Gary wrote:
On 10/25/04 3:48 AM, in article ,
"Mike
Lyle" wrote:
[...]
Left exposed on
the surface, orange peel _does_ hang about longer than some
material,
[...]
Mike good point! Having read your post I now remember an orange
that
was left in a desk drawer and forgotten. It dried out with no sign
of
deterioration. The skin was as hard as a rock. I do think that when
there is moisture around it would develop mould and breakdown as in
a
compost pile. Gary

I'm an honest sort of bloke, Gary; so I was rather hoping I wouldn't
be forced to confess what I once found under one the kids' beds. But
if you're man enough to admit it about the desk drawer, I suppose
I'll have to own up to my sluttish housekeeping. Small amounts of
money, assorted dead spiders, the odd bit of Lego, a torn Rizla
packet (the shame!!!), picture of some pop star I'd never heard of, a
pair of my own underpants (huh?), a mug quarter-full of genetic
modification going full blast, etc, etc, _and_ a fossilized
half-orange. This last really was solid enough to go among the
ammonites in the Natural History Museum.

Mike.

In article , Mike Lyle mike_lyle_uk@REMO
VETHISyahoo.co.uk writes

But, shirley, it'll be difficult to get the guts out once they're
dry?

I wouldn't have thought so. I'd have thought to a great extent they'd
peel away from the skin.

And how do you get the pill-box shape once the skin is no longer
pliable? The one "Aunt 'Nes" had wasn't orange-shaped any more, but
very much pill-boxoid, with a flat bottom, straight sides, and a
slightly domed top.

Put a (permeable) frame round it while it's drying
--
Kay
"Do not insult the crocodile until you have crossed the river"

In message , Steve
Harris writes
In article ,
(Stephen Howard) wrote:

diseases that onions are prone to...but then follows standard advice
not to compost diseased material unless you're sure your process will
deal with it.

You might not know the disease organisms were present on bought onions.
If you imported certain onion diseases into your garden, it could take
8 years to get rid of them.

That is the main reason why composting onions is not usually
recommended. The white onion rot spores are tough and will persist for
several years until another host crop is grown.

Regards,
--
Martin Brown

On Mon, 25 Oct 2004 02:37 +0100 (BST), (Steve
Harris) wrote:

In article ,
(Stephen Howard) wrote:

diseases that onions are prone to...but then follows standard advice
not to compost diseased material unless you're sure your process will
deal with it.

You might not know the disease organisms were present on bought onions.
If you imported certain onion diseases into your garden, it could take
8 years to get rid of them.

True, but also true of diseases that affect other plants...brassicas
for example.
The same diseases could be bought in via seedlings too.

Sooner or later you have to trust to luck and common sense.

Regards,



--
Stephen Howard - Woodwind repairs & period restorations
www.shwoodwind.co.uk
Emails to: showard{whoisat}shwoodwind{dot}co{dot}uk

In article ,
Stephen Howard writes:
|
| diseases that onions are prone to...but then follows standard advice
| not to compost diseased material unless you're sure your process will
| deal with it.
|
| You might not know the disease organisms were present on bought onions.
| If you imported certain onion diseases into your garden, it could take
| 8 years to get rid of them.
|
| True, but also true of diseases that affect other plants...brassicas
| for example.
| The same diseases could be bought in via seedlings too.
|
| Sooner or later you have to trust to luck and common sense.

Yes. The issue is made FAR too much of. Organisms that are
common and typically wind-spread are not an issue, as they will
arrive anyway. Ones without persistant, durable spores aren't,
either, as they will rarely transmit. This leaves a far smaller
number of possibilities than is commonly thought.


Regards,
Nick Maclaren.

Kay wrote:
In article , Mike Lyle
mike_lyle_uk@REMO VETHISyahoo.co.uk writes

But, shirley, it'll be difficult to get the guts out once they're
dry?

