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Composting invasive weeds

iainrigby15FVJiZBmZiainrigby15FVJiZBmZ Posts: 4
in Problem solving
Some weeds can be composted but we have an amount of mares tail on our allotment. Do you recommend putting this in or should it be treated  differently?

Posts

  • CeresCeres Posts: 2,698
    I recommend you get that infernal stuff as far away from a compost heap as possible.
  • FireFire Posts: 19,096
    I don't put any pernicious weeds anywhere near by compost bins
  • fidgetbonesfidgetbones Posts: 17,618
    Dry it out and incinerate.
  • iainrigby15FVJiZBmZiainrigby15FVJiZBmZ Posts: 4
    I have been piling up any weeds that I am not sure about in a large blue plastic tub and letting them rot down over the years. It ends up as a slurry in the bottom of the tub which then seems pretty harmless. I suppose alternatives would be to burn them when dry or carting them back for the green waste collection service.
  • JennyJJennyJ Posts: 10,576
    You might find this interesting @iainrigby15FVJiZBmZ https://www.carryoncomposting.com/142941483_7049528.html
    Doncaster, South Yorkshire. Soil type: sandy, well-drained
  • iainrigby15FVJiZBmZiainrigby15FVJiZBmZ Posts: 4
    Jenny that is fantastic!

    Drowning horsetail to make feed definitely kills two birds with one stone! Will have to try it out. I already make feed out of comfrey and nettles. If it works I will look on horsetail as a friend rather than a foe!
  • FairygirlFairygirl Posts: 55,117
    I know @Obelixx has often mentioned using it as a preventative method for mildew. 
    Worth trying if you have a lot of it, and also have that problem.  :)
    It's a place where beautiful isn't enough of a word....



    I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
  • ObelixxObelixx Posts: 30,090
    Any thuggish weed can be composted in water to make a form of fertiliser.  nettles are full of nitrioge so good for fedding leafy plants and comfrey's roots go much deeper and pull up a broad range of nutrients which means they make a great feed for flwoering and fruiting plants such as roses and tomatoes.

    Horsetail makes a good fungicide which can beused as both prevention and treatment for peach leaf curl, mildew, various rusts and mildew:-

    1kilo fresh horsetail, bashed and bruised
    9 litres of water

    Combine the two in a plastic bucket - not metal - and leave for 2 weeks.  Stir occasionally.  It's ready when the water has gone black.  It will smell so you may want a lid.

    Strain the resulting liquid, put the goo on the compost heap and dilute the rest 1 part to 9 parts water and spray. 


    Vendée - 20kms from Atlantic coast.
    "The price good men (and women) pay for indifference to public affairs is to be ruled by evil men (and women)."
    Plato
  • barry islandbarry island Posts: 1,847
    On my allotment I go by the rule that anything that has lived will eventually rot down so I compost nettles, bindweed, docks e.t.c they are in a closed bin for a minimum of three years and I consider this to be enough time for the composting process to have worked, we don't have marestail.
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