composting "poisonous" plants

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crockny Kerhonkson, NY(Zone 5a) May 12, 2005

I'm new to Dave's garden -- this may already be answered somewhere but I can't find it ... Sorry if I'm repeating ...

Some plants are listed as poisonous such as Monkshood, Foxglove, etc. Is it OK to put these in the compost bin? I grow vegetables with this compost too ... I assume it gets broken down into harmless components, but maybe I shouldn't assume???

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maggiemoo Conroe, TX(Zone 9a) May 13, 2005

crockny, I've wondered that myself. Have you tried the Soil and Composting forum?

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crockny Kerhonkson, NY(Zone 5a) May 13, 2005

I did that first and no one answered -- but now they have, so thanks!

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Dinu Mysore, India(Zone 10a) May 17, 2005

To Nature, nothing is poisonous! Poisonous plants may have harmful effects on humans and other animals when ingested, not to where it grows. So, going by this logic, it should have no adverse effect from composting these plants.

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Vashur Wichita, KS(Zone 6b) May 17, 2005

I think Dinu is probably right. I compost myself and have never paid any attention to try to identify the weeds I dump in nor have I noticed any problems in composting things like tomato vines which are poisonous. I think a lot of parts of plants are poisonous to eat and I'm sure eating compost wouldn't be on the menu any more than you'd want to eat plain old dirt. :)

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Calistoga Calistoga, CA May 19, 2005

I compost everything. Many plants are toxic to people or to other plants but not after having been composted. We live in the country with several acres of native woods. I have poison oak growing up 20 feet in the douglas fir trees. I cut them off at ground level and wait for two years for the plant in the tree to dry out. Then I can just pull it down. It will usually have a main trunk about 2 inches in diameter. This I feed into my chipper shredder on the back of the tractor and right into the compost bin. We have native black walnut that are composted. We have 150 oleanders used as a screen that produce a lot of wood that is composted. My compost is used throughout the garden with only good results. Al

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anastatia Vancouver, WA(Zone 8a) May 19, 2005

I compost too but I always keep binder weed seperate and keep it in a box til it has all dried up w/ absolutely no life before tossing in garbage.

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