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toes_gw

Composting mistletoe

toes
14 years ago

Can mistletoe be composted? If it can, is the compost safe to use on veggie beds?

My neighbor and I share one lawn. On her side, she has several trees; one is which is covered in mistletoe. I have been hesitant to use leaves from that tree in my compost because of the mistletoe. It would be nice to have such a close source of leaves. Basically if I see a branch of mistletoe with leaves and berries, I wonÂt add that to my compost. It would just be the occasional leaf or berry that I might miss.

Thanks.

Comments (7)

  • gardengal48 (PNW Z8/9)
    14 years ago

    Mistletoe can be composted just like any other plant material. I'm not sure I'd advocate cold composting in this situation, though :-) The best weed seed control in composting is achieved through a hot compost.

  • cheapheap
    14 years ago

    I would go ahead and compost it. Your pile and the site of application of the compost are not the right environment for mistletoe to spread. From my limited reading the mistletoe seeds seem to like to be spread through the digestive system of birds to other locations on the tree or nearby trees.
    The neighbor might want to trim some of the more infested limbs off or plant a couple of new trees so they can be established when the end comes - it sounds pretty bad.

    Best of luck.

  • reg_pnw7
    14 years ago

    Not everyone is convinced that mistletoe is bad for trees. Dwarf mistletoes on conifers are not good, but the regular mistletoes on broadleaf trees are not necessarily bad for the tree.

    In any case, mistletoes do not attach themselves to vegetables. They want woody trees, and take root on woody branches, not on leaves. Seeds are spread by birds eating the berries, just like any other fruiting plant. I'd go ahead and compost the mistletoe along with the leaves.

  • melonhedd
    14 years ago

    Can't you just imagine all those cute little compost critters engaged in sweet passionate kisses under the mistletoe?

  • rott
    14 years ago

    ..
    I'm sure if you follow the ten percent rule, you can't too far wrong.
    ..

  • forestelves
    14 years ago

    Mistletoe is tree parasite that feeds on curtain trees and other trees coexist with tree not killing it. Mistletoe is northern version of the spider plant which lives in the L nook of the tree, but it doesnÂt grow like the spider plant because the seed is surrounded by a sticky mass that comes out with bird poop which attach to the tree and the root eat into the tree from there.

    You can compost Mistletoe, but the Mistletoe seeds need to be remove and left to dry out to be sprouted into greens that will be dried again to final end in the compost pile.

    If your afraid the mistletoe will grow in your compost then dry it out.

    If the tree is to heavily infected and the tree looks sick you need to just cut down the tree before it cuts your house or your neighbors in half or flattens a car. If the tree isnÂt sick then just thin out the infected branches to make you feel better.

  • toes
    Original Author
    14 years ago

    Thanks for all of the responses. I went out earlier and gather up a bunch of the leaves and mixed them into my compost pile.

    The tree that is covered in mistletoe has been worrying me for a while. Every time there is a big storm, a big branch fall off of that tree. During the last storm, it had rained for hours and hours and I saw that a huge branch was hanging from my gutter. I got the ladder out and managed to get the branch down, getting soaked in the process. Of course, five minutes later, the rain stopped.

    When my neighbor bought her house a couple of years ago, I asked if she planned to have the tree trimmed. She said she would look into it and then never did anything about it. Well, a couple of weeks ago, she moved out. I think the house might be foreclosed on soon. If that happens, I just pay someone to come and trim the tree.