't that just part of the break-down process??
Thanks for all your learn-ed opinions! |
Follow-Up Postings:
RE: Pumpkins - decomposing vs. molding
| | |
| That doesn't make any sense at all. 'Mold', 'decompose', 'rot', whatever, it all leads back to compost! |
RE: Pumpkins - decomposing vs. molding
| | |
| Don't tell your local paper, but my pumpkins are molding in my compost pile as we speak. :-) |
RE: Pumpkins - decomposing vs. molding
| | |
| I'd give ANYTHING to have some pumpkins molding in my compost right now. (I blame mctoon.) |
RE: Pumpkins - decomposing vs. molding
| | |
| I never cease to be amazed at the misinformation dished out by the 'experts' in our print/electronic media. The result is that a process that Nature does wi/o any balance, turning, etc, is mystified. Bad enough when this mystifying process is used to make us afraid of our own judgment with regard to schools or city councils ... must have specialized 'insider' vocabulary in order to 'understand'. But composting mystified? THEM'S FIGHT'N WORDS, PARD BTW jannchgo ... I'm not being snarky at your expense. Just that in my 73 years I've been subject to this kind of 'experts only' intimidation, and seeing it practiced upon others puts me in touch with my 'inner b***h' :) |
RE: Pumpkins - decomposing vs. molding
| | |
| Who the heck told them that bit of poor advice? About the only thing you need to do with a pumpkin is hack it into chunks to keep it from rolling off the pile. |
RE: Pumpkins - decomposing vs. molding
| | |
- Posted by claire z6b Coastal MA (My Page) on
Wed, Nov 10, 10 at 12:38
| and if you keep the pumpkins on the porch until they start to get moldy and sag, you don't even have to hack them into chunks. They just sit there. 
Claire |
RE: Pumpkins - decomposing vs. molding
| | |
| Don't tell your newspaper but my innards are composting in whatever manner they wish in the newsprint they were wrapped in to bring them to the compost pile. And the pumpkin is still sitting pretty on the deck waiting for Annpat to sneak over with her dory and her dog to steal it. :O) 
|
RE: Pumpkins - decomposing vs. molding
| | |
| Oh, that's nice. Flaunting that like that. |
RE: Pumpkins - decomposing vs. molding
| | |
| @annpat, just because I do some dumpster diving for pumpkin guts and kindly clean off everyone's pumpkin sludge from the tables at the local nursery Halloween party I get in trouble? No respect... Monday was "pumpkin smashing day" at our house. The boys got to smash their own pumpkin, then I chopped them into not-quite-small-enough pieces. They got turned into the leafy pile. It was interesting to see all the sprouted seeds from the top of the poopy pile when I turned it on monday. That reminds me... Gotta look into "malted pumpkin seed whiskey". |
RE: Pumpkins - decomposing vs. molding
| | |
| mctoon, I have never had any problem gathering pumpkins in the fall until this year. Forgive me if I recognize (and report here, much to your evident shame) a connection between the dearth of pumpkins in the road this year and butt-inski people like you who take their children to organized Halloween events, thereby keeping them from roaming the streets, stealing, and smashing the pumpkins that are my due. Shame. Shame. Shame on you. |
RE: Pumpkins - decomposing vs. molding
| | |
| Is there some sort of macabre revolution sweeping the country? There were no pumpkins splattered in the streets here either. There are four nice ones on a neighbors porch down the block, left untouched, in plain view, for 3 weeks! Maybe if I reminisce to neighborhood kids of the perfectly pleasing popping sound of pumpkin on pavement, perhaps then... tj |
RE: Pumpkins - decomposing vs. molding
| | |
YES!! YES!! tj! You see what I'm saying!!
(I blame mctoon.) |
RE: Pumpkins - decomposing vs. molding
| | |
| While most people consider any mold to be a bad thing, they are very beneficial. The mold that forms on bread is a penicillin and many others are what digests old food stocks. Without many of these molds we would be up to our eyebrows in food waste. |
RE: Pumpkins - decomposing vs. molding
| | |
| Thanks everybody for your entertaining and informative replies. I called the newspaper and spoke with the writer of the article. He said he had been referring only to the pumpkin seeds that you wanted to eat - but that the article had been unclear. He still said he was concerned about what mold would do to a compost pile (??!). I tried to educate him a little, but he didn't seem too interested. Meanwhile, my pile, with it's many pumpkins is happily cooking away - mold and all. |
Post a Follow-Up
Please Note: Only registered members are able to post messages to this forum. If you are a member, please log in.
If you aren't yet a member, join now!
Return to the Soil Forum
Instructions
- You must be a registered member and logged in to post messages on our forums.
- Posting is a two-step process. Once you have composed your message, you will be taken to the preview page. You will then have a chance to review the contents and make changes.
- After posting your message, you may need to refresh the forum page in order to see it.
- It is illegal to post copyrighted material without the owner's consent.
- HTML codes are allowed in the message field only.
- No advertising is allowed in any of the forums.
- If you would like to practice posting or uploading photos, please visit our Test forum.
- If you need assistance, please Contact Us and we will be happy to help.
