Urban Agriculture/Family & Consumer Science/4H
FALL IS A GREAT TIME TO BEGIN COMPOSTING
Material to Compost
Source(s): Gary R Peiffer
Everything of an organic nature will compost, but not everything belongs in your home compost pile.
| The following is a list of compostable materials: | |||
| Food | Other | ||
| Apples and apple peels | Cucumbers | Algae (pond weeds) | Leather waste and dust |
| Articohoke leaves | Egg shells (crushed) | Apple pomace (cider press waste) | Leaf mold |
| Asparagus bottoms | Grapes | Blood meal | Leaves |
| Bananas and peels | Grapefruit | Bone meal | Muck (marsh and swamp mud) |
| Beans | Lettuce | Corn stalks | Peanut hulls |
| Beet tops | Lemons | Cotton rags | Peat moss |
| Berries | Melons | Feathers | Pine needles (chopped) |
| Bread | Onions | Felt waste | Rope |
| Broccoli stalks | Oats | Flowers | Sawdust |
| Brussel Sprouts | Pears | Garden wastes (trimmings, plant remains) | Seaweed |
| Buckwheat hulls | Pineapple | Grape plant waste | Soil |
| Cabbage stalks and outer leaves | Potatos | Granite dust | Straw |
| Carrot tops and scrapings | Pumpkins | Grass | String |
| Celery tops | Squashes | Hair | Weeds |
| Citrus rinds | Tea leaves and bags | Hay | Wood ash |
| Coffee grounds (and filters) | Turnips | Hops, spent | Wool rags |
| Corn cobs (chopped | Zucchini | ||
| Do not compost meats, fats and dairy products including: | ||
| Butter | Lard | Salad dressing |
|
Bones |
Mayonnaise | Sour cream |
| Cheese | Meat scraps | Vegetable oil |
| Chicken | Milk | Yogurt |
| Fish scraps | Peanut Butter | |
| Common Organic Wastes You Can Compost (from around the community) | |
| Coffee wastes - every restaurant has coffee grounds. Ask if they will save their grounds for you to pick up. | Leaves - you'll find these bagged and waiting at neighbor's curbside. |
| Food scraps - minus meat, bones, dairy or fatty foods. Ask your greengrocer or supermarket for their wastes. | Sawdust - don't use any kind of treated lumber as it may contain toxic material. |
| Grass Clippings - are plentiful; landscapers are always trying to get rid of these. | Wood chips - a tree service may deliver a load if you are willing to take a large uantity. Use first on garden paths, then compost it after the initial decay. |
| Hair - very high in nitrogen | |
| Non-Compostable Organic Materials | |
| Everything of an organic nature will compost, but not everything belongs in your home compost pile. Some materials that create problems include: | |
| Certain grasses with a rhizomatous root system, such as crabgrass. These may not be killed by the heat of decomposition and can choke out other plants when compost is used in the garden. | Plants infected with a disease or a severe insect attack where eggs could be preserved or where the insects themselves could survive in spite of the compost pile's heat (examples are apple scab, aphids, tent caterpillars....). |
| Cat and dog manures, which can contain pathogens. These pathogens are not always killed in the heat of the compost pile. | Plants which take too long to break down, such as rhododendron and English Laurel leaves. |
Several types of compost bins can be seen at the Fernbank Science Center Compost Garden, 186 Heaton Park Drive, Atlanta, GA 30307. For further information please call UGA/COBB COUNTY COOPERATIVE EXTENSION at 770-528-4070.
Resource(s): Composting and MulchingCenter Publication Number: 20