I wouldn't have thought so. I'd have thought to a great extent
they'd
peel away from the skin.

And how do you get the pill-box shape once the skin is no longer
pliable? The one "Aunt 'Nes" had wasn't orange-shaped any more,
but
very much pill-boxoid, with a flat bottom, straight sides, and a
slightly domed top.

Put a (permeable) frame round it while it's drying

Yabbut...why is that better than hollowing the halves out first so
they can go onto a suitable former when they're pliable? If I were to
try it again I think I'd do both.

Mike.

"Alan Gould" wrote in message
news
In article , Janet
Baraclough.
. writes

We don't compost citrus fruit material because it is part of
general
kitchen/household waste and except for delivered horse manure we
only
compost herbage, leaves, shreddings, soils etc. which have come
from our
own gardening.

I'm curious why you make that distinction, Alan. General kitchen
waste from shop-bought fruit and veg, is from stuff you ate. You've
already ingested any chemicals/preservatives which they contained.

So why don't you want to eat plants fed on compost made from
(bought-in) food which you've already eaten anyway?

Ideally in a fully organic system, one would consume only their own
or
other guaranteed organic produce. That is not feasible in practice
though so we buy some foodstuffs which may contain all manner of
nasties
introduced by commercial and intensive producers. Quite a high
proportion of the small quantity of kitchen waste we generate is
from
our own wide range of fruit and veg. and that is composted. Anything
else is disposed of onto the island in our pond for our resident
family
of moor-hens and other wild birds to have. They don't seem to mind!

To return to that horse manure you use: What did the horses eat?

Franz

"Janet Baraclough.." wrote in
message ...
The message
from Alan Gould contains these words:

In article , Janet
Baraclough.
.. writes

We don't compost citrus fruit material because it is part of
general
kitchen/household waste and except for delivered horse manure
we only
compost herbage, leaves, shreddings, soils etc. which have come
from our
own gardening.

I'm curious why you make that distinction, Alan. General
kitchen
waste from shop-bought fruit and veg, is from stuff you ate.
You've
already ingested any chemicals/preservatives which they
contained.

So why don't you want to eat plants fed on compost made from
(bought-in) food which you've already eaten anyway?

Ideally in a fully organic system, one would consume only their
own or
other guaranteed organic produce. That is not feasible in practice
though so we buy some foodstuffs which may contain all manner of
nasties
introduced by commercial and intensive producers.

Yes, I can see that. Then you eat them. The bit I don't understand
is
why you'll eat what you call "nasties" yourself, but think their
small
remnants are too nasty for a compostheap to eat.

Janet, this whole business has very little in common with a scientific
approach. The more I hear of the organic growing fad, the more it
begins to take on the colour of a cult.

Franz

In article , Mike Lyle mike_lyle_uk@REMO
VETHISyahoo.co.uk writes
Kay wrote:

Put a (permeable) frame round it while it's drying

Yabbut...why is that better than hollowing the halves out first so
they can go onto a suitable former when they're pliable? If I were to
try it again I think I'd do both.

True. I think I'm losing my way here. My original suggestion of drying
it before emptying it was from my observation that pomanders keep a
perfectly smooth spherical shape while drying. You could saw them in
half afterwards and get a perfect match between the two halves.
--
Kay
"Do not insult the crocodile until you have crossed the river"

Wanadoo wrote:
Could some kind person please explain why we do not add citrus fruit to
compost ?

Also what is the reasoning as regards the onion family ?

Is it any problem at all that citrus rind attracts swarms of fruit
flies? Although all fruit/veg wastes do.

Seb

"Seb" wrote in message
...
Wanadoo wrote:
Could some kind person please explain why we do not add citrus
fruit to
compost ?

Also what is the reasoning as regards the onion family ?

Is it any problem at all that citrus rind attracts swarms of fruit
flies? Although all fruit/veg wastes do.

No problem. They contribute their little bit to he composting
process.

Franz