The Official, "Will It Compost" thread...

[Ridiculous]

I'm wanting to make a thread where that if anyone (like me) has any doubts about whether or not a certain thing should go into a compost can be posted here.

i normally google everything first but i typically get a lot of mixed answers, so i thought having this thread would be good for the site!

I'm hoping for a lot of questions and good people to answer!

i'll get us started with the first two items i have in question:

the first one is vegetable oil. what's your take on it? i've read yes and i've read no from google, soooooo

and the second item is: popcorn. how about it? i don't see why not...

[Kisal]

I have no idea about vegetable oil, although I've always been under the impression that oil of any kind wasn't exactly good for compost. I don't have the answer to that one.

Popcorn should be fine.

The only things I'm positive don't compost well are solid or large-ish pieces of bone, and hair. Bone meal ought to do fine, though, IMO.

[Ridiculous]

I have no idea about vegetable oil, although I've always been under the impression that oil of any kind wasn't exactly good for compost. I don't have the answer to that one.

Popcorn should be fine.

The only things I'm positive don't compost well are solid or large-ish pieces of bone, and hair. Bone meal ought to do fine, though, IMO.

well there were people on google asking about veg oil too and they said it's fine in small amounts...but what's considered 'small'? and ya, I'm not sure about oil breaking down either though.

and you said no to hair...i thought hair was a yes?

[Kisal]

My thought is that there are a lot of organisms that live in compost and help to break it down ... things like black soldier fly larvae, for instance. I'm not sure oil wouldn't be harmful to them. I suppose if one added only tiny amounts of oil at a time, you'd be likely to kill only a very few larvae at any given moment. I don't see the point in that, though. As a rule, I don't find myself with much in the way of oil that needs to be disposed of. Perhaps others do, though.

[cynthia_h]

I had forgotten whether or not the dog hair composted in my pile, but evidently it did:

http://www.helpfulgardener.com/forum/v ... hp?p=49468

(Slow-to-Decompose...)

Re. the vegetable oil: I usually take "small amount" at one time to be 1 to 2 Tb. (15 to 30 mL) of oil, the amount that might be used in sautéing a pan of vegetables. "Too much" would be, for me, 1/2 cup or more. It would most likely smother the worms who came into contact with it, as well as any other compost helpers, slowing things down.

Cynthia H.
Sunset Zone 17, USDA Zone 9

[Kisal]

I put dog hair in my compost pile once and it was still there, in clumps and not noticeably changed, a year later.

[rot]

..

If you follow the ten percent rule I'm sure you can't go too far wrong with most things.

I would expect vegetable oil to be problematic due to its complex chemical nature and thick liquid structure. It will 'compost' but maybe not in a reasonable 'composting frame of time'. Expect to have to blend it well with other ingredients spreading it thin through out the pile or bin.

The other issue of vegetable oil will be vermin. Something like that, or say meat, is going to attract all kinds of undesirables to your pile or bin. You will want to bury such ingredients deep within the bin.

Almost all organic things will 'compost' including large pieces of bone or clumps of hair. They will just take longer. Maybe longer than we are willing to put up with.

Some things are just harder to 'compost' than others.

Organic things that won't compost: Diamonds, Coal and Oil (petrol).

Composting is a digestive process. Some things are easier to digest than others. Simple sugars are easier to break down and convert into energy than fatty oils. How well do you digest leafy salads compared to heavy pork dishes? What's easier to clean off your dishes? Oily foods or simple vegetables? The other consideration is surface area. The greater the exposed surface area, the faster the digestion or composting. Hence shredding, chipping and, grinding into smaller bits speeds up the process.

What can't you compost? What don't you want to deal with? Maybe the oils will be a bit much. I'll bet there are a lot of manures you'd rather not deal with. Carcasses? Some of those nightshades that you shouldn't handle bare handed might be avoided too. Poison Ivy?

If you want to keep things casual, limit your compost to yard waste and follow all the other steps in your chosen method and I'm sure you won't have many troubles. Once you start getting into the problematic materials that are hard to break down or might attract vermin or are rich in pathogens then you have to manage things a lot more closely and it simply takes more work if you're going to avoid a big mess.

to sense

..

