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long Island

Is it a good idea or a bad idea?
I hate that black dye and wood chip stuff.
I have a lot of borders and planting beds around the house. I usually use the black wood chip mulch but this year I was going to try 2 or 3 inches of compost instead.
I thought, while I`m at it, I would also add 2 or 3 inches to the pumpkin patch. Just on top, not tilled in.
What are your thoughts on this?

6/8/2011 8:17:27 AM

Northern Cambria, Pa.

Extremely bad idea.

6/8/2011 10:14:57 AM

bliss,n.y.- heart of Wyoming County

What about burying vines?

6/8/2011 10:38:36 AM

rural S.E. Michigan

why in the world would that be bad?????

6/8/2011 11:21:36 AM

Mass

thats all I used last year for burying because I tried no till. So I had nothing loose to work with. I used my own composted horse manure/leaves/coffee grounds etc. If ist isnt to fresh and hot it should be alright. Worked fine for me, just a lot of work hauling it in. with pails or wheelbarrows. I would take 5 gallon pails full and dump on vines as needed and fill in between with some. I will say it is much easier with nice tilled soil right there this year.

6/8/2011 11:39:11 AM

Northern Cambria, Pa.

Use only a small amount of soil to bury vines. Compost will encourage harmful bacteria and fungus which will rot the vine or cause disease to develop, especially during rainy periods. I know of several growers who made this mistake and lost their plants as a result.

6/8/2011 11:47:05 AM

Bristol R.I. USA

I use native soil in the patch to bury vines. I never use any bagged compost because of fear of loseing plants or plants catching a fungus that you have to deal with. I believe that your patch should already have the needed ammendments in it to bury vines without resorting to compost. Not to mention you know after soil tests what your soil has in it. Never use bagged compost thats just asking for trouble.

6/8/2011 12:35:43 PM

rural S.E. Michigan

hmmm...lcheckon, i assume you are the Checkon of pumpkin fame so I can't argue I guess but dang, that goes against my experience and also the definition of compost.
For the record, I am only talking about the 5 year old compost i get from a nearby farm....some quotes from the wiki:

Compost is generally recommended as an additive to soil, or other matrices such as coir and peat, as a tilth improver, supplying humus and nutrients. It provides a rich growing medium, or a porous, absorbent material that holds moisture and soluble minerals, providing the support and nutrients in which plants can flourish, although it is rarely used alone, being primarily mixed with soil, sand, grit, bark chips, vermiculite, perlite, or clay granules to produce loam.



Compost can be rich in nutrients. It is used in gardens, landscaping, horticulture, and agriculture. The compost itself is beneficial for the land in many ways, including as a soil conditioner, a fertilizer, addition of vital humus or humic acids, and as a natural pesticide for soil.

6/8/2011 2:48:48 PM

Northern Cambria, Pa.

Yes Scooby, great for the soil but not good for covering vines.

6/8/2011 2:57:05 PM

bliss,n.y.- heart of Wyoming County

larry-does it encourage bad pathogens when directly placed on vines?

6/8/2011 3:07:41 PM

bliss,n.y.- heart of Wyoming County

is it a negative factor on Myco?
I trust your judgement, just trying to gain knowledge.

6/8/2011 3:09:18 PM

Ohio

Larry is exactly right, years back I tried covering my vines with straight compost and I ended up losing more then half my plants to disease. I would have lost them all if Larry wouldn't have told me to uncover my remaining plants.

And if the compost isn't done cooking, them nice green vines will make a good starter for getting your compost back cooking again.

6/8/2011 3:25:00 PM

Buffalo, New York

this year is a year of changes here.....i am using soil from patch and compost i got from the town facility, mixed.

6/8/2011 4:58:10 PM

long Island

That's what I thought. Bad idea.
I went to my local organic nursery today. They have a huge pile of municipal compost. It is the real deal. straight compost, fully cooked, not a 50 50 mix.
I did a PH test on it while I was there. It has a PH of about 8, maybe 8.5 Very high. I added a yard of the stuff to my small 175 sq ft. patch last fall and tilled it in real deep. My OM went way up and my PH was a little high.
I was able to amend the PH a few weeks ago and now its perfect. I had a feeling that the compost was responsible for the elevated PH. Now that I have tested it I know for sure it was the compost.
Anyway, I will not be adding anymore to my patch.

My Wife loves that black wood mulch in the flower beds. I hate the stuff because it attracts, or comes with, three types of bad bugs. Earwigs, silverfish, and those long, ugly things with 50 legs. I think its called Naturescapes. It looks nice but I really hate earwigs. There's got to be a better solution than rotting, dyed black, wood.

6/8/2011 6:02:15 PM

rural S.E. Michigan

Brooks and Larry,
I'm curious, what was the condition of the soil food web where you saw this reaction?

6/9/2011 1:15:25 PM