Topic: can you compost perenial weeds?

[gwynleg]

Hi. I took over an allotment around March and now have nearly two large compost bins (made with pallets) full of couch grass 'turf' and the perenial weeds that were in it. I have seen some advice not to put these in but seemed an impossible task to take them out. Should I plan for this to compost over a couple of years? Will this kill off the weeds (dandelion, some bindweed other unidentified weeds....) or will they still survive?!
Thanks

[katynewbie]

 :-\

You will probably get lots of conflicting advice on this! My take on it is that you can put any weeds in as long as you leave it for ages, or have a hot heap that will definitely kill the nasties. I put everything in and pick out the long white bits of couch as I go when I "harvest" the compost, then bung them back in the bin!

Other opinions will be along shortly...

 ;)

[Robert_Brenchley]

You can compost anything if you leave it long enough. My strategy has usually been to fill the compost bins, leave them over the winter, then mulch the potatoes with the contents. The first year I did this, I had to pick out loads that was still alive, and chuck it back in for another year. Year by year, the amount of stuff surviving had diminished, until it's effectively ceased. I've never had a weed re-establish itself after a season in the bins; even when I've put them out by accident, they've been too weakened to gain any strength, and have been really easy to get rid off. So just go ahead and compost them.

[gwynleg]

Thanks very much for this advice Katie and Robert. I am very pleased that it doesnt sound disastrous at all to have put it all in!

[redimp]

I'm with Robert on this one.  I compost everything except big wood and brassica roots which are burnt.  I just leave my bins for two years before using them, and cos I run out of room, give the excess one year in and black-side-outwards compost bag for the first year and then one year in the bin.  By then, 99% is dead and anything that isn't is so weak, it doesn't take much tweaking on the plot before it finally gives up.

[kt.]

I dried out the perennial weeds and couchgrass roots  from clearing the final area of my current plot. Burned the lot last night on a bonfire (4 bin bags full). Personally, I don't compost perennials.