i have just found a large bag of potatoes left from the last seasons crop (dont ask me how i forget about them!). they are all a mass of sprouts. if i put them on the compost will they compost properly or will i spend the next twelve months picking out spud seedlings?
As long as the compost is covered they'll die and rot quite quickly. I'm always chucking volunteer spuds into my bins and none of them ever survive.
pick 'em out and bin 'em. Reduces risk of disease.
I have loads in my bin :- (
I left some to grow in my compost bin last year and had a massive 2.25lb potato.
I've got even more this year, not intentionally, but there were so many shoots I didn't have the heart to put the lid back on.
i'm in two minds really. its a big bag of spuds (cant think how i missed them). i think i will probably put them in as i have recently emptied it so they will be on the bottom and being that deep should do the trick. thanks guys.
I have potatoes that have grown up through 2.5 meters of compost.
I really wouldn't risk it. If you do dare, I'd recommend putting them through a fine chipper.
2.5 metres !!! thats one big compost heap :o :D
You're quite right, it's only 1.8m I've got a half plot and the compost heap is pretty high because it can't go left/right. I do tend to add clumps of soil to it when I dig off the couch grass infected top...
It'll be much higher when my pumpkin gets underway.