Do I Really Want to Compost?
Sep 19th, 2008 by Cynthia
Do I really want to compost? Of course I do but I had second thoughts the other night after surfing gardening blogs. I came across a very nice blog that I will be visiting again that had a bit of info on composting that made me want to give up ever composting again.
Down to Earth wrote a post on September 12, 2008 titled Organic Potatoes and a Rooster. Scroll down towards the end of that post and you will find a picture that sent off the EEWWW button in me. You have to visit their blog to see the picture but I can tell you it was a close up of their shovel that had newly born rats on it that came out of their compost pile. I do not know what I would do if I can across this in my compost. For sure you would find me screaming and vowing to never go near the piles again. Snakes don’t really bother me. Neither do spiders but rats (and mice) will send me running and climbing up a chair.
I know that they are drawn to the compost heap as we make it so inviting to them but I do not want to think about them possibly being there. Nor do I really want to give up composting just because I am afraid of the rats finding it a great place to hang out. Reading that blog sent off an alarm in me though. I started to think about the fox raiding my garden. If I have a fox wandering around the yard then why wouldn’t rats find my compost? I do not like thinking about this! Do foxes eat rats? I thought I read that they do. If so, then he can stay for I have no cat to place on patrol.
Now I do not even know if a rat has ever been in my yard before but just the sight of that picture set my head spinning. Has anyone else had to deal with rats or mice being drawn to your compost pile? How have you managed to keep things under control?
I had a mouse build a nest in my older compost bin last winter. They are naturally attracted to it for the scraps of food plus they are looking for someplace warm to live. It is gross but I just bang on the bin before I open it to scare them off. Spaz actually jumped in the bin & was chasing them around. That wasn’t fun either.
Hi Racquel,
-Cynthia
I can just picture Spaz in the compost chasing those mice! At least she can guard your compost for you!
Oh, that story is way too gross for words! I would die, throw up, and have a seizure all at the same time. I am lazy about composting since Seattle started letting us put food scraps in the yard waste, but the city also sells really decent and seemingly rat-proof compost bins. I’ll see if I can find the link for you and maybe you guys have something similar? Big black plastic thing with a lid that can’t be pried off, has to be twisted by a human. You can also get a kind of cone-shaped one that you bury in the ground to deter the varmints. Good luck, if you decide to go for it! Nothing like the home-grown, at least you know what’s in it (i.e. no weed seeds or leftover pesticides!).
Oh, you probably know about this but Portland is having a cool urban garden tour tomorrow, Sat. 9/20. Here’s the link:
http://www.gardenwriters.org/Meetings/pdfs-08/saturday.pdf
Wish I could go!
Hi Karen,
It is nice to know I am not the only one that feels this way! If you read the comments left on that post you will see that someone asked what they did with the baby rats and they stated that the rats were drowned and then put back in the pile. Put back in the pile?! I understand they would decompose and all but I would never be able to use that compost knowing decomposed rats were in it. Guess I still have too much city girl in me!
Thanks for sharing the link. Unfortunately, I’m going to pass on it as the weather is nice and rainy and my daughter seems to have come down with something. *Sigh* It is getting to be that time of year when the kids start passing germs to each other. -Cynthia
Ewww, I read that post too! I have always had a compost pile. I don’t say bin because while I bought one years ago found it didn’t work well for me and went back to just a pile to turn often.
I have NEVER seen a rat or other critters in the compost, horse poop pile, yard or barns for that matter. I have barn kitties and a dog and work hard to keep every thing clean and picked up. It might be their climate, not as much of seasonal change as where I am. Also it seems they have a small area in which they farm. The chickens, garden, compost, worm bins and what ever else are in a small confined urban area. Lots of temptation for the critters.
I would be freaking out and setting a few traps for those nasty buggers! I would have smashed them with the shovel!
But it is a great reminder that along with farming and animals so do those kinds of critters (plus others) and you must work to keep them under control.
