Thursday 19 May 2011

The problem with home-made compost

Making home-made compost does have its disadvantages! When I planted out my beans the other day I mulched them with a generous layer of compost from one of my bins. Today I noticed a pale green sheen on the raised bed in which those beans were planted. Closer inspection reveals a uniform covering of tiny green tomato seedlings, growing in little clumps.


Each of these little clumps is the remains of a cherry-sized tomato from last year, that has not completely decomposed. I think (judging by the colour of the skins) they must be fruits of the "Ildi" variety.


In ideal circumstances the compost bin should heat up to a temperature high enough to kill off the seeds, not only of these tomatoes, but also of any lurking weeds, Obviously this has not happened! And evidently worms dont like eating tomato seeds...

11 comments:

  1. I agree, it does have disadvantages.

    There is nothing more annoying than finding a piece of organic matter which hasn't completly decomposed.

    We have random tomato plants appearing inbetween the gravel on the driveway every year. They just turn up out of the blue!

    Martin :)

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  2. that has happened when I bought compost as well

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  3. My pile never gets hot enough. Even with the chickens, I never have enough hot manure to put in it. It does get hot when I put grass clippings here.

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  4. Strewth, they're doing better than the tomato seed I sowed in peat pots weeks ago!

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  5. We both posted on compost today! How funny is that :) I just picked up 3 large bags full of composted horse manure...this stuff is great! I have my own compost, but mine, like yours, doesn't always completely decompose and it never gets hot enough either. I think I've found my newest and best source of compost yet! It's wonderful to have a friend with a horse :)

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  6. The magic of composting is to have plenty of fresh grass clippings and turning it all about every three days. The hottest mine has gotten was 164 degrees, but actually that is a little too hot. When it's too hot, the heat kills the beneficial microbes.

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  7. I don't believe it has anything to do with compost...it is the tomatoes. They have a way of migrating to different parts of the garden and popping up exactly where you don't need them. Mmmm! fairies?

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  8. Oh I can't compost for quids... I have always put it in the "too hard" basket and just pile up all my scraps in the chickens' night house. And believe me - nothing gets a chance to sprout in there..

    I wouldn't mind one of those rotating bins though... I wouldn't have been able to rip out those tomatoes :)

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  9. I had that last year too! Hundreds of the little blighters all running amok amongst the sweet peas. They must be the most tenacious of all seeds. Don't have enough space for a larger compost bin so will probably never reach very high temperatures.The compost is still great though, so maybe one just shouldn't through tomotoes into the bin ? V.best Naomi

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  10. This happened to me too - I had squash and tomato seedlings popping up all over the place. It doesn't seem to be happening this year, maybe the heap was hotter. At least they are fairly easy to root out - unlike the potato plants springing up in all sorts of inconvenient places up at the plot!

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  11. Years ago some friends told us not to put anything with seeds into the compost for that reason, so I have never composted seeds, and I've never had a problem with stuff growing that shouldn't be. So I don't put tomatoes, capsicum seeds, pumpkin seeds, or anything like that in it.

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