city compost

garlic-luv · August 3, 2015

Has anyone ever used compost made by their city?

Fred Hempel · August 3, 2015

We use regional compost from BFI (created from regional green-waste).

It is very good (and certified organic).

This year other farmers at the site I farm at wanted to get "better" compost from a farm that everyone was raving about.

It cost 2X as much. I asked for the spec sheet on the farm's compost, and they had not seen it. When they did get it, it was very similar to the BFI (commercial) compost.

I then ordered the BFI compost. It came and was clearly of higher quality than the small farm compost that was delivered. Some of the other farmers paid 2X for compost that was probably not equivalent to that shown on the spec sheet. I have a feeling that smaller operations have a more difficult time with uniformity.

On the other hand, I have heard about some "city" compost being laced with toxins and heavy metals.

Moral of the story -- You need a spec sheet. And after that, you still need to be skeptical, because you never really know if the spec sheet was prepared from the actual batch of compost you are getting.

garlic-luv · August 3, 2015

The compost I use is made from clippings,leaves that the city picks up they give it away for free which is nice,i have never had it tested, my plants seem to grow well with it although I do add alfalfa meal and till it in.

Fred Hempel · August 3, 2015

Sounds like they are doing something right!

marc_groleau · August 3, 2015

My son in law used some and got extreme foliage but few tomatoes. I think there's a lot of high nitrogen lawn fertilizers and I'd be concerned about weed killers.

garlic-luv · August 3, 2015

I don't know if those things would break down during the composting process,I will have to research it.

August 3, 2015	#1
garlic-luv Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jun 2015 Location: erie,pa Posts: 8	city compost Has anyone ever used compost made by their city?

August 3, 2015	#2
Fred Hempel Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Dec 2010 Location: Sunol, CA Posts: 2,723	We use regional compost from BFI (created from regional green-waste). It is very good (and certified organic). This year other farmers at the site I farm at wanted to get "better" compost from a farm that everyone was raving about. It cost 2X as much. I asked for the spec sheet on the farm's compost, and they had not seen it. When they did get it, it was very similar to the BFI (commercial) compost. I then ordered the BFI compost. It came and was clearly of higher quality than the small farm compost that was delivered. Some of the other farmers paid 2X for compost that was probably not equivalent to that shown on the spec sheet. I have a feeling that smaller operations have a more difficult time with uniformity. On the other hand, I have heard about some "city" compost being laced with toxins and heavy metals. Moral of the story -- You need a spec sheet. And after that, you still need to be skeptical, because you never really know if the spec sheet was prepared from the actual batch of compost you are getting.

August 3, 2015	#5
marc_groleau Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jan 2012 Location: Rhode Island Posts: 444	My son in law used some and got extreme foliage but few tomatoes. I think there's a lot of high nitrogen lawn fertilizers and I'd be concerned about weed killers.