I know this and still compost its such great stuff!
~Karyn
Hi Karyn,
I’m happy to see I am not the only one that would be freaking out. I too just have a compost pile. That is another reason why I started to grow concerned after reading that blog post. My pile is at the back end of the propery and I have never seen anything in or around it but now I am going to be extra cautious. -Cynthia
Well, that’s why I can’t bring myself to compost. I’m too paranoid of these things. Plus, I live in an area of close-together garden homes with mostly elderly people residing here. And I would just feel awful if I brought vermin and such into the neighborhood! I may have a “wildlife habitat,” but not that wild!
Brenda
Hi Brenda,
I could not agree more. -Cynthia
I’m so glad to hear that I am not the only one a little bit paranoid about this sort of thing. I love how you say you may have a wildlife habitat but not that wild! That’s great!
I’ve got mice in my yard, but I’ve never seen them near my compost pile. I’d rather see mice than rats though. As long as none of them get into my house and run around in there like they did last winter. It makes me shudder to even think about it. Stupid cats weren’t too helpful to have around then either.
Then again it probably also depends on the cat. -Cynthia
Hi Cinj,
Yes, mice are a little easier to stomach than rats but still…. I wouldn’t want to find either in my compost. I have heard that cats are not the greatest hunters unless they are kept a little hungry. Maybe that was the case with your kitties. They just have it too good to care to hunt!
I didn’t read everything but got the idea you don’t want rodents in the compost. I wonder if a compost tumbler would be the answer? It’s got a side lid, and you could turn it often. Just an idea?
Hi Anna,
I’m sure those compost tumblers would help with keeping the rodents out. Thankfully I have never seen any in my compost. But that blog post got me worried when I think about how I have a fox roaming the garden why couldn’t I also end up with mice or rats in the compost. Yuck, I don’t even like to think about it! -Cynthia
Yeah I can understand your anxiety. I’ve never had rats luckily. I have had voles take up residence once. After turning the pile on them, they didn’t come back to the pile. This was years ago. I still see them occasionally in the garden, but not in the pile anymore. I think when I move closer to the city, I’ll get a compost tumbler that is off the ground and all closed up. Here I worry more about the raccoons and squirrels, so I have one with a tight lid with turning closures.
Hi Daphne,
I can’t imagine having voles living in the compost pile! They are certainly not the cutest little critters. Actually, I think they are rather ugly! At least they never came back. I’m sure the tumbler would work well at keeping uninvited guests out of the compost since it is off the ground and enclosed. I like how I can make a lot of compost with my piles though but I am worried about what they might attract. Guess we can’t have everything! -Cynthia
Speedy hunts stuffed animals really well
, apparently mice must not interest her as much. Oh well, I guess it wasn’t even a mouse (it was a mole) than had gotten into the house anyway so I shouldn’t be so hard on her.
Hi Cinj,
-Cynthia
Well no wonder she didn’t catch it! Moles are ugly little things, I don’t blame her a bit! I would much prefer a stuffed animal myself if I were her!
If you keep your compost moist, which makes it rot faster, then you shouldn’t have rodents. Also turning it helps but we don’t all have time to turn the compost regularly! My big fear is slow worms (and snakes) I can’t even look at one in a picture! The thought of slow worms in the compost - which isn’t that unusual here….so far so good! (Slow worms look superficially like snakes, but are actually legless lizards)
Best wishes Sylvia (England)
Thank you for this commet Sylvia! You have given me hope!
It makes sense that keeping the pile moist will help deter the rodents. I will have no problem keeping it moist here soon. Actually here soon I will be struggling to keep it from being down right soaked! I need to get out and turn it more. I was doing really good for awhile and turning it every morning but I have been lazy with it lately.
I have never heard of a Slow worm. They sound disgusting though. I can understand why you would not want them in you pile! I think I might have to look this one up on Google! -Cynthia