Spuds Growing in my Compost Bin

[Cligereen]

Hi folks,

I have noticed that whenever I go to inspect the compost bin, or to add anything to it, that I have very 'leggy' spud plants growing in the compost. They are sprouting from the peelings that I add to it.

I do add the correct stuff in the correct ratios. I add pee and nettle brew to activate it all, I turn it every couple of weeks - and the bloody things still keep appearing! At first I thought it may be that the bin was kept in the shade and that the temps weren't getting high enough to kill off the vegetation, so last year I moved it into direct sunlight but there's no difference.

When I use the compost on the garden I inevitably get spuds sprouting up where I don't want them. No other plants seem to sprout, just the spuds.

Has anybody any suggestions? - apart from putting the peelings in the household waste bin - and that seems like an awful waste to me.

Next year I'm going to try planting peelings in the garden instead of using chitted whole potatoes and I'll see what happens but I want to use my compost now!

[Silver Ether]

I stopped adding potato peelings for that reason, in my case its not a lot as I very rarely peel spuds...

[Green Aura]

You could try bokashi for your kitchen waste. I'm not sure they'd sprout after fermenting in EMs for a while

[Cligereen]

I see, SE, perhaps I ought to stop putting them in then as we live in Ireland, so you can imagine the amount of spuds we use!

Funny though, because every book or magazine I've read suggests putting them in. I may try Plan B and plant the peelings in the ground next year then and see what happens.

I know nothing about Bokashi - what is this wonder you speak of? Is EM an 'ish type of ET?

[Green Aura]

It's a system of composting where you have a small bin, in or near your kitchen to put all your scraps in - even meat! Every time you put something in you chuck a handful of this bran, innoculated with EMs (effective micro-organisms) which anaerobically digest it and then it's safe to put in the compost or into trenches, straight into the garden.

I've been using it for a few years now and it's really good - no nasty smells (the bokashi makes it smelly sort of citrussy and fizzy IYKWIM ) and certainly no problems with anything starting to sprout the EMs ferment the waste, I think

[Annpan]

Um.... When I dig over my compost bins (every 6 months or so) I just collect the tatties I find and we have them at dinner.... similarly, any rouge ones sprouting around the garden are a free meal as far as I am concerned

[Daveswife]

We do not put potato peelings in our compost bin now. Not only do they shoot in the bin, taking nutrients out of the compost, but the peelings don't seem to rot down as well as the other stuff. We also had spuds coming up all over the garden and when we started to get blight on outdoor tomatoes five years ago we blamed the infidel intruders for attracting the blight. Last year we got blight in the greenhosue as well and lost all our tomato plants - about 40 in all - by mid July. And that meant a LOT of green tomato chutney!

If you are not happy with putting your potato peelings in the household bin you could chuck them under the hedge where they will rot eventually.

[snapdragon]

Boil or microwave the skins before adding them should stop it.

[crowsashes]

keep your peelings and roast them, they make good, alternative chips to go with a dip! chuck some cajun spices over them and they are extra tasty. i stick the peelings ( if there are any) in a bowl of water and the keep till the following day, you just need to give them a good shake or dry off on a tea towel before roasting .

[Mrs Moustoir]

We have the same problem and the little spud plants that pop up here and there never yield much.

Read somewhere that a hotter compost heap kills annual weeds/seeds whilst it is rotting down and I'm hoping this applies to spud peelings too. I've recently added some pretty fresh FYM to our bin in the hope that it will heat it up a bit. All that seems to have happened so far is that the resident mouse has moved out!

[Cligereen]

Glad that I haven't got 'magic' spuds. I was having visions of being like 'Jack and the Beanstalk' for a while - except in my case, spud-stalk.

Rather than chuck the peelings in the bin, I'm going to try Crowsashes rather excellent suggestion of roasting them. Sour cream and chive dip seems like a good accompaniment. That is Plan C and the one I'm going with! Thanks for that Crowsashes!

[theabsinthefairy]

I use to put mine in a separate composter until the chickens found them, and even though all the books say that chickens won't eat raw peelings, mine do, they love 'em. So now if I peel spuds I put the dirty water and the peelings in the chicken trough and they scoff the lot!

[Thomzo]

Last year we got blight in the greenhosue as well and lost all our tomato plants - about 40 in all - by mid July. And that meant a LOT of green tomato chutney!

Yikes, I've got skin-sprouted-potatoes growing in the compost bin (sort of wormery but not enough worms) in the pottering shed where my tomatoes are. Note to self, move the bin out of the pottering shed, tomorrow!

Zoe

[pumpy]

Um.... When I dig over my compost bins (every 6 months or so) I just collect the tatties I find and we have them at dinner.... similarly, any rouge ones sprouting around the garden are a free meal as far as I am concerned

I'll second that.