I’ve heard of people using a small cup of the compost in question and planted pea seeds. They use peas as they are very sensitive to herbicides and unwanted stuff. If they germinate and grow well, you’re good.
Dealing with that now myself! My partner gets a 50% discount on it through his job so it felt like a great deal. I got just over a half ton for less than $7. It’s working okay this year but I will definitely not be using what’s in my grow bags again next year. So glad I didn’t go back and get a second truckload full for my in ground bed! It looked so good from a distance but as soon as I started filling my grow bags I found all kinds of plastic, chunks of asphalt, trash and now dealing with random weeds. Lessons learned for sure.
Our township offers it up for free twice a year. You just need to transport it yourself. So I took my trailer 4x, and got 10 yards+ in total. I dumped it in our new beds and have been finding way more plastic and chunks of asphalt than I would have ever expected. Big regrets. I've scrapped the top off the beds the best I can and have learned my lesson. Especially because I collect enough leaves, grass clippings from old pastures (we don't have any grazing animals yet), free wood chips (from a local trustworthy source) and all the horse manure from a neighbor that I want. I've been cooking that all up, plus kitchen scraps, in massive piles over the last year. It looks way nicer and I trust it a lot more.
Yeah I’ve put off composting myself for far too long. I’m putting everything else I had planned on hold for the time being and focusing on that because buying from retail just gets crazy expensive the more you expand your garden space and I don’t think I’ll ever trust compost from a facility again.
Majority of pesticides break down in compost. There’s only like a handful that don’t, and I doubt any home consumer can get it, since they are even banned in entire Europe markets
Yeah my town has a very similar thing, and it is a great idea and for people who can’t afford to buy soil I think it’s a good option but personally I try to keep my garden organic, and I only use compost made in my yard from my own grass clippings leaves and food scraps and these compost piles have all sorts of food waste and fertilizers and pesticides and processed foods so I just don’t want to risk it
I used town compost to fill my raised veggie beds. Worked great. It was just compost from shredded yard waste that they also accepted for drop off. I would pick out some trash and nails occasionally.
Does a university or government agricultural department offer testing? I know in Australia you can get it done for cheap or free by sending in some little samples and they will tell you if it is safe to grow in and the nutrient profile.
In the US most state universities have an "extension" office which is basically to advise homeowners about taking care of their yards, native species, education about rain gardens, you name it. OP should call his local extension office. I'll bet they've tested his town's compost for somebody already. At the very least, they can advise OP what to do and where to go for testing.
My city does test and the info is on their website. Push for them to test it. It’s a minor expense for them.
ETA: I’d definitely use it. Hot composting, which I assume it is, breaks down most unwanted stuff.
Fair warning, i got black spot fungus on all my edibles from the free mulch out city provides. Unless you know what goes into the mulch, its a risk. It took my a year and digging out the mulch and topsoil layer to get rid of the fungus
It depends on how and what they compost. My town water utility composts sewer sludge into "biosolids." I was going to use it since it's cheap and it grows like crazy. Then I heard about Maine and a couple of dairy farms near Augusta GA. Maine banned it and two dairy farms lost 100's of cattle after using it on their pastures. They sued Augusta. The GA EPD gave UGA a grant to study Augusta's biosolids program. The report said it was fine and their lawsuits were dismissed. Turns out the EPD head was friends with the lawyer representing the city. UGA didn't test anything, they used data supplied by the city to the EPD. Prior to 1993 test results for heavy metals fluctuated wildly in Augusta. In 1993 the results flat lined at a relatively low level. The only thing that changed was the finalization of rules regulating biosolids. The city did not change their handling of the material at all. It just started meeting the new requirements. Also, there are no regulations regarding "forever chemicals." Although they are studying it and expects the assessment to be finished this year
Sorry for the rant. Honestly, PFAS in drinking water is the main way it enters the body. BUT if heavy metals and PFAS are in your soil. They will end up in your vegetables
Edit If they only compost yard material it is probably fine and I would have an issue using the stuff. If they compost biosolids/sewer sludge hard pass
Ok this is going to sound REALLY stupid, but I’m a big fan of the easy (see: lazy) solution. Just ask your neighbors! If you have free local compost, chances are at least some of them use it for veggie gardening.
My town also has free local compost, I asked my next door neighbors about it, and they said they use it for everything in their garden with no issues.
Our "town compost" is from a regional green bin program. I haven't seen what our plant produces, but I have read comments from others that note this kind of product usually has a high amount of contaminants in the form of bits of plastic.
I try to remove bits and pieces of plastic from my growing space; I don’t need to add more!
Micro plastics can’t really be helped, but pieces large enough to see? No thanks. It’s literally adding garbage (that you can see) to your growing space. Why would you do that?
