What you can and cannot compost

hi
thanks
i wonder about beans….are they like meat? i cook beans for two and inevitably have left over, can i compost? will they attract rats etc I live in the city…up til now i only am using raw fruit and veggie and grass leaves ….thanks (ex: pea soup, no oil, lental soup etc no oil)
thank you

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Hey there, Laura. Thanks so much for your question, it’s a good one! We’ve taken the time to answer it for you in the form of a video and blog post. Hope this helps. Have a great weekend, and good luck with your compost pile. Thanks for reading!

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Just starting wanting to do a compost bin. I made mine just out of chicken fencing wire. It is place under some trees so would not get real wet, nor real dry. Live in Iowa and have lots of corn shucks and cobs etc. Also, wanted to use it for my kitchen food waste, Did not realize until now that I could shred news print in with it to help.
Is there some kind of soil or stuff to mix in with it to get it started? Lois

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There are plenty of compost starters or compost activators that you can use, but they are not required.

http://www.cleanairgardening.com/compoststarter.html
http://www.cleanairgardening.com/coac.html
http://www.cleanairgardening.com/compost-thrive.html

Corn cobs and shucks break down faster when you shred them before adding them to the pile.

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I’m wondering about bread?

I’ve seen lists online that say both that it’s ok and that it’s not. Any recommendations?

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Bread is definitely ok to compost.

The only reason I could possibly think of someone saying don’t compost it is that it might attract animals that want to eat it. But if you’re adding it to a closed bin, or you bury under the top layer in your compost pile, that would solve that problem.

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Thank you for all your helpful advise

I’ve read cooked potatoes and citrus rinds should not be used in compost. Mostly because of the chemicals used to protect or feed them. Beside the potential rodent/vermin issues can I use cooked potatoes and citrus rinds in my compost?

Regards

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I would say yes to both things.

I’ve also read that in a few places about avoiding citrus rinds, but I compost them all the time and have never had trouble. The majority of composting books say that it’s fine to compost citrus.

The exception to that would be with vermicomposting. Worms don’t do well with a lot of citrus rinds. Regular composting is fine.

I’ve personally never read anything about not composting cooked or uncooked potatoes. Seeing how I sometimes eat the skin of a cooked potato, I can’t imagine that the leftover potato could be that bad for the compost if it doesn’t hurt me.

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Can I compost leaves from a black walnut tree? The leaves and nuts that fall from the one in our backyard seem to inhibit anything else from growing so I’m hesitant to add it to our compost pile.

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Please do not compost anything that comes from a black walnut tree, because it is toxic to plants, horses and even humans.

http://ohioline.osu.edu/hyg-fact/1000/1148.html

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I love to compost and have two active compost containers, which are doing very well, plus several large bins just for the end of the season garden cuttings. I was hoping that over the years it would turn into some nice usable compost, but it looks and feels more like dried straw material. My question is: will this ever amount to anything?

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Sounds like you have the “too much of a single type of material” problem.

I would take some of that straw-like material and start adding it to your other active compost bins, a bit at a time. I think it will break down nicely if you mixed it in with other stuff.

Another tip is that if you have tough stalks of something that you want to compost, it helps to cut those stalks into smaller pieces. You can run over them with a lawnmower, or cut them with scissors, or run them through a chipper / shredder. Smaller pieces break down better and faster than large pieces.

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I have been working with my red worms for 2 years and have had wonderful success with my garden using my worm’s castings for fertilizer. My husband saw a TV show about worms and wants to see if he can feed worms asphalt shingles, metal and wood. I am afraid that the compost would be toxic. I saw an article about super worms in Wales and it asks some of those same questions. Can you discuss this?

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Thanks for your question. I am only an intermediate vermicomposter at best. We have one worm bin going at work.

But I am skeptical that you could feed the worms asphalt shingles, metal and wood. Pressurized wood, for instance, is sometimes treated with arsenic. So although it doesn’t hurt to test, I would be careful with overloading your worm bin with a bunch of stuff that might be potentially toxic and might end up killing all your worms. In small amounts though, I guess you could try and see what happens.

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ah!! thankyou so much!!! have found your site to be extremely helpful and interesting!!!! thanks heaps!!

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What about Eucalyptus leaves? We have a tree in the front yard, the only one in the yard that shed leaves, and I think it is a Eucalyptus globulus tree(at least thats the best I can tell from the pictures online). Are the leaves safe to put in the compost? They are kind of thick(not succulants though), and have a potent smell when rubbed or broken.

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Great question! I didn’t know the answer to this one, and had to look it up.

It turns out that University of California Davis has studied this issue and determined that Eucalyptus leaves are safe to compost, but very slow to break down because of their oily leaves.

So I wouldn’t try to compost too many of them at once, because it might be a challenge to get them to break down well. But in limited amounts, you should be fine. And they are safe.

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I saw peanut hulls on your chart but it doesnt specify weather its carbon or nitrogen? please let me know.
Thanks

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lars Reply:
March 11th, 2010 at 3:32 pm

Good question!

I’m not entirely sure of the answer, to be honest. It won’t be nitrogen rich though.

I’m guessing either carbon rich, or neutral. I would lean toward calling it carbon rich.

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