On 14/09/2011 17:35, AL_n wrote:
Chris wrote in
:

On 11/09/2011 09:09, AL_n wrote:
Can anyone offer any suggestions on how to kill off any seeds dispersed
within home-made compost?

Simplest solution is make sure your compost heap gets *really* hot above
70C will see of almost everything.

But easier said than done. The only time my compost heap gets
noticeably warm is after I've dumped a huge amount of hedge clippings
on it. The rest of the year it's a few weeds here, a few prunings
there, and never enough at any one time to generate significant heat,
even though I occasionally water it with sulphate of ammonia to
encourage the bacteria.

The stuff they sell as something like Garrotta (sp? brandname) cut with
ammonium sulphate is fairly effective to initiate a hot heap. I don't
really do anything special these days since I have discovered that
provided you add at least 2m^3 at a time and do not squash it down the
thing will be mad hot inside within a couple of days. It smells a bit
funny - of short chain fatty acids so best off not near your house.

(even more true if it catches fire)

I think my heap has been getting very hot at its core. I have the whole 5ft
x 5ft cylindrical, wire-netting-contained heap wrapped in a double-
thickness tarpaulin to help keep the outside surface moist and warm. The
outside surfaces are still, however, naturally going to stay cooler and
thats where most seeds will survive, I expect.

How long does it take for seeds to die due to old age? Probably a couple of
years, yes?

Al

Unfortunately some weed seeds will live almost forever in the ground and
require exposure to sunlight to initiate germination. Common poppies are
a classic example of this - there are others.

Regards,
Martin Brown