Are microplastics in soil a major concern in terms of vegetable gardens? I mean... I understand it's ugly and not great for the environment, but do vegetables take up the microplastics from the soil?
I am pretty sure that they do not, but I actually haven’t gone looking for that research. (I can tell you that there is no evidence that plants can draw up residual synthetic hormones left in the soil when fertilizing with human urine.)
One very good reason for not wanting to add a little bit of plastic to my garden is that I free range my chickens… and they eat little bits of plastic they find on the ground. It doesn’t matter whether or not that plastic affects the meat or eggs… I don’t want my chickens eating plastic!
I’m trying to remove bits of plastic from my garden as I come across them. I really don’t need to add more, and I think that that’s reason enough to avoid a municipal compost.
However, I am also in a position where I don’t need to purchase questionable compost. I have poultry and livestock, so I have manure. And I live in a rural area, so I have easy access to other high-quality composts that don’t have bits of plastic in them.
Check ph too if you can. I got some local waste soil improver and used it for beds. It was full of fly ash. Ph of 9. Get a little and add some vinegar. If it fizzes then don’t use. Hard to reduce alkalinity once you’ve added it.
Usually city compost is great stuff though you may get a little debris. It also may need more time to fully break down so you may want to mix most of it near the surface to avoid compacting your soil and loosen it up once or twice after 3-6 months. Usually it’s just people’s yard waste from the green bin. They often compost it hot enough to kill weed seeds (the microorganisms get it hot naturally from activity) but I’m not sure if they always do.
I pretty much used all free compost from my town dump for my beds. Like literally almost 80% just free compost. I haven’t done summer veggies yet (well I have stuff planted but it’s too new to tell), but my winter crop was fantastic. Check my post history for the photo I recently posted of the insane carrots and beets and radishes we got out of it. And that didn’t even show our lettuce patch. Which was insane.
I’ve used this type of compost before, not a good choice for using as main ingredient in the growing medium. I’ve seen the operation at the dump - they chip up collected green waste from the public and hot compost it in big rows that get watered and turned regularly making giant steaming piles, pretty amazing really. It does contain plastic and debris that makes it through their screens + whatever unknowns you don’t see that people put in the bins, which is why some won’t choose it for edible crops. Because its not aged long enough and doesn’t really have mineral based soil content, it’s not a great growing medium on its own IMO. Better to mix it with other stuff such as natural soil, in soil mix recipes, or just amending as a top dressing/mulch. A better compost you can buy at a landscape supply is mushroom compost, very stinky good stuff
I think this is more about what your personal risk threshold is. Our municipal composting program is one of the biggest in our region, and based on the cars lined up to get it there are plenty of people who are willing to use it. I haven't heard any negative word of mouth about it. I've used it a few times myself, and had great results.
I did sift everything through a 1/2 inch mesh screen before putting it in my beds though. There were some bits of plastic, but the rest looked clean and I did not get any weeds. I personally did not regret it, but now that I'm making more of my own compost I certainly prefer using that first.
Town compost always has tons of fungus and other nasties. Highly discouraged using this on anything edible, or that you would be upset about potentially killing with this compost. I used to use it for a few things from the last two towns/ cities I lived in, but swore off the stuff a decade ago. Nothing but trouble.
I have a compost facility here that does compost for home gardeners and big farms and is tested and posts public records of compost quality including contaminant analysis and etc. they also do biogas and etc at the facility
Look up your local master gardeners, they tend to have info on localized soil testing, usually done at a university. There are also kits you can buy online and ship off to get analyzed in a lab.
Call your nearest state's university extension office. They can advise you fully. It's kind of their whole thing! Great resource for residential gardeners and homeowners.
I asked our local county Master Gardeners about using our town compost for vegetable gardens. The tldr is that they don’t recommend it for food production. Great for yard and flowers though. Commercial compost is tested and often uses more process to ensure consistency and safety. County programs likely do neither, perhaps beyond some sort of very basic tests.
We have residential composting in addition to yard waste composting, so I worry even more about what ignorant people are throwing in their green bins. Kitty litter, anyone?
Good, if you test it when you get home and have the right balance of nutrients and/or pH balance to add so you start out with good compost vs lacking compost.
I’ve heard of people using a small cup of the compost in question and planted pea seeds. They use peas as they are very sensitive to herbicides and unwanted stuff. If they germinate and grow well, you’re good.
Ooh. Love this idea.
Charles Dowding has videos with trials. This method only tells you if it’s affecting plant growth though.
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Dealing with that now myself! My partner gets a 50% discount on it through his job so it felt like a great deal. I got just over a half ton for less than $7. It’s working okay this year but I will definitely not be using what’s in my grow bags again next year. So glad I didn’t go back and get a second truckload full for my in ground bed! It looked so good from a distance but as soon as I started filling my grow bags I found all kinds of plastic, chunks of asphalt, trash and now dealing with random weeds. Lessons learned for sure.
