View Single Post
  #6   Report Post  
Old 03-06-2004, 03:16 PM
Mike Lyle
 
Posts: n/a
Default Poisoned Tree remains in compost heap?

Alan Gould wrote in message ...
In article , Nick Maclaren
writes

Oh, come off it! That is scientific nonsense. Depending on what it
was treated with, there is SOME chance of a residue, but that is
small. And then there is another small chance that such a residue
would cause significant damage to plant roots. "Very risky" is
nonsense - the risk is somewhere between very small indeed and nil.

I was thinking more about from what the tree died than with what it had
been treated. Fungal spores can live on in decaying material for ages.


Sensible caution, I'd say. But if the tree _did_ die of a fungal
infection (and that's _if_), those spores are dotted around the whole
neighbourhood already. If your compost-heap's a good one, or if you
leave it a long time, I wouldn't hesitate to mix in the already
rotting material from the old tree. Best to chuck in some extra
nitrogen.

What makes me uncomfortable -- unduly so, according to some here -- is
burying undecayed wood.

Mike.