Topic: How to dispose of blighted tomato plants?

[GodfreyRob]

We have 3 wheelie bins (so far!) - 1 for recycable waste, 1 for grass/hedge cuttings and one for the rest (land fill I guess).

I have just cut down my second set of toms as they have got the dreaded blight. I was collecting all the foliage into a plastic sack and then started wondering if I should put it in our landfill wheelie bin or in the one used for grass/hedge cuttings, etc.

I don't want it on my compost heap (where I put just about every other veg waste) as I could be recycling the blight spores.

If it went in the usual grass/hedge cuttings wheelie bin will I be spreading the blight or does the council somehow sterilize it before composting?? 

Or am I just worrying about nothing??

[Baccy Man]

You are worrying about nothing. It is pefectly safe to compost blight infected plants.

[Eristic]

And if you were to reside in my Borough you could face a £1000.00 fine for putting it in the wrong bin.

[kt.]

My greenhouse plants at the plot go into the compost bin at the plot,  my greenhouse plants from home mostly go in my council recycling bin.

[nilly71]

The old boy next to my plot was chucking his into the nearby bushes, so i said to him to put it straight into my fire.

He said he did not know what was wrong with the toms. :-\

Neil

[Duke Ellington]

Apparently its safe to put the blighted tomato plants into your garden waste recycling bin because the council green waste is composted to a really high temperature ~much higher than we can achieve in our own domestic compost bins.

Last night while watching on old Gardeners World they mentioned that you should not put blighted anything into domestic compost bins!!! better safe than sorry!!

Duke

[Robert_Brenchley]

Throwing them into the bushes isn't safe, and the infection remains active as long as there's still iiving tissue present. I don't know about domestic bins, but I put it all in my compost bins.

[GodfreyRob]

Apparently its safe to put the blighted tomato plants into your garden waste recycling bin because the council green waste is composted to a really high temperature ~much higher than we can achieve in our own domestic compost bins.

Last night while watching on old Gardeners World they mentioned that you should not put blighted anything into domestic compost bins!!! better safe than sorry!!

Duke

I think I'll play safe then and let the council compost it.

[izzywizz]

the advise I was given was to burn them. Don't suppose thats enviro friendly these days.

[amphibian]

the advise I was given was to burn them. Don't suppose thats enviro friendly these days.

It's fine to burn plants, they'll only release as much carbon in burning as they took in during living, if that makes sense.

[thifasmom]

and don't forget you could always put the ash on the compost heap :).

[N8R]

surely to be safe they should be burnt !!!!

[carolinej]

I'm sure I can remember Bob Flowerdew saying that blight was airborne and that he always just threw his plants into the compost heap.

Maybe he's right.

Maybe he is trying to sabotage all our efforts ::)

cj :)

[debster]

i sent my plants to the council recycling but i had cut the plants off at the compost so im now left with the compost and the roots, can this go in my compost bin safely does anyone know?
sorry to cut in on the thread but didnt seem right to start a new one

[Baccy Man]

Debster yes it can go in the compost bin, have a look at this thread for a more detailed answer.
http://www.allotments4all.co.uk/smf/index.php/topic,45227.0.html

[debster]

thanks

[PurpleHeather]

The safest way is to burn them, after dark and to make sure the fire is out before it is left unattended  but in some areas even fires are banned.

The actual plant can be put in to the green composting council bin but the tomatoes may be considered kitchen waste.

Is there any reason why the fruit can not be heated on a tray in a domestic oven and then composted in our own pile?. If the oven is on any way nothing is lost. Surely that would kill off the bug.