Re: Compost

**C* B* <c*@twcny.rr.com>**

Hi all,
A rodent proof $500 model would be the Mantis ComposT-Twin which is  
enormous.  A round or rectangular single black plastic bin does cost  
around $30.  Rats will chew through plastic if what's inside is  
attractive enough.  We use galvanized metal garbage cans with tight  
fitting lids, too, for the same reason.  Rats are under the radar  
because they are evasive and nocturnal, but they are everywhere,  
city, suburbs and countryside.  I've had some interesting discussions  
with the people at the county health dept. who do rodent control.
Carol Bradford

On Jan 17, 2008, at 10:35 AM, gardenwriters-request@lists.ibiblio.org  
wrote:

> Message: 1
> Date: Tue, 15 Jan 2008 16:46:11 -0800
> From: yarrow@sfo.com
> Subject: Re: [GWL] Compost
> To: Garden Writers -- GWL -- The Garden Writers Forum
> 	<gardenwriters@lists.ibiblio.org>
> Message-ID: <f06110406c3b303578900@[66.81.79.76]>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" ; format="flowed"
>
> It's very easy to keep rats out of bottomless black plastic bins: put
> hardware cloth underneath.
>
> I saw a tunnel in the finished compost in one of my bins after an
> unusually cold night, so I added quarter-inch hardware cloth under
> all the bins and haven't seen any sign of rats in the bins since.
>
> Oh, and many county/city solid waste depts. offer bins at a big
> discount, so the cost is more like $30, not $500, each.
>
> Tanya Kucak
> Palo Alto, Calif.
>
> At 1:48 PM -0500 1/15/08, Carol Bradford wrote:
>> Nobody's mentioned rats.  We had enormous ones living in a "pile it
>> up and leave it alone" compost heap. They eat anything people eat.  I
>> first spotted them at dusk feasting on watermelon rinds.  There were
>> no bones, meat, fish, fat etc. etc. in there.  The $500 composters
>> have the virtue of being rodent proof which is good in an urban
>> situation, at least.  The bottomless black plastic ones are quite
>> accessible to vermin.
>

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