Council compost

[womble]

I picked up a load of council compost the other day, came in a huge skip and was still warm, it's really dark and fine.
I was wondering, have you any idea of the nutrient content of this?
I've ran out of MP compost and was thinking about mixing up some of this new stuff with top soil and using that. Which would be fine. I just wondered what you thought this new stuff had in it. I presume it isn't going to have the same qualities as HM compost, but I'm unsure why?

[chris]

Do your council take away kitchen waste? That under intense heat + pressure = the result I'd have thought.

My local timber merchant does it - the machine to do it is HUGE. It's amazing watching it, steam bellows out of it when the compo is tipped out. It gets VERY hot! Kills any nasties, etc.

I'd do a test.. obviously germination should be ok if there's lack of nutrient, but try a plant in it, and in some of your HM compost.

Then try a mix 50/50 If it works well use it as that, else as a bulker-upper/soil imrpvoder.

[Flummery]

To be honest, I wouldn't swear that different brands of MP have the same nutrient content. They certainly behave differently. If my council provided it near to home, I'd snap their hand off for it. I'm sure you could grow directly into it. I think it will be sterile and you will introduce weeds with topsoil.

[oldie]

I found that it is better dug in and used as a soil improver. The time I tried it on its own it quickly developed a hard crust which was difficult for seeds to grow through.

[womble]

Do your council take away kitchen waste? That under intense heat + pressure = the result I'd have thought.

My local timber merchant does it - the machine to do it is HUGE. It's amazing watching it, steam bellows out of it when the compo is tipped out. It gets VERY hot! Kills any nasties, etc.

I'd do a test.. obviously germination should be ok if there's lack of nutrient, but try a plant in it, and in some of your HM compost.

Then try a mix 50/50 If it works well use it as that, else as a bulker-upper/soil imrpvoder.

That's the stuff, I'm planning to use it as a soil improver, but I have at least one giant pot to pot up with flowers, not something I can change if it doesn't work and I haven't got time to do tests on it.

I'm sure it's sterile.

That's interesting about the crust oldie, thanks.


I'm wondering now if carrots would grow well in it. I've never had this much perfect compost to play with before. A big carrot tub I'm thinking.

[rustylady]

Our council used to sell the stuff as compost, then they changed the name to "soil conditioner". I don't think they sell it at all now - our Council is C***

[taff]

smell it as well. I pick some up now and then from the recycle center, but they must sterilise it with something else as well because it smells chemical. I used it as soil conditioner in the end, the smell went, and the herbs are massive now, even a rosemary bush that was on it's last legs.
it may have more nutrients than HM compost, since it's made of weeds etc that people dump

[Germinater]

our concil dont do it they sub the waste out to a company and they then charge for it shame as it my waste from my green wheely bin and then i have to pay for it a second time ...

[womble]

our concil dont do it they sub the waste out to a company and they then charge for it shame as it my waste from my green wheely bin and then i have to pay for it a second time ...

That's exactly what mine do, it was the sub company that was giving it away at a council site. And I don't give the council my green waste, I use all that myself. No point giving away fertility.
But I had to take some green waste into the tip to get some free compost, so they had some unusable horrible ivy from me, but almost no one came to pick any up and they had to empty the whole giant skip, so I took as much as I could, which was about 12 old large compost bags full.

[buzzingtalk]

Niiiice, all about free compost. I have no idea if my local council do it, but probably not.

[King Carrot]

Don't want to put a massive downer on this but people use all sorts of poisons and weedkillers in their gardens and on their lawns - some of them don't decompose or break down easily or very quickly either. If it was me I'd be testing for normal growth in it before putting it anywhere near veggie beds or plots.

[Florence Fennel]

It really annoys me that our Council pick up the green waste (you have to pay for the bags to put it in), make compost to sell on to big contractors, but will not sell it back to residents, so I'm trying to use up as much as I can myself.

[womble]

Don't want to put a massive downer on this but people use all sorts of poisons and weedkillers in their gardens and on their lawns - some of them don't decompose or break down easily or very quickly either. If it was me I'd be testing for normal growth in it before putting it anywhere near veggie beds or plots.

Oh bloody hell I didn't think of that. It can't be that bad otherwise the feedback from it would be terrible and they wouldn't use it anywhere else and I assume that they sell it to contractors who sell it in bulk. My neighbour bought a 2 ton load and it looks exactly the same to me.

It doesn't smell of anything chemical btw, I had a sniff.

[endymion]

Don't want to put a massive downer on this but people use all sorts of poisons and weedkillers in their gardens and on their lawns - some of them don't decompose or break down easily or very quickly either. If it was me I'd be testing for normal growth in it before putting it anywhere near veggie beds or plots.

Oh bloody hell I didn't think of that. It can't be that bad otherwise the feedback from it would be terrible and they wouldn't use it anywhere else and I assume that they sell it to contractors who sell it in bulk. My neighbour bought a 2 ton load and it looks exactly the same to me.

It doesn't smell of anything chemical btw, I had a sniff.

I hadn't thought of that either, and I got a few bags up from our local 'tip' today, intending to mix in with our rather sad-looking soil.

Would growing some cress or radishes be good enough to quickly test for herbicides? I know some people use beans, but I haven't got any left.

[King Carrot]

Oh bloody hell I didn't think of that. It can't be that bad otherwise the feedback from it would be terrible and they wouldn't use it anywhere else and I assume that they sell it to contractors who sell it in bulk. My neighbour bought a 2 ton load and it looks exactly the same to me.

It doesn't smell of anything chemical btw, I had a sniff.

Do you feel "Lucky" - Well do ya


Seriously, I've heard of people with problems after using municipal compost, without looking it up I think there's also a lawn weed and feed knocking about with contents similar to that aminopyralid stuff that's been contaminating manure recently.