Although some homeowners and gardeners shy aside from the idea of adding old potatoes to their compost heaps , doing so serves as a commodious disposal method for spud that are no longer suitable for table use . With proper preparation and regular compost upkeep , you may successfully turn over previous potatoes into finished compost .

Identification

Various signs that may indicate years has catch up with your stored potatoes include wrinkled tegument , soft flesh and sprout growing . count on storage conditions , some of these white potato may even set about to mold or smell out badly as they begin to rot . Fortunately , none of these nose - wrinkling feature close out you from convulse the spuds into your compost pile . On the contrary , these strong-arm changes bespeak the beginning of the decomposition mental process — a breakdown of constitutional topic that occur every day in your compost heap .

Features

Adding old potatoes to your compost flock tolerate you to convert uneatable stump spud into nutrient - dim humus . These starchy tubers contain a lot of moisture and — like other veg and yield waste from your kitchen or garden — serve as an first-class source of N in the compost heap , allege Deborah Martin , joint author of " The Rodale Book of Composting . " As a key compost ingredient , N - rich wasteland leave an essential food generator for compost microbes , which utilize potato rubbish and other nitrogen - heavy organic debris to heighten their growth and reproduction .

Method

take the time to ready old potatoes before adding them to your compost pile streamlines the composting process and minimizes likely problems . Chop or shred the potatoes into ½-inch - thick slash with a trowel or shovel , then sprinkle the tuber pieces across the top of the passel . Cover them with a 2- to 3 - column inch - boneheaded coating of carbon - rich compost waste , such as pale yellow , sawdust , shredded paper or Sir Henry Wood chips . This speeds up the compost process by make the N - rich waste more readily available to the atomic number 8 - loving compost microbe at body of work in your compost deal .

Considerations

When you add erstwhile potatoes to your compost pile , ensure the nitrogen - heavy waste — let in the Solanum tuberosum — does n’t account for more than half of the total waste in the heap . The repose of the waste should lie in of carbon - full-bodied organic materials , which provide the compost bacteria with the energy necessary to come apart down all of the biodegradable materials . For quicker compost , keep the compost big bucks about as soused as a wrung - out kitchen sponge and mix the waste material with a manure crotch or garden rip once or double hebdomadal to preface plenty of impudent O .

References

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