danger of toxic compost?

greenspun.com : LUSENET : TimeBomb 2000 (Y2000) Preparation Forum : One Thread

I have started a 6 gallon bucket of compost and now have a pot of old macaroni stew that has already grown lots of green, spongy looking I would guess bacteria. Can such foods that have already sat out be safely put into compost? Meaning, will the compost process outside the bucket, with soil, leaves, etc. break down any of these toxic foods, or should I not ever put them into the compost pile?

-- Walter Skold (wsvnsk2@juno.com), December 21, 1999

Answers

Go ahead and throw it onto the compost pile. In the future, though, it's better to toss your scraps onto the pile fresh, so that you won't have to deal with the smell in the house. Also, remember that penicillin and other molds are antibiotics, so you don't want these fuzzies well-established when you put the scraps onto the pile. After you put the stuff on the pile, mix it well with a shovel or pitchfork. Make sure you add some leaves, animal waste (especially goat, chicken, or sheep, as they are already well-processed for weed-seed control by the time the animal gets rid of it!).

-- Ann M. (hismckids@aol.com), December 22, 1999.

Ann M. is basically correct but I might add that I wouldn't worry about incorporating anything growing "organic" on the food you put to compost. When mold starts to grow on food in your refrigerator, it is step #1 of the ultimate process of "organic decomposition." When you discover it and decide to throw it onto your compost heap, all you're doing is deciding to "harness" that natural power for the good of your plants.

Don't, I repeat, don't try to scrape off anything that might have grown prior to putting it to compost. Your effort is wasted since it will readily regrow more of the same "stuff" from the small probably invisible portion you missed in your scraping and "nature will do it's thing anyway." Also, the stuff you scrape off and put into the trash is then "deprived" of contributing to your compost heap and instead probably ends up "sterilized" in some furnace somewhere.

As far as "toxins" that may result from molds or fungus, the compost heap is a great "neutralizer" of all of these products of decomposition. Again, "Nature doing it's thing." Think of your compost heap as a ecosystem with survival of the fittest on an "microbiological" level. A goodly supply of air (oxygen) by periodically turning your compost helps to break everything down. Or don't bother to turn it and the air will get to it eventually and it'll just take longer for everything degenerate. You can't stop the process.

Gardening is really two processes. You grow using the sun, earth, water, and plants to make edible produce and you "degrow" using the compost heap to break everything down to start again. Meanwhile, we as humans get to pick and choose the best produce for our consumption and our own "personal" breaking down. It's all a cycle.

Best regards,

-- Joe (KEITH@neesnet.com), December 22, 1999.


Thanks much all. will get it into the pile, compost haste.... :)

-- walter (wskold@lazrus.org), December 22, 1999.

Joe:

I've got some A. flavus infected corn that I can sell you cheap.

Best wishes,,,,

Z

-- Z1X4Y7 (Z1X4Y7@aol.com), December 22, 1999.


Somewhere in somefile I have something from Geri Guidetti (of Ark Instititute) on a type of leaf NOT to put in a compost pile. There is some leaf (oak? Ash? walnut?) that will make your compost toxic to sprouting seeds. Can anybody remember this?

-- Ken Seger (kenseger@earthlink.net), December 26, 1999.


Moderation questions? read the FAQ