Composting wool felt

[Mark Rand]

Every month or two I get a prescription for insulin and lots of happy pills etc. Since the last of my three well stocked, promptly dispensing, chemists in Rugby went down the chute, I've been getting my scrips online.

The insulin comes with an ice pack insulated with a bit of rough wool felt 1 x 30 x 70 cm in size. It's a shame to chuck it out. I'm guessing that if I used it, as is, as an insulating mulch, It'd get a crop of weeds embedded in it. Can I compost it, either in the normal (slow) compost bin or in the worm bin?

[MelanieSW]

I've used wool felt as a base for a veg bed, instead of cardboard - it rotted and disappeared within a year. This was garden felt from Chimney Sheep

[Snoop Puss]

It's definitely just wool, Mark? No other fibres or chemical treatment you might not want in the garden? If just wool, that would be fantastic.

[Nicos]

^^^^ good point Snoop - worth enquiring about Mark.

I have a few sheets which were given me from my son who’s dog had to be on a special diet before she was put down.
Interesting thread!

I’ve noticed over here that some things now arrive packed in ‘Quavers’ made from puffed rice apparently - or puffed peanut or something as opposed to polystyrene.
Might look into that for composting. Obviously the wool mats wouldn’t readily blow away as ground covering.

Hope you get a positive reply from the suppliers!

[ameno]

As long as it's actual wool, it should rot down just fine. It's hair, so it takes a bit longer than a lot of plant fibres, but it still goes. Wool makes a good mulch, too (although you can get weeds germinating in it, as you say).
Since wool is hair, and therefore mostly keratin, a protein, it is very high in nitrogen. But since it rots so slowly, there's no risk of this harming the plants from excess nitrogen. It's basically a very slow release fertiliser.

[Mark Rand]

Thanks for the comments, all.

I've just got to work out what to do with it now. I think I'll either chop it up and put it in the compost heap or, more likely, chop it up and use it when I rebuild the raised be later on this year.

[rary]

You could try using it as capillary mating, if it works it would save a lot of watering

[Mark Rand]

We went away to Norfolk on holiday last week. I used the felt as capillary matting in the heated propagator trays and put the pepper, chilli and basil plants on it. The felt was still damp when we got back yesterday and the plants are all healthy. The cucumbers in their large pots on the concrete floor survived, but weren't s happy about being abandoned.

[Penellype]

I got some wool packaging (it said it was wool on the packing info) and experimented with using some as a 6 inch square mulch around brassica plants (PSB and romanesco). The sample size was small - 1 mulched plant and 2 not mulched, but in both cases the mulched plants were bigger and healthier than the others. The wool did not rot down significantly and was reusable this year. Apart from going a little green, it did not grow weeds. I think there were at least 2 advantages of doing this - water retention and keeping off cabbage root fly. It could also have helped deter slugs when the plants were small. To avoid the wool blowing away I pegged it down with the sort of metal hooks you get to hold down nets or plastic covers.

I also once used a whole sheep's fleece (my sister has sheep) at the bottom of a hotbed. By the end of the year the fleece had completely rotted away.

Interesting idea to use it as capillary matting.