compost pile - good and bad?

[timelady]

My stupid question for December: can I put chocolate on the compost pile? Sounds really silly but I got some horrible sickly chocolate for xmas and no one else wants it either. Which bag to put it in in the kitchen is my dilemna of the moment! :) Will it attact anything unwanted (thinking rats and such) is composted? My compost heap is just an open one.

And on that theme, since I'm just starting my composting is there a basic list of bad things not to put on it? I know I've read no meat or eggshells but just wondered if there's other items discouraged because they attract pests or prevent break down?

Thanks!
Tina.

[timelady]

[kitten]

Hi Tina! We got a leaflet from the local council when we got our dalek bin, and it basically said to put uncooked kitchen waste (not plate scrapings), egg shells, paper and garden waste in but not cooked things, meat, bread or cheese products. I'm sure you'll get some better advice from the experienced composters around here tho'! x

[manicscousers]

d'you know, I've never thought about chocolate in the compost,
all our egg boxes, pill boxes, cereal cartons, tea bags, egg shells, crunched up, as well as veggie peelings and vacuum bag filling, dog hair and ray's hair, when he dubs it,
all the veggies from making stock, can't think what else, no doubt I've missed something,
Bob flowerdew says anything that's ever been alive can be composted,
oh, yes, we compost tree chippings and sawdust, but in their own bags  :)

[Larkspur]

I think the problem with chocolate is likely to be the same as that with cooked food, RATS :o. Mice certainly love it, it is claimed to be the best trap bait for them :-\.

[Tulipa]

I hid chocolate advent calenders in my loft for a couple of days before december last year and they were eaten by mice.  The council lady said it is the food mice love the best, so if you want to avoid them you would be best not putting the chocolate in your compost.  Sorry!  T.

[timelady]

That's why I asked. :)  And I have chocolate in my mouse traps at home, but the mice in my house obviously don't like Dairy Milk. Peanut butter is the other recommendation.
See, I didn't know about cooked food either, so I've learned something.

Tina.

[lorna]

Mars bar a certainty :) Nice and chewy and the little darlings have to work for their supper. Not maltesers, the mice can "nick" them without setting off the trap. Luckily only ever (so far) had one mouse in the greenhouse.
Lorna

[louise stella]

Basically anything that has lived - but hasn't been cooked!!  Peelings, over-ripe fruit and veg - but not too much citrus!   Hair, from humans and pets - hoover bag stuff, grass clippings and all garden stuff - but nothing diseased of course.  Eggshell, feathers, dead birds!!!! (yucky - but if you have cats around - it happens!).  Paper - shreaded or scrunched.  Nettles and comfrey leaves are brilliant activators!  and of course pee!!! (no I haven't yet - just in case you ask!).  Try and build the heap all at once rather than in dribs and drabs!  If you have to do it a bit at a time - give it a good old turning over before covering it up well to encourage it to heat up!  Put carpet, cardboard or something on top and finish it off with plastic sheeting to keep it all warm and the rain out and to stop the goodness leaching out!

Leaves are better done seperately - in bags or in wire cages!  Weeds can be added but are better on their own if you have a lot of them - cover them well and leave for up to a year and the nastiest should rot down!  You can leave them to wither on a path for a few days to help the process along.

As for chocolate?????  nooooooooo - send it to me!!! ;)

Happy composting - I can't gey enough of it!

Louise

[kt.]

If you really want to use chocolates in your allotment - remove some of the centre and fill with rat-poison and scatter where you feel necessary. Other than that, then its household waste.