[rogertb]

Hi chaps, I just have 6 old plants, I read somewhere to chop into 2" pieces and compost, not sure I can be bothered, too much else to, any advice please ?

[mumofstig]

They really don't rot down easily - I put mine in a pile between the fence and the row of dalek bins and ignore them - for ever 

[JayG]

I find the fibrous roots almost indestructible in the compost heap (as are spent cobs) - the stalks are less problematic for me and seem to rot down OK if chopped up first (the smaller the better, if you can be bothered.)

[Nobbie]

I just chuck then in a heap and leave them over winter to rot a bit and get frosted. In the spring I give them a rough chop with a spade and chuck them in the compost.

[New shoot]

I chuck the stalks and roots in the compost and then if there are bits left un-rotted when I empty the bin, I chuck them back into the next bin I am filling.  I don't even bother chopping them up, but Nobbie's tip is a good one if you have limited bin space.  They would be easy to chop with a spade once a winter had beaten them up a bit 

The cobs from sweetcorn you have eaten are not worth chucking in.  They just sit there and nothing happens.

[JayG]

Sorry, slightly off-topic, but when we were touring Venezia recently, our guide explained that every part of the sweetcorn plant and its cobs has a use.

Italians apparently believe eating corn on the cob is a very strange practice indeed, so the kernels are pressed  to produce corn oil and then used as animal feed, the cobs are turned into solid fuel, and the stalks are dried and used as animal bedding. Not a lot left to compost!