Posted on 08/03/2011 11:20:14 AM PDT by Former MSM Viewer
For the fall, I have 3 heirlooms, some spinach and yellow squash seeds from Germany and will get more pepper plants.
I already put the tomato plants in the compost but will take them out. Wonder if this ruined my compost...
I love my volunteers!
you could end up with pot ‘weed’ plantes that way, a friend of ours got the city stuff, and they ended up with pot plants...they are older people and didn’t know what was growing in their yard.
I have volunteer cherry toms, and they grow better than the ones I buy or try to grow myself. They only get part sun for the day. Mine now because of the temps look like dried up weeds, despite generous watering. Keep trying to keep them to a few, but it is hard to keep them thinned out. Only good for salads and such, where I want to freeze quarts of toms, instead of buying cans of them.
Bad plan. Much bad juju.
Other posters are correct about viruses and diseases living over and being spread to your entire garden next year. I separate out all my nightshade compostables (tomato, pepper, eggplant and potato) and put them in an entirely different part of my yard. And, make sure that it doesn’t drain in or near where I have my gardens.
Beware.
On the San Diego coast I had a cherry tomato volunteer that I and passersbys ate off of for at least 10 years, until it was destroyed when my place was torn down and concreted for a drive way.
As mentioned above, burn those stalks AND roots.
Once you get the tomato blight and/or the white mold in your garden bed you’re pretty much screwed until you remove and replace the entire soil structure down to the lowest root level.
After burning you can scatter the ashes on the bed. Also, you can add coffee grinds while burning the stalks, and then spread the ashes, it fixes the Ph imbalance, or so I’ve been told and have done so for years.
We have a problem with tomato bligth in my area of NC. I always take all tomato plants and get rid of them one way or the other after they are done producing. Never compost them. As vegans we compost all vegetable matter from the kitchen, grass clippings too and get enough compost for the year. I get a lot of volunteers also and let them grow until they too are done.
Next year, avoid planting tomatoes where tomatoes, peppers, eggplants or potatoes were planted the year before. Rotate tomatoes into areas where unrelated plants, such as beans, corn or lettuce were planted.
Tomato plant bump.
If you compost properly, meaning a good balance of materials (carbon/ nitrogen) that heat up and steam when turned as they decompose, disease spores and weeds should be killed. Just turning the old plants under the garden soil is another matter and isn’t true composting. Seems a shame to waste all the good plant material IF you have a proper compost heap. Composting is facinating subject (when you get older).
Your compost heap will be fine if you took the tomato foliage out.
Good gardening to you...
Golly, if not enough heat is generated, the pathogens will not be destroyed. Very few people compost properly including me. I recommend pulling and burning this year’s residue. I don’t compost anything from my gardens whether it be from the veggie patch or the flower beds. I also make sure I rotate crops in order to avoid carry-over from the last year. Tobacco mosaic, verticillium wilt, early blight, anthracnose all easily winter over in the soil. Best practice is to rotate and burn residue. sd
My horses managed to undo the gate to my garden and ate everything that was still there. It is so clean I will have a very easy time tilling and readying for next year’s garden.
I can’t believe it, they ate my Basil, squash plants, corn stalks, pepper plants, tomato plants, EVERYTHING. I was shocked.
Wow, and no tummy aches afterwards?
Now THAT’s the way to compost.
Yes, you never know what is in the “Free” compost from the city.
We have had several weeks of blistering temps also. things trying to grow are sort of at a standstill- but we might be past our real hot heat- at least this week we have cooled down. I hope it cools for you and some rain gets thrown in the mix. Having a few weeks of blistering temps is not like all summer mixed with no rain like friends in Texas have had.
Since we are talking about composting. I have several large Oak trees. Can I use the leaves in the compost pile?
No problem ! Properly done, composting’s heat will kill any residual fungi spores. FWIW, you should also be adding your lawn/kitchen veg scraps to the mix as well. Best - if your’s is a small operation - to use a retail “composter” in order to get sufficient density/heat generation. Or you can make one out of a 55 gal plastic barrel. Plans are everywhere on the net. >PS
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