In all the books and papers I have read, it seems that the only reason
to avoid adding meat scraps to a compost pile is to not attract
unwanted critters like possums and raccoons. Is this the case? Or is
there a biological reason not to add animal matter to a compost pile?

Thanks

Chris

On Mon, 30 May 2011 12:26:58 -0700 (PDT), Chris
wrote:

In all the books and papers I have read, it seems that the only reason
to avoid adding meat scraps to a compost pile is to not attract
unwanted critters like possums and raccoons. Is this the case? Or is
there a biological reason not to add animal matter to a compost pile?

Meat takes about ten times as long as vegetable matter to compost and
during all that time ROTTING MEAT STINKS. My composter is too great a
distance from neighbors for them to smell it but still I don't want to
smell rotting meat either. Meat composts far more efficiently inside
carnivores, I feed meat scraps to crows and other carrion eaters who
in return fertilize my property. I save larger quantities of meat
trimmings in my freezer for feeding birds during winter.

Chris wrote:

In all the books and papers I have read, it seems that the only reason
to avoid adding meat scraps to a compost pile is to not attract
unwanted critters like possums and raccoons. Is this the case? Or is
there a biological reason not to add animal matter to a compost pile?

yes, most compost piles are open to the
air meaning flies can get in. flies can
transmit diseases quite easily from the
rotting meat to a sandwich you have on a
plate on the porch.

i'm not particularly germophobic, but
some things i really don't want to
encourage...

there is a lot to be said for feeding
crows in the same spot so they will come
through on their morning rotation and
take care of any scraps you leave for
them. i use the same location for trapped
mice and they are gone quite quickly.

larger roadkill that we don't want to
smell i bury deeply enough that they get
most decay over with long before the
topside critters and plants have a crack
at the results.

we don't really cook meat here that often
these days so it has not been much of an
issue.

if you'd like a natural method for dealing
with meat scraps there are certain kinds of
worms that will do the feasting for you.
i don't have a list of species handy, but
i'm sure they're out there.


songbird

On Mon, 30 May 2011 12:26:58 -0700, Chris wrote:

In all the books and papers I have read, it seems that the only reason
to avoid adding meat scraps to a compost pile is to not attract unwanted
critters like possums and raccoons. Is this the case? Or is there a
biological reason not to add animal matter to a compost pile?

Thanks

Chris

Disease.

On May 30, 4:18*pm, Brooklyn1 Gravesend1 wrote:
On Mon, 30 May 2011 12:26:58 -0700 (PDT), Chris

wrote:
In all the books and papers I have read, it seems that the only reason
to avoid adding meat scraps to a compost pile is to not attract
unwanted critters like possums and raccoons. Is this the case? Or is
there a biological reason not to add animal matter to a compost pile?

Meat takes about ten times as long as vegetable matter to compost and
during all that time ROTTING MEAT STINKS. *My composter is too great a
distance from neighbors for them to smell it but still I don't want to
smell rotting meat either. *Meat composts far more efficiently inside
carnivores, I feed meat scraps to crows and other carrion eaters who
in return fertilize my property. *I save larger quantities of meat
trimmings in my freezer for feeding birds during winter.

While I am not disputing you (since I never composted any animal
product except egg shells) I really would like to see some kind of
evidence instead of bald assertion. I spent many years as a field
biologist, and while I realize there are lots of scavengers out there,
if it took 10 times as long for animal products (excluding bone, which
probably takes even longer) it seems to me that when I was humping the
national forests and wildlife refuges, I should have been ankle deep
in unrotted animal carcasses.

Now, I am not talking about tossing whole turkeys into the compost. I
am talking a few steak or burger scraps here and there.

Decomposition, like any other chemical reaction, depends mainly on two
things: temperature and surface area. The higher the temperature (to a
degree, pardon the pun) the faster it goes. The smaller the item (with
its higher relative surface area on which bacteria and fungi can work)
the faster it goes.

Chris

On May 31, 9:34*am, jellybean stonerfish
wrote:
On Mon, 30 May 2011 12:26:58 -0700, Chris wrote:
In all the books and papers I have read, it seems that the only reason
to avoid adding meat scraps to a compost pile is to not attract unwanted
critters like possums and raccoons. Is this the case? Or is there a
biological reason not to add animal matter to a compost pile?

Thanks

Chris

Disease.

Thanks. What diseases would those be?

Chris