Boron Elgar wrote:
On Wed, 30 Sep 2015 20:41:43 -0700 (PDT), Hypatia Nachshon
wrote:
On Wednesday, September 30, 2015 at 10:35:42 AM UTC-7, Boron Elgar wrote:
On Wed, 30 Sep 2015 08:27:17 -0700 (PDT), Hypatia Nachshon
wrote:
On Saturday, September 26, 2015 at 4:10:31 PM UTC-7, azigni wrote:
On Sat, 26 Sep 2015 15:38:02 -0400, Brooklyn1 wrote:
Bananas do not compost well, mostly they rot/ferment and stink... over
ripe bananas are good for baking (banana bread/muffins), over ripe
bananas can be frozen for delicious snacks... also bananas make great
dildos.
Thanks, I was thinking of the potassium in bananas, but never heard of
anyone mixing them right into the soil. The meal ideas sound great too!
I don't add them to my compost pile as I thought the peels were full of
insecticide, etc?
However it is OK to put them into MUNICIPAL compost. Our city encourages food waste to be deposited in yard waste cans. They responded to my inquiry about meat and fat -- usually a no-no in home compost -- by pointing out that the yard waste cum compost is treated at such a high temperature that it can handle no-nos.
Pesticides? I'd like to se verification of that. Never heard of it.
The result, BTW, is rich compost that is free to residents on a quarterly basis. People line up in their cars & trucks and load all kind of containers with this fab compost.
I am unabashedly sentimental about this community event!!
I have always hesitated to use community composts, as many homeowners
allow their grass clippings to be collected and the insecticide, weed
killers and broad herbicides that they use wind up in there.
We do not eat hat many bananas and the skins to not contain enough
pesticides to prevent me from chucking them in my own compost,
however.
These comments about "polluted" municipal compost are indeed food for thought and I will ask the City about the issue. But I wonder whether treating yard waste at the high temperatures they say wouldn't be enough to "kill" or neutralize the bad things cited on this thread.
You need a certain sustaining of temp to encourage decomposition but
not so hot that you kill off the good microorganisms, but I have never
seen anything that says composting destroys garden chems. I am happy
to read any articles about it, though.
The pamphlet included with my composter warned against adding bananas
stating that they ferment before they compost, which produces alcohol
which in turn kills/repels the bacteria responsible for composting.
Adding bananas to the mix will greatly slow down the process. If one
wants they can compost bananas separately or with other items that
ferment and produce alcohol, like pineapple rinds. It also warned
against adding corn cobs and corn husks to the mix as they take so
long to break down that they will need to be picked out after
everything else is fully composted, it's best to compost corn
cobs/husks separately and separately from each other.
Everything composts/breaks down, even chemicals, but not at the same
rate, some items take so long it's simply not practical and/or can be
detrimental to gardening, which is why warnings are posted about how
to discard unused drugs rather than adding to the environment. Also
municipal compost/mulch may contain molds/fungi that will kill
desirable plants, especially particular trees... very difficult to
treat/eradicate, maybe never. One should be careful about where they
obtain fruit trees, be certain they're from a reputable nursery, don't
look for bargains from small independants, especially when
balled/burlaped or potted (that soil can be sick), it's much safer to
obtain bare root specimens from the large mail order nurseries.
Lots of info here.
http://compost.css.cornell.edu/physics.html