Topic: composted spud peelings...... minor problem?

[kt.]

Blo*dy hell.  I have been using my 2-3 year old home made compost and it is a nice fine brown compost too.  However... the top half of both compost bins now have about 40 potato runners at 12-18" tall sprouting out of the top from peelings I have thrown in over winter. 

Is it worth digging and turning them in or am I best pulling them all out one by one ??? ???  No more potato peelings will be going in there again :(

[Fork]

Turn it over and pull them all out.

My potato peelings are always finely minced before they go in the compost bin.....cos Ive had your problem too before now.

[shirlton]

Do you use a potato peeler or a knife. If its a knife then the peelings will be a lot thicker than with a peeler. We always put our peelings in the compost but are very careful not to put the potato haulms in with tiny little spuds on em cos they will grow. You only have to look where the spuds were last year when you thought that you had got em all up.

[Digeroo]

sprouting out of the top from peelings

I never put anything from potatoes in compost.  Never quite known why.  Seems you have provided the answer.

[Robert_Brenchley]

I do and they die miserably in the dark. If I find anything alive when I turn the bins out (it's usually just the odd dock root) I chuck it in the next bin.

[Kepouros]

Agree with Robert.  I`ve always put my potato peelings in the compost bins and I never get any potato shoots coming up.  It`s the buttercups that seem to thrive in mine, and the more deeply I bury them the stronger they seem to grow

[banshee]

The potatoes that have grown in the compost bin are doing better than the ones that I actually planted! They are now all in flower in the bin - we were pulling them out originally but they just kept on growing, so we gave up with them - seems a shame to waste all the potatoes and the compost. We are hoping to rescue as much of the compost as possible though by sieving it to make sure that there are no potatoes left in it. Would it still be usable if we did that?

[Kepouros]

Assuming that the potato plants all appear fully healthy, yes, the compost will still be usable after you`ve sieved it. Strictly speaking you should use it in accordance with your rotation plan (i.e. not where you`re likely to plant spuds in the next coupole of years), but I can`t see that it`s likely to do any harm if you ignore this.

[banshee]

Thanks Kepouros - the plants look unbelievably healthy and strong. Think I'll cry if there are loads of potatoes that have to be thrown, I hate wasting anything  :(

Sorry about the thread hijack Ktlawson, but like you, I dont think there will be any more potato peelings going in  my compost bin from now on.

[Palustris]

Say thank you for the extra bounty and stop worrying. We always have a decent crop of 'compost' spuds. And we use the compost on all parts of the veg patch. Round here the blight comes from the gillions of 'wildings' left behind in the Farmer's fields.
Having said that, we are getting a decent set of tomato plants too! All grist to the mill.

[banshee]

Palustris - will they be edible then?   I was told that they would not be fit for eating considering they have grown in the compost heap. Now I'm confused...............

[Kepouros]

Palustris - will they be edible then?   I was told that they would not be fit for eating considering they have grown in the compost heap. Now I'm confused...............

Look at it this way - do you refuse to eat things grown on ground that has been manured or composted?
So what`s the difference?

[banshee]

Doh - I didn't think of that one Kepouros. Looks like I'll have more potatoes than I first thought then  ;D

Thanks for the help and again I apologise to Ktlawson for hijacking this thread.

[KathrynH]

To go back to the original point, I put my potato peelings in my wormery. By the time I have got to the bottom layer and it is ready to use as compost the worm's digestive system has got rid of any live matter. I would urge anyone to get one.

[cornykev]

I don't put mine in my daleks any more, the heat and darkness doesn't kill them,  I get long spiney roots just like KT, mine go in the council bin.     ;D ;D ;D