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.

Lots of info here.

http://compost.css.cornell.edu/physics.html

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

Boron Elgar writes:

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.

Lots of info here.

http://compost.css.cornell.edu/physics.html

In general, allowed chemicals do not remain toxic for long times
in the environment. That's how DDT got banned.

But it's trendy now to fear everything. OMG, that stuff contains
CHEMICALS. Run and hide.

Face it, put 9 billion people on the planet, and pretty soon we're all
taking in each others waste products. No way around it.
Composting breaks lots of stuff down, the bacteria have a field day.

Here are meal worms breaking down styrofoam:

http://tinyurl.com/qz3jdqx

Then, if you are growing edibles, the plants themselves are selective
about the compounds they take out of the soil.

Personally, I think a lot of people are fooling themselves, thinking
they can eat their way to health. You need to stay active.
Any crap you eat, a healthy body can process.

--
Dan Espen

On Thu, 01 Oct 2015 11:46:58 -0400, Dan Espen
wrote:

Boron Elgar writes:

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.

Lots of info here.

http://compost.css.cornell.edu/physics.html

In general, allowed chemicals do not remain toxic for long times
in the environment. That's how DDT got banned.

Composting is done relatively quickly, and believe me, no one knows
what kind of stuff folks put into their "green" pickups.

But it's trendy now to fear everything. OMG, that stuff contains
CHEMICALS. Run and hide.

I have never claimed such.

Face it, put 9 billion people on the planet, and pretty soon we're all
taking in each others waste products. No way around it.

We all have a big of the Big Bang in us already.

Composting breaks lots of stuff down, the bacteria have a field day.

That is how it works.


Here are meal worms breaking down styrofoam:

http://tinyurl.com/qz3jdqx

Then, if you are growing edibles, the plants themselves are selective
about the compounds they take out of the soil.

But that is no reason to be indiscriminate in what one adds to the
soil.

Personally, I think a lot of people are fooling themselves, thinking
they can eat their way to health. You need to stay active.
Any crap you eat, a healthy body can process.

Depends. Kids and women of child-bearing age do need to take a bit
more care about certain compounds/elements, but there is a sucker born
every minute, and the Dr. Oz's of this world like to take advantage of
it.

Boron Elgar wrote:
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.

Seattle and LA apparently had problems with one chemical.
http://articles.latimes.com/2001/dec/27/local/me-18323

"Bob F" writes:

Boron Elgar wrote:
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.

Seattle and LA apparently had problems with one chemical.
http://articles.latimes.com/2001/dec/27/local/me-18323

Thanks, for a very interesting article.

For those that don't follow links, this should be of interest:

Unlike Clopyralid, which survives the heat, most chemicals used in
lawn care and agriculture break down completely enough to satisfy
organic farmers.

I found this on Clopyralid, the problem chemical:

Clopyralid is known for its ability to persist in dead plants and
compost, and has accumulated to phytotoxic levels in finished compost
in a few highly publicized cases. This first came to light in
Washington State when, during 2000 and 2001, residues of clopyralid
were detected in commercial compost, and compost made at a municipal
site damaged tomatoes and other garden plants planted in it. Word
quickly spread to other local and state governments and in 2002,
DowAgro, the manufacturer of clopyralid, voluntarily deregistered it
for use on domestic lawns in the US[5] and it is banned in several US
states but it is found in consumer products in Europe such as Scotts
Verdone Extra and Vitax Lawn Clear 2.

--
Dan Espen