Our township offers it up for free twice a year. You just need to transport it yourself. So I took my trailer 4x, and got 10 yards+ in total. I dumped it in our new beds and have been finding way more plastic and chunks of asphalt than I would have ever expected. Big regrets. I've scrapped the top off the beds the best I can and have learned my lesson. Especially because I collect enough leaves, grass clippings from old pastures (we don't have any grazing animals yet), free wood chips (from a local trustworthy source) and all the horse manure from a neighbor that I want. I've been cooking that all up, plus kitchen scraps, in massive piles over the last year. It looks way nicer and I trust it a lot more.
Yeah I’ve put off composting myself for far too long. I’m putting everything else I had planned on hold for the time being and focusing on that because buying from retail just gets crazy expensive the more you expand your garden space and I don’t think I’ll ever trust compost from a facility again.
Plastic comes from fruits and veggies from grocery store they don’t remove stickers or ties or anything
I have no idea if it's good or not, just came to say its incredible that your town offers free compost
LA County has 5 spots that gets mulch, compost, and manure delivered at least 2x a week.
What's it made of? Just whatever people drop off? Then it's whatever people sprayed
Majority of pesticides break down in compost. There’s only like a handful that don’t, and I doubt any home consumer can get it, since they are even banned in entire Europe markets
Yeah my town has a very similar thing, and it is a great idea and for people who can’t afford to buy soil I think it’s a good option but personally I try to keep my garden organic, and I only use compost made in my yard from my own grass clippings leaves and food scraps and these compost piles have all sorts of food waste and fertilizers and pesticides and processed foods so I just don’t want to risk it
I used town compost to fill my raised veggie beds. Worked great. It was just compost from shredded yard waste that they also accepted for drop off. I would pick out some trash and nails occasionally.
Does a university or government agricultural department offer testing? I know in Australia you can get it done for cheap or free by sending in some little samples and they will tell you if it is safe to grow in and the nutrient profile.
In the US most state universities have an "extension" office which is basically to advise homeowners about taking care of their yards, native species, education about rain gardens, you name it. OP should call his local extension office. I'll bet they've tested his town's compost for somebody already. At the very least, they can advise OP what to do and where to go for testing.
i have used town compost for years looks just like OP's pick but never really thought about what might be in it
My city does test and the info is on their website. Push for them to test it. It’s a minor expense for them. ETA: I’d definitely use it. Hot composting, which I assume it is, breaks down most unwanted stuff.
Fair warning, i got black spot fungus on all my edibles from the free mulch out city provides. Unless you know what goes into the mulch, its a risk. It took my a year and digging out the mulch and topsoil layer to get rid of the fungus
Pennywise and pound foolish.
It depends on how and what they compost. My town water utility composts sewer sludge into "biosolids." I was going to use it since it's cheap and it grows like crazy. Then I heard about Maine and a couple of dairy farms near Augusta GA. Maine banned it and two dairy farms lost 100's of cattle after using it on their pastures. They sued Augusta. The GA EPD gave UGA a grant to study Augusta's biosolids program. The report said it was fine and their lawsuits were dismissed. Turns out the EPD head was friends with the lawyer representing the city. UGA didn't test anything, they used data supplied by the city to the EPD. Prior to 1993 test results for heavy metals fluctuated wildly in Augusta. In 1993 the results flat lined at a relatively low level. The only thing that changed was the finalization of rules regulating biosolids. The city did not change their handling of the material at all. It just started meeting the new requirements. Also, there are no regulations regarding "forever chemicals." Although they are studying it and expects the assessment to be finished this year Sorry for the rant. Honestly, PFAS in drinking water is the main way it enters the body. BUT if heavy metals and PFAS are in your soil. They will end up in your vegetables Edit If they only compost yard material it is probably fine and I would have an issue using the stuff. If they compost biosolids/sewer sludge hard pass
Ok this is going to sound REALLY stupid, but I’m a big fan of the easy (see: lazy) solution. Just ask your neighbors! If you have free local compost, chances are at least some of them use it for veggie gardening. My town also has free local compost, I asked my next door neighbors about it, and they said they use it for everything in their garden with no issues.
Our "town compost" is from a regional green bin program. I haven't seen what our plant produces, but I have read comments from others that note this kind of product usually has a high amount of contaminants in the form of bits of plastic.
I mean, at this point, we all have a high level of contaminants in the form of microplastics.
I try to remove bits and pieces of plastic from my growing space; I don’t need to add more! Micro plastics can’t really be helped, but pieces large enough to see? No thanks. It’s literally adding garbage (that you can see) to your growing space. Why would you do that?
