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Re: compost/bloodmeal

Square Foot Gardening List - http://www.flinet.com/~gallus/sqft.html

Hi Mary,

Milk and dairy do go into my piles in small amounts; but I have large piles.
Someone with a Soilsaver sized composter (11 cubic feet) might easily
overload the pile if they added lots of dairy to it, which would lead to
evil things like fly problems...

When we lived on a second floor and composted on the balcony all our wastes
went through the blender and were then mixed with enough peat moss to make a
not too wet soil-like consistency.

Not everybody likes to use peat this way; but if yer going to use it anyway
getting double duty out of it in the compost seems like a sensible idea to
me and it is the champion odor and moisture absorber.

The other trick with anything potentially unsavory is to put it well into
the pile.

Also such piles should be made strictly on the batch method basis.
Archaelogical piles are OK for purely plant matter but not with the animal
stuff, as I see it.

(FYI--batch means you take all the stuff to be composted, put it together at
the beginning, and keep it separate until it is finished. An 'archaelogical'
pile has stuff added to it on an ongoing basis, and liquid animal protein
materials flowing through such a pile could cause problems---I'd say leave
such a pile alone for a good six weeks in warm weather before harvesting.
The other problem with the archaelogical method is that the stuff on top is
never finished--but it can be set aside and the bottom stuff sifted for
usable material)

Frank---who cleans up milk spills with brown paper towels for composting...
-----Original Message-----
From: Mary Thorp <maribou@infocom.com>
To: Frank Teuton <fteuton@total.net>
Cc: Unlisted <THYME@OREGON.UOREGON.EDU>; sqft@listbot.com <sqft@listbot.com>
Date: Friday, October 23, 1998 5:58 PM
Subject: Re: compost/bloodmeal


>Okay, here's a detailed question...what about milk?  We're
near-vegetarians, so
>throw out very little meat or related waste, but it seems like lots of
oatmeal,
>cheerios, etc. get thrown out because I've been afraid to add the skim milk
to
>the compost pile.  Would it be okay to add it?  (BTW, it is organic
free-range,
>happy-cow, $#&%$*-expensive milk, no nasty chemicals).  Also the occasional
>fragment o'cheese, drip o'yogurt, etc. Any suggestions?
>
>Mary
>Zone 5
>Richmond, IN
>
>Frank Teuton wrote:
>
>> Square Foot Gardening List - http://www.flinet.com/~gallus/sqft.html
>>
>> Concerning animal ingredients in compost, I would just like to offer some
>> thoughts:
>>
>> 1)They are not necessary for good compost; alfalfa meal and rock
phosphate
>> are good sources of N and P respectively. Phosphorus shouldn't be added
to
>> compost unless the soil the compost is destined for is really deficient
in
>> P, as shown by a soil test...
>>
>> 2) There are concerns around bonemeal that may have European (and
especially
>> British) origins and be carrying prions which are the causal agent of
>> spongioform encephalopathy (e.g. Mad Cow Disease) and which are
apparently
>> *not* destroyed in the composting process
>>
>> 3) as mentioned already, blood meal used to excess, especially in an
overly
>> moist compost, may be attractive to what are euphemistically referred to
as
>> 'vectors'--which range from flies to grizzly bears depending on yer
>> location.
>>
>> Having said all the above, let me admit that I do put small animal
>> mortalities like birds and baby rabbits into large compost piles in the
>> early (hot) phase of composting---maybe half a dozen total in the last
three
>> years--but they are always placed deep in the pile out of reach of flies
or
>> animals...
>>
>> I think the usual advice against animal matter in compost piles is
basically
>> well founded; if I needed to purchase an N source for composting it would
be
>> alfalfa (rabbit pellets, horse feed, alfalfa meal) rather than blood
>> meal--check the feed stores for good prices. I just got a note from a
friend
>> in BC saying that horse feed could be had at 6$ per 40 kg (that's 88
pounds
>> for you non-metric types...:-)
>>
>> Finally, even leaf compost has nutrients in it and when kitchen scraps
are
>> added can provide everything your plants need...with clean grass
clippings
>> too, yer all set to grow...
>>
>> Frank--noting that since all flesh is ultimately grass, plant matter
compost
>> will get you there...
>>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: Unlisted <THYME@OREGON.UOREGON.EDU>
>> To: sqft@listbot.com <sqft@listbot.com>
>> Date: Tuesday, October 20, 1998 2:39 PM
>> Subject: compost/bloodmeal
>>
>> >Square Foot Gardening List - http://www.flinet.com/~gallus/sqft.html
>> >
>> >it's fine to include bloodmeal in your compost, but be aware it may
attract
>> >pests.  our dogs adore bloodmeal-very primative.  they will eat it by
the
>> >boxful if i leave it in their reach.
>> >
>> >
>> >thyme
>> >
>> >
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>


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