[ESSEX GRAY]

A couple of my polytunnel tom plants got blight, so I stripped out all signs of infection and without thinking I chucked it all into my compost bin. Now I'm worried if the compost will be infected. I don't know if I can use it or should I get rid of the lot. Months of collecting and now a dilema. Being a newbe I quite surprised myself finding how protective I became of my home grown plants but becomming attached to my compost......well perhaps I need help.   

[Kleftiwallah]

If you turn over your compost heap and it's a goodun,  the heat generated should kill off the blight spores.     Cheers,    Tony.

[DD.]

Blight can only survive on living plant material, heat or not, anything should be well dead by next year, just make sure no spud peelings are growing in there!

[ESSEX GRAY]

Thanks guys. That's cheered me up. First year at composting. I can't believe how many tea bags I get through. I've got 2 black dalek type bins and it's a bit awkward to turn over. Should I empty it all out, fork it over and re-bin it? and if so how often?
This is a great site for info. Thanks again.

[viettaclark]

I did my compost today. Went through the cooked stuff from one dalek and bagged it. Then filled it up again from the full one that needed turning.
I only do this once but I leave it for about 12-18 months altogether.

[sunshineband]

You are right it is hard to turn compost while it is in the bin.

I empty one out, and put all the uncomposted stuff into another. I use the good stuff.

This is about now and mid spring, so... twice in the year.


Good exercise 

[JayG]

I use a compost stirrer, which is basically a handle with folding "V" wings at the business end which collapse as you push it into the compost and open as you pull it up, hence pulling up the stuff from the bottom to the top. Works very well unless you dumped something like all your runner bean bines in in one lump, which obviously is pretty hard to shift until rotted down! 

(Don't ask me how I know that; must have been some lazy so-and-so who should have known better!)

[viettaclark]

I've got a compost stirrer thingy but can't seem to make it work effectively. Think it might be the newspaper from the coop that blocks it or maybe I'm doing it wrongly!!!

[sunshineband]

I just can't seem to get the hang of the stirrer (borrowed one to have a go).

You need to be able to mix it all up before it has rotted rather than afterwards and it is far to solid once it starts to slump down.

It is OK to mix with as you add things into the top layer, but I do that anyway with a small hand fork and (gloved) hands

[JayG]

I've actually got two compost stirrers; one is robust and all-metal with a curved handle and is ergonomically useless (won't go in the direction it's shoved!)

The other one is rather flimsy-looking plastic with a "T" handle but in about 8 years I haven't managed to break it. I doubt whether it would easily go through thick layers of unrotted paper, although of course you shouldn't have thick layers of any one thing in a compost heap.

[Yorkie]

My compost stirrer is metal and has those bits which are supposed to open out when the stirrer is retracted upwards.  It goes downwards fine but hasn't worked out how to open back up again!

[viettaclark]

Same here Yorkie!
I don't put in thick layers of newspaper but there isn't a sharp enough tip to go through compacted material. And when it's rotted and crumbly it's too late!
I stick to the method of lifting up the dalek and mixing it all up when chucking it into another, along with a can of water if it's too dry.
I find it quite restful sitting sorting through by hand and removing sticks and stuff. The chickens help too.....
Lovely stuff, compost,
(Must get out more.....)

[sunshineband]

Same here Yorkie!
I don't put in thick layers of newspaper but there isn't a sharp enough tip to go through compacted material. And when it's rotted and crumbly it's too late!
I stick to the method of lifting up the dalek and mixing it all up when chucking it into another, along with a can of water if it's too dry.
I find it quite restful sitting sorting through by hand and removing sticks and stuff. The chickens help too.....
Lovely stuff, compost,
(Must get out more.....)

The sign of someone who cares about their compost enough to treat it lovingly   

[oldcow]

I have blight too. I'm not composting the plants, since I'm not sure my compost heap is big enough to get hot; but will the spores live in the grass around the beds where the tomatoes were planted?

[JayG]

The more I read about the life cycle of late blight the more I realise that there are still more questions than answers about many aspects of it, especially how (and how well) it over-winters in different situations, particularly in the soil.

I think it's fairly safe to say that the spores are unlikely to survive the winter on anything which isn't a host plant, and probably will not survive even cold composting (which destroys the live plant tissue it needs to survive) but for me it just seems prudent to destroy any blighted material rather than take any risk of re-cycling the infection next year.