Compost haters - Because of Smell, Animals, etc.

[Briarheart]

My relatives hate composting, and think composting is so dirty and horrible and I don't think I'm going to change their minds... my aunt's city has a municipal composting program (mine doesn't though), and she whines about how "disgusting" compost is. Then again, she is a nurse, so she finds pretty much everything on the planet disgusting.

They think compost is smelly, but I've heard that compost actually should NOT smell very bad if you don't put things in it that you're not supposed to put in it (like bread, meat scraps, dairy items, dirty diapers, kitty litter, etc). They're also convinced it will attract animals, but again, I've heard that it shouldn't if you only put things in it that are healthy for compost, and of course if it's kept in a secure container.

I really wish I could try composting, because it's just so wonderful for the environment and for your garden, but my Mother is vehemently opposed to it.

[imafan26]

Well, she's partially right. Composting does attract a lot of critters. But good compost should not smell bad.

[rainbowgardener]

A compost pile done right should have no smell, except a slight earthiness, which most people consider pleasant.

Imafan is right that it can attract "critters," but we should specify more. There are small to micro critters that are part of the process of breaking things down. This includes microbes (NOT pathogens, most of the microbes in the world have nothing to do with making us sick) and earthworms, but also detritovores like pillbugs, black soldier fly larvae, and cockroaches. But cockroaches in their natural environment stay in balance. My compost pile always has a few of them. It does NOT swarm with them, the way some people's kitchens might. And it is where they belong and they are doing their job. The finished compost product does NOT have any of those pillbugs, roaches, etc, because there is no longer anything in it for them to eat and their work is done, so they have moved on.

Then there are four leggers. In my yard this includes mice, shrews, raccoons. Even though I do not put any meat products in my pile and even though I always bury the kitchen scraps under yard trimmings and fall leaves, if I do not have the pile in a cage with a lid, I will find it pawed through and scattered around. However, a proper cage or bin takes care of that.

So I just make sure the compost piles are away from the house and it works fine and produces a continual stream of beautiful rich soil amendment. Compost and mulch are the only things I ever add to my garden (no synthetic fertilizer) and my garden thrives on it.

Many years ago, I first got in to gardening because I loved composting so much! I started composting just as an environmental action to keep stuff out of the waste stream/ landfill. Once I tried it, it seemed like such a miracle that you could pile up garbage and leaves and do nothing much to it and it would turn itself into black rich crumbly pleasant smelling soil. So then I had to start gardening to have something to do with my compost!

[digitS']

I'm wondering if your family might be okay with some of the ways I have found to compost. My gardening is not just here at home. I also garden on other people's property. Gotta keep those neighbors happy!

First off, this is semi-arid country. An entire month of the growing season may pass without measurable precipitation. Secondly, my gardens are on glacial till - gravel! Water drains easily and quickly.

For these reasons and others, I have found that composting-in-place is a good idea. I have done things as simply as going about with a pothole-digger and "planting" compostables.

A shovel is always involved whether I'm digging out an entire bed or just using that pothole-digger. About 8" of garden soil on top gives me something to plant vegetables in.

Just digging out a bed to that 8" depth and piling in frost-killed plants at the end of the season is a variation. Refill the bed with soil and it's ready to use the following season. Plants from about three beds will provide plenty of organic matter for one bed. But, I continue to have material to compost, and not just after the first fall frosts.

There are two small wood decks in my backyard. Under these are my "stealth" compost. Semi-subterranean, I'm not even sure if my neighbors know they are there.

My distant, unfenced gardens have composting going on. In none of these places do I want dogs showing up and digging. There is nothing in the compost that dogs have much interest in. The kitchen scraps include nothing that is cooked and no meat, so just vegetable peelings.

Finally, I enjoying growing early-season potatoes. Harvest begins in July. I'm in no hurry. As I completely dig out the bed, harvesting the potatoes, the trench behind me is refilled with soil. But first, my summer compostables go in. It is about a month-long harvesting/refilling. At least, some of that bed can be sown to fall veggies.

Steve

[rainbowgardener]

Just looked back at your post and noticed where you said about things not to put in them: bread, meat scraps, dairy items, dirty diapers, kitty litter,

Of that list I definitely agree with no meat scraps, dirty diapers, kitty litter. I routinely put bread and small amounts of dairy in mine. Imafan also mentioned cooked food and I always put cooked food, either plate scrapings or left overs that stayed in the frig too long, in my compost pile.

[tomc]

I wonder if our original poster is living at parents home. If yes, this may a root cause for the problem.

[toxcrusadr]

Are any of these people gardeners, or do they have gardening friends? There are gardeners who don't compost, but many of them do. If you know anyone who actually has a compost pile, figure out a way to get your relatives a yard and garden tour, so they can see how it works. You won't change their minds over night, but maybe you can 'plant some seeds.' :-]

My wife is a nurse and loves compost.

[meshmouse]

I also know a nurse, who once told me, that what she doesn't like about the outdoors is that it's just so dirty.

Yet her 'sterile' hospital is the major breeding ground of killer, antibiotic-immune pathogens.

I say - dirt is not 'dirty', the Earth is not dirty.

The Earth finds balance and in balance, is health.

She doesn't agree.

[toxcrusadr]

That's such a pervasive view in Western culture, the idea of being 'sanitary' to the point that everything in the natural environment is considered filthy. But we're finding out it's not the best way.

Antibacterial cleaners and antibiotic drugs are breeding resistant bacteria.

Bacteria inside animals and humans play a key role in not only digestive health but the health of many other body systems.

Soil health - and plants and crops as a result - is dependent on bacteria, fungi and other microbes.

Children are growing up with asthma and severe allergies at least partly because they were not exposed to the natural environment when young so that they developed strong immune systems.

And so on. The 18th century idea of sanitation has got to change.

[meshmouse]

I totally agree tox -

Recent studies are showing that fewer kids develop asthma, dog, cat and peanut allergies when not raised in a bubble.

Other studies show, wood cutting boards are cleaner than plastic because of the microbial activity.

Some of my european friends have noted that when most people in europe install a butcher block counter top, they use it as a butcher block. Most people in the States, don't.

Here in the States, most of us wrap our fall leaves in plastic bags and send them off to the landfill. Then it's off to the box store for some mulch, compost, fertilizers, etc. Not so much in Europe.

Soap, water, friction and dry time will usually keep things quite sanitary if necessary.

meshmouse