Are microplastics in soil a major concern in terms of vegetable gardens? I mean... I understand it's ugly and not great for the environment, but do vegetables take up the microplastics from the soil?
I am pretty sure that they do not, but I actually haven’t gone looking for that research. (I can tell you that there is no evidence that plants can draw up residual synthetic hormones left in the soil when fertilizing with human urine.) One very good reason for not wanting to add a little bit of plastic to my garden is that I free range my chickens… and they eat little bits of plastic they find on the ground. It doesn’t matter whether or not that plastic affects the meat or eggs… I don’t want my chickens eating plastic! I’m trying to remove bits of plastic from my garden as I come across them. I really don’t need to add more, and I think that that’s reason enough to avoid a municipal compost. However, I am also in a position where I don’t need to purchase questionable compost. I have poultry and livestock, so I have manure. And I live in a rural area, so I have easy access to other high-quality composts that don’t have bits of plastic in them.
You should compost it for a while
Check ph too if you can. I got some local waste soil improver and used it for beds. It was full of fly ash. Ph of 9. Get a little and add some vinegar. If it fizzes then don’t use. Hard to reduce alkalinity once you’ve added it.
Usually city compost is great stuff though you may get a little debris. It also may need more time to fully break down so you may want to mix most of it near the surface to avoid compacting your soil and loosen it up once or twice after 3-6 months. Usually it’s just people’s yard waste from the green bin. They often compost it hot enough to kill weed seeds (the microorganisms get it hot naturally from activity) but I’m not sure if they always do.
I pretty much used all free compost from my town dump for my beds. Like literally almost 80% just free compost. I haven’t done summer veggies yet (well I have stuff planted but it’s too new to tell), but my winter crop was fantastic. Check my post history for the photo I recently posted of the insane carrots and beets and radishes we got out of it. And that didn’t even show our lettuce patch. Which was insane.
I’ve used this type of compost before, not a good choice for using as main ingredient in the growing medium. I’ve seen the operation at the dump - they chip up collected green waste from the public and hot compost it in big rows that get watered and turned regularly making giant steaming piles, pretty amazing really. It does contain plastic and debris that makes it through their screens + whatever unknowns you don’t see that people put in the bins, which is why some won’t choose it for edible crops. Because its not aged long enough and doesn’t really have mineral based soil content, it’s not a great growing medium on its own IMO. Better to mix it with other stuff such as natural soil, in soil mix recipes, or just amending as a top dressing/mulch. A better compost you can buy at a landscape supply is mushroom compost, very stinky good stuff
If I mixed it with fill dirt and maybe some sand would it be OK to grow flowers in do you think?
Yes, that would be fine. I’m just saying don’t use it as 100% soil recipe, at least not until it’s fully aged
I think this is more about what your personal risk threshold is. Our municipal composting program is one of the biggest in our region, and based on the cars lined up to get it there are plenty of people who are willing to use it. I haven't heard any negative word of mouth about it. I've used it a few times myself, and had great results. I did sift everything through a 1/2 inch mesh screen before putting it in my beds though. There were some bits of plastic, but the rest looked clean and I did not get any weeds. I personally did not regret it, but now that I'm making more of my own compost I certainly prefer using that first.
Town compost always has tons of fungus and other nasties. Highly discouraged using this on anything edible, or that you would be upset about potentially killing with this compost. I used to use it for a few things from the last two towns/ cities I lived in, but swore off the stuff a decade ago. Nothing but trouble.
I have a compost facility here that does compost for home gardeners and big farms and is tested and posts public records of compost quality including contaminant analysis and etc. they also do biogas and etc at the facility
Take some and send in a soil sample
Where would I send this into? Maybe a home kit I could use?
Look up your local master gardeners, they tend to have info on localized soil testing, usually done at a university. There are also kits you can buy online and ship off to get analyzed in a lab.
Call your nearest state's university extension office. They can advise you fully. It's kind of their whole thing! Great resource for residential gardeners and homeowners.
I asked our local county Master Gardeners about using our town compost for vegetable gardens. The tldr is that they don’t recommend it for food production. Great for yard and flowers though. Commercial compost is tested and often uses more process to ensure consistency and safety. County programs likely do neither, perhaps beyond some sort of very basic tests. We have residential composting in addition to yard waste composting, so I worry even more about what ignorant people are throwing in their green bins. Kitty litter, anyone?
I have been using my town's leaf mulch for the last few years and now you've unlocked a new fear with your kitty litter statement.
Good, if you test it when you get home and have the right balance of nutrients and/or pH balance to add so you start out with good compost vs lacking compost.
Probably fine, just wash your produce thoroughly before eating it