Compost pH and citrus peels

[farmerweston]

Hello all,

I regularly compost kitchen veggie scraps, but today I have a grocery bag full of molding lemons. I want to compost as much organic material as I can, but my concern is this: will adding a big bag of lemons to my compost pile significantly effect the pH (namely, making it more acidic)?

Would you suggest composting some of them instead of the whole bag? I do want some of my garden to have acidic soil, where I'm planting berries, but I don't want to make my entire compost heap too acidic.

[rot]

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You won't make you're entire heap acidic let alone too acidic. The lemons and all that citric acid will consumed and it will all go pretty neutral in the process.

I had a lemon tree that produced more lemons than I could keep up with so I'd gather the ones on the ground on a weekly basis and split them with a shovel and they all got consumed. There were times when a freeze came or the winds passed through and I ended up with a whole bunch of lemons and oranges. I was turning on a weekly basis so there were a couple of sickly sweet turns but that's about it.

If you are worried about quantities, just follow the 10 percent rule where it never becomes more than 10 percent of your heap and you can't go too far wrong.

to sense
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[Bobberman]

If you are worried add a little bone mill or even some woodash! Bone mill is great in a compost and worms love it!

[farmerweston]

Thank you both, that definitely helps.

[toxcrusadr]

Citric acid, like vinegar (acetic acid) is an organic acid rather than a mineral acid (like hydrochloric, sulfuric etc.). This means it is 1) a weak acid, and 2) biodegradable. Composting tends to bring everything toward neutral anyway. A bag of lemons won't affect your pile at all.