What's growing in my compost pile?

15 years ago

Hi all:

So something is doing very well in my compost pile. It's in full shade. It doesn't look like any weeds I've pulled recently, but I can't imagine what edible it could be. Any thoughts?

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Comments (10)

cfldoc 9b Lake County
15 years ago
Looks like a potato plant to me.
pnbrown
15 years ago
Definitely potato.
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I think sedum might not give you much return for the cost of using them to make compost. The whole idea of compost is to recycle things from your home, yard and garden that you otherwise would have thrown away. Like fruit peels, lawn clippings, spoiled fruits and vegetables, etc. Those things are all considered green for your compost. Browns would be leaves, shredded newspaper or cardboard, and eggshells. Mix the greens and browns together and you have a garden amendment that cost you nothing and helps to keep landfills from being loaded up with things that are still useful. And these items are all free. I wouldn't buy seeds to plant something just to make compost out of it. You may be thinking of the principle of 'green manure' where the garden is sown with winter rye, red clover or hairy vetch, plants with short life span, that also fix nitrogen in the soil as they grow. They are planted in fall and the roots help to maintain the soil through winter and in Spring they are turned under to fertilize the soil for planting a garden. If you have a garden you don't need to grow anything green for the compost pile. As you trim and thin plants through Spring and Summer, put your trimmings in the compost pile. Add all of the grass clippings, junk mail, newspapers, cereal boxes, kitchen waste, leaves, stems, sawdust(from non-treated wood only), wood ashes, chicken poo, cow, horse, goat, sheep or rabbit manure. Things to avoid in your compost: grease, meat, pine, citrus, pet waste.
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Good advice above. Just cover the pile a bit, start a temporary pile somewhere and wait it out. Post more pics when you have gourds! I do think it's a gourd plant despite the resemblance of the leaves to beans. The thick stems are easy to distinguish from bean vines, not to mention the flowers and fruit.
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Carol - Thanks for making me look closer. I agree the leaves are odd but the flowers looked right to me (5 sepals) and I thought I could see bristles/prickles. On second perusal probably not Rubus. What do you think about Malvaceae? Modiola caroliniana aka Carolina Bristle Mallow?
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Lisa Brown
15 years ago
Really, we could start a thread on this, I bet other people would have interesting finds to add. Like I found some pintos that sprouted in my bin last week - I transplanted them to the veggie garden with the pole and bush beans to see what happens. Tomatoes were in there last fall and some definite mystery seedlings this weekend that I wished I could figure out whether they were something I wanted or not too!

Lisa B
mexicostacy
Original Author
15 years ago
Potato, cool! So what do I do now? Can I transplant it? I have no idea how to cultivate taters.

Thanks,
Stacy B.
imatallun
15 years ago
Do you reckon it's a sweet or white 'tater, Stacy B? Kat grows her 'taters in straw, so I guess they aren't fussy, but I am by no means an expert at 'tater growing.
countrynest
15 years ago
It is not sweet taters. If I were you,I would let it grow
in the compost pile. If you deside to transplant be very gentle and dig it out with as much dirt attach to the plant
to reduse shock. You know that granny smith apples were
discovered in Australia in a compost pile and a new apple came into existence. Now we all use it as exellent apples in our pies.
Felix
watermelon7
15 years ago
Potatoes are prone to many diseases and pests. If you aren't up for the work, I would just throw it out or put it somewhere where it is not in the way, just to see how it does in the wild.

Or,
You can try sweet potato. It is not a real 'potato', but it has eatable tubers just like potato plants, plus it is very disease and pest resistant. On top of all that, sweet potato plants are a type of Morning Glory, so you get the flowers and foliage as well! You can find sweet potatoes at nearly any grocery store, just make sure to buy the generic sweet potatoes to make sure they aren't patented or copyrighted.
mexicostacy
Original Author
15 years ago
It's definitely a white tater. I guess I'll leave it there and see what happens. We get lots of critters in our compost pile, though. We've seen possum and armadillo over there...will they eat my tater?

How do I know when it's ripe?
treefrog_fl
15 years ago
In the fall or when the foliage turns brown the potatoes will be as ready as they will ever get. Dig 'em out then.
sultry_jasmine_nights (Florida-9a-ish)
15 years ago
I think a 'what's in your compost pile' thread would be fun. I have some ee's in mine that I didnt plant. They are totally diff. from the others I have. I peeked over the nieghbors fence to see if they came from there and didnt see any lol. Last year I had a birdhouse gourd growing from the compost pile- took me awhile to figure out what it was.

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What's growing in my compost pile?

Comments (10)

cfldoc 9b Lake County

pnbrown

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What's growing in my compost pile?

Comments (10)

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