composting question

[GMLetts]

Charles – in your Myths article you said you toss blighted leaves (tomato, potato) in to the compost pile. Would you also include spotted rose leaves?

[charles]

Yes I do compost those!

[Don Foley]

Hi Charles/GMletts,

Should you not add that you need to be sure that your compost bin gets up to a high enough temperature to destroy the spores?

Don.

[charles]

Don its safe to compost blighted leaves because the spores cannot and do not survive in compost, they simply die when the leaves die. They need living tissue to survive and propagate.
So even cool compost sees them die.

[Don Foley]

Hi Charles,

Thank you for clarifying that. You get so much miss-information on the internet etc.
Hopefully I wont have any blighted leaves to add to my bin in any case!!!

Don.

[bigron]

I am curious about potato peeling and old whole potatoes.

I guess that the potato peelings compost down but I am curious about old potatoes. Should then be mulched up first somehow, to stop them growing?

[charles]

I find they compost ok Ron, unless you put them on say after November when a heap has little heat, then they grow again. You could harvest some tiny spuds, otherwise remove to compost again.

[ElizaD]

I’ve been throwing blighted tomato leaves in my compost bin for a while now. Still no blight on tomato stems, I think mainly due to the dry weather we’ve been enjoying. Biggest problem I have with composted tomato bits is all the seedlings that come up in your beds the following year! With no dig my biggest ‘weed’ problem is tomato seedlings!

Eliza

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