Subject: Re: Is this compost organic anyway?
From: rol@teleport.com (Roland Couture)
Organization: Teleport - Portland's Public Access (503) 220-1016
Date: Sat, 06 Sep 97 22:34:22 GMT
Message-ID: <MOD$970906.14474@rec.gardens.ecosystems>
References: <MOD$970905.26997@rec.gardens.ecosystems>
In article <MOD$970905.26997@rec.gardens.ecosystems>,
"dhs" wrote:
>I need a few cubic yards of compost for my new rose and peony beds. The
>farmer next door runs a compost business: gardeners and landscapers bring
>their garden clippings and he puts them into a big pile (several stories
>high). After a while, this becomes compost, very dark. I looked at it, and
>it seems fine (but what do I know?).
>He says that this stuff is organic (not certified). But when lanscapers
>bring the refuse from my suburbs where everybody uses pesticides, why
>should the compost become then "organic"?
It's not.
>Are they pulling my leg?
Sure seems that way. The only way you can say compost is organic is if the
materials it came from were grown organically. HOWEVER, if this stuff is
properly hot-composted, the heat built up in the pile MIGHT be enough to break
down some or most of the residual chemicals. Depending, of course, on what
chemicals were present (very hard to find out definitively) and what their
various breakdown temperatures are (easily enough remembered or looked up by a
knowledgeable person, i.e. not me).
>Is there
>a way to buy organic compost? I cannot produce enough in my garden. ( this
>stuff goes for $23 a cubic yard -delivered. Is this outrageous a price?)
Don't know about the price as I've never had to buy compost. But if your
city, county, or (in my case) regional government asks you to separate your
organics (yard clippings, veg scraps etc.) from the rest of your trash at the
curb, that means they probably have a composting center somewhere and will
either give away or sell-for-cheap some of the compost they produce there. Of
course that might mean hauling it yourself though...
As a side note, I was wondering why you would need so incredibly much compost.
You say your garden doesn't produce enough to meet your demand. That to me
seems like sort of a sign that something is out of balance, when the demand
for compost so far outstrips the ability to produce it. A few cubic yards is
a lot. Maybe you don't really need that much. Or maybe you can produce more.
Are you including your kitchen vegetative wastes and yard clippings along
with your garden clippings? Throw it all in there. If you have neighbors who
don't use nasty chemicals on their lawns, get their bagged grass and toss it
in there. Be creative in finding sources of organic matter, and maybe you can
increase your supply enough to where you don't have to buy compost.
Good luck...
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,8888 888 ?8 * Roland Couture *
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