What doesn't go in the composter?

[Cheezy]

As mention above meat/fish waste should be avoided , if only to keep out vermin. And it will attract flies which give you maggots!.

If you want to compost all food you could try a wormery. Or as Good Ol' Bob Flowerdew mentioned on GQT the other day you could bury your fish heads now, and then plant your sweetcorn later on top,'parently very good!.

Also I try to avoid putting too much citrus waste into my compost as this can increase the acidity. Same as coffee grounds, not advisable.

Tea leaves/bags are good as is egg shell.

It's getting a balance between carbon rich and nitogen rich products. I wrap my kitchen peelings up in old paper bags/newspaper and put them into the compost. You get a rough mix then

[the.fee.fairy]

So Sweetcorn really do grow from fish!

There was a thread somewhere on the 3 sisters planting, and someone said 'You put a corn ear, a squash seed and bean an a hole with a fish' or something similar.

Makes much more sense now!

[Millymollymandy]

I'm happy because Cheezy's avatar is back!

[mithril]

Thanks guys! It's all looking quite manky inside the composter so hopefully the weed roots are just rotting down! Appreciate the other hints and tips, I was wondering what to do with my old kitchen bin, it's going to be left to fill up with rain and then get some lovely weeds added for later in the year (if we ever get any rain). Just hope it doesn't get too smelly with just a flip-top lid on it! Still it's at the bottom of the allotment so it should be ok!
mithril.

[digiveg]

I don't put citrus stuff like orange or lemon peel into my compost as it takes forever to break down and holds up the process for the entire batch.

[longstonelodge]

Hi all. Husband thinks it's ok to put weeds into the composter (fine so far...) but he is all for putting in their roots aswell which I'm worried will encourage them to grow! He's put some ashy stuff in to help everything to break down and he reckons that'll be enough to break it all down but I'm worried we'll end up with triffids growing out the top of the composter!! Can anyone give me any idea's of things to avoid putting in?
Thanks,
mithril.

I wouldn't compost nuclear waste

[Mandyz]

I talked with OH about 'liquid gold' last year and he thought it would be "great" - ie, the thought of peeing in the composter was appealing on a certain level. But he's yet to do it as far as I know. And... it would be difficult for me to do so directly. We have a tall plastic composter from the region and it's at the top of our yard, overlooking all the neighbours below and their street....

For ratios, as I recall you actually want about 2:1 "brown" to "green" - but those guides don't account for gold :) Admittedly, I'm more concerned with my vermicomposter than my outdoor composter. I tend to just "dump" stuff into the the outdoor bin and stir a little. It's not nearly as efficient as my vermicomposter, but mostly that's my fault.

One of the things I do add to my outdoor composter that I didn't see covered here is vaccum lint and dog hair. No animal products or pasta - but dried egg shells are very good. I also avoid dense peels like citrus and banana - unless I have chopped them up a lot. This really only applies to bananas for me since I don't like most oranges and we zest the rest of our citruses.

I like the idea of drowning weeds to make slimy but nutrient water. We uprooted an entire bed of lily of the valley mixed with cornflowers and crown vetch. It was so dense with roots/rhizomes that we there was no breaking the soil apart to remove them! I have them upturned in a pile waiting for them to die. There must be a more effective method - but for now I just want them out of the way. We don't have a lot of space. I wonder if I can just drown them in a barrel...

[the.fee.fairy]

Can you put compost in a compost? You know when you repot a plant that's been in the pot for years, and so the soil is dead - can you put that in a compost heap/barrel/whatever your compost is in?

[madasafish]

I use liquid gold... but a watering can is used first in the garage which make sit more private and better aimed.

I never add eggshells but dry then and crush them and use as slug avoidance and as genral fertiliser. They take years to break down in compost heaps I found.

I add all citrus (we like grapefruit) and have never had any problems but we eat a lot of green veggies so often have largeish quantities of outerleaves and stalks.

We have lots of worms in our daleks and woodlice plus slugs... 2 daleks on the go with one being filled and the other rotting down until emptied and worms transferred across.

[Muddypause]

Hmm... Doctors used to ask men of a certain age whether they could still pee over a five bar gate. I suppose the modern urban version of this is whether thay can still pee into the top of a composter.

[missy]

sure you could just pee in a jam jar that has been washed out and then take it over to the composter... or even an empty lemonade bottle..

neighbours will just think your pooring apple juice or something...

[Annpan]

Hmm... Doctors used to ask men of a certain age whether they could still pee over a five bar gate. I suppose the modern urban version of this is whether thay can still pee into the top of a composter.

Did men of a certain age used to pee over gates on a regular basis? The mind boggles

I have created a compost 'thing at the very back of my garden... I put some corrogated iron along the back hammered some poles into the ground, used another piece of CI as the 2 sides and some old plasitic as the bottom however, the whole damned thing has now collapsed and I am left with its contents which now have nowhere to go. Funds are limited... the local council has no more freebies... any ideas on how to rectify my pile of biodegradable rubbish.

Can you put tissues and kitchen roll in?

[Muddypause]

Hmm... Doctors used to ask men of a certain age whether they could still pee over a five bar gate. I suppose the modern urban version of this is whether thay can still pee into the top of a composter.

Did men of a certain age used to pee over gates on a regular basis? :shock: The mind boggles :?

I don't think it was "Do you still pee over a five bar gate?" so much as "Could you still pee over a five bar gate?"

[Cornelian]

I recently found a link via a sustainability forum which shows women how to urinate standing up - very useful for additions to the compost heap. I keep a bucket in the bathroom for anyone who feels they can contribute. I have yet to try the standing up method - I think the old lady who lives next door and who watches my gardening adventures from her upstairs window would have a cardiac catastrophe if I tried that at my compost bays.

I refuse under any circumstances to add any roots like those from couch grass or weed seed head - if no dangerous roots and no seeds then they go in. I won't put meat products or dairy in either. But anything else is fair game.

I layer a thick layer of green stuff (garden and kitchen waste), then a thin layer of chook poo, then a layer of brown stuff (anything from straw or leaves or paper recycled kitty litter), and water it in well. Within 3 weeks that layer will most be composted down, having gone through its very hot stage and now with brandlings/worms in it. Then I start a new tri-layer. I find I can compost quite quickly this way - generally once I have finished a compost bay I can start using the compost from it within 4 or 5 weeks - thick black crumbly stuff writhing with worms.

[matty]

Hmmm. What about saw dust, what does that contribute to compost? I have found a good source of it the other day... And can I add sawdust straight to potting compost for bulk? Would a fine compost make the drainage worse?