[applestar]

Ah, but if you watch the Six Ways Mushrooms Can Save the World/Earth, you can use a bed of Oyster mushrooms to "digest" oil. He was talking about petroleum oil but no doubt the Oysters will happily dine on vegetable oil as well.

[rot]

..

Ah, but if you watch the Six Ways Mushrooms Can Save the World/Earth, you can use a bed of Oyster mushrooms to "digest" oil. He was talking about petroleum oil but no doubt the Oysters will happily dine on vegetable oil as well.

Ah. But is that composting? That is the question isn't it? Remediating compounds in the soil, or dirt if you will, is one thing. Remediating compounds in an aerobic composting process is another. Mushrooms may grow in compost but do mushrooms compost?

So, you make your compost bin a happy environment for bacteria and their fun happy friends to digest things but then you have to wait until the oyster mushrooms kick in to finish off the nasty stuff. If everything is already unrecognizable from what you put in and all you're waiting for is the oyster mushrooms that may or may not kick in, are you composting?

All composting is bio-remediation of some sort but not all bio-remediation is composting.

I'm thinking vegetable oil will compost while things like petrol will take far more careful management, care and, control with mushrooms or maybe exotic bacteria that just don't simply arrive by a ubiquitous presence but must be seeded or cultivated in order to remediate the target substance.

Yes, you can compost vegetable oil but it will be harder than just mixing leaves and grass clippings, adding water and turning a few times. If the vegetable oil is a substantial fraction of the bulk of the pile it will take longer. A little bit of vegetable oil compared to the overall bulk of the bin will probably not have a noticeable effect. I would expect vegetable oil to be a rodent magnet so it should be buried deep with in the bin to avoid the odors.

Compost popcorn? (I forgot about that one) That's a gimmie.

to sense

..

[Ridiculous]

ok, just thought of another one.

candy. I'm talkin hard and gummy candy like nerds and twizzlers. will they work? and will they harm the compost pile?

[rot]

..

Candy is dandy but it takes a while.

If you throw in big, huge candy canes into the pile, you might expect to see remnants next Christmas.

Break it up and blend it through out the pile and it will 'disappear' faster. A brick of candy will stick around for a while. If you ate a brick of candy all at once you might not feel so hot. If you ate that same amount of candy over the course of a day less so. If you took a week to consume that brick it would impact you even less. I would expect the same in a compost pile.

Create the right environment with air, moisture and, food. Maximize the surface area of the items to be digested and their exposure to air, moisture and, food and you should get the maximum results.

to sense

..

[Ridiculous]

..

Candy is dandy but it takes a while.

If you throw in big, huge candy canes into the pile, you might expect to see remnants next Christmas.

Break it up and blend it through out the pile and it will 'disappear' faster. A brick of candy will stick around for a while. If you ate a brick of candy all at once you might not feel so hot. If you ate that same amount of candy over the course of a day less so. If you took a week to consume that brick it would impact you even less. I would expect the same in a compost pile.

Create the right environment with air, moisture and, food. Maximize the surface area of the items to be digested and their exposure to air, moisture and, food and you should get the maximum results.

to sense

..

awesome 'rot'

thanks for all your helpful insight! i really appreciate it!

i wanted to mention that i like the way you compare a compost pile to a human's digestive system . quite clever and it does help put things into perspective!

and another question, why does it say "to sense" at the end of all your posts? i don't quite get that. is it that you're making a toast to sense??? i guess i don't have the sense to understand "to sense"

[rot]

..

Thanks even it does seem ridiculous.

To sense or two cents. Considered and what it's worth.

..

[Ridiculous]

..

Thanks even it does seem ridiculous.

To sense or two cents. Considered and what it's worth.

..

ahhhh, thanks, i can sleep now

2 cents....like you're saying..."that's my 2 cents"

[katylaide]

What about spent matchsticks? I snap off the ignition material and put the wood in the bin just to be safe, but something tells me it wouldn't be bad to put the whole match in.