Is it ok that plants are growing in my compost?

a weed is a plant in the wrong place so i guess if you like them then keep them

No it is not. Compost should be monitered to produce a certain amount of start up heat ... up to 160 F.One tries to get it there ... we often fail. 135 F is more often the norm. At those temperatures most weed seeds die. We are left with those survivors on the outside sides of the compost bin. That is why we turn it.

Weed seed survivors mean pathogen survivors, fungi, bacteria etc. A hot compost pile can deal with some of these. Viruses ... I vote NOT. That is why I would never put anything diseased into a compost pile --.or send it to some of these outfits that grind them up and resell the product.

Nor would I buy such compost from a waste recycling center unless I was absolutely sure that they were reaching optimum temps. Even so, one mess--up and you are bringing the entire communities dead plant problems into your own garden.

Better to reley on your own compost, peat, bark and manure.
There are compost thermometers. I recommend that purchase and hope you can bring up the heat of your compost piles.

Finally a worm bin is not a compost pile. Such heat will kill the worms. Better to make a compost pile, heat it up ... then add the worms.

yes it is

I agree with NP,
Many of the people on this site are beginners and amatuers.
They need a straight answer to their question.
Any expenses on equipment is out of their own pocket. New EU rules have banned the use of many chemicals and other products.
Our compost heaps often produce plants that we don't require i.e. tomatoes which seed readily when spread on our veg. plots. I am always looking for self-seeded plants which I can plant out in my nursery bed or in the woods.

Just a not to Secateur - isn't using peat environmentally unsound?
Thank you DoctorBob1 for the 'constructive' advice.

It all depends on what plants are growing through the compost, as DoctorBob says if they are your common garden perennials then you can pot them on and pop them in the garden, or if it is nettle, dandelion and non poisonous plants that some consider to be weeds then you can make your own liquid fertilizer.
An old waterbutt or tea urn is the ideal, let it fill with rainwater and pop the laves of the plants in, these will rot down and make a great liquid fertilizer. Use it 1 part fertilizer to 10 parts water and give it to your plants in the spring. The soggy leaves can be put back on the compost.

what ever happend to common sense,playing it bye ear,gut fealings etc .dont get me wrong ive made lots of mistakes along the way.theres also a thing they say about feeding pong fish under a certain temperature because of all sorts of things happening.the way i see it is if there hungry then feed them.its worked for me all my life without all the faffing about.

I'm not clear on what exactly you are doing, if this is a compost pile then a certain ratio of green to brown is needed and the temp of the breakdown WILL kill any worms, if however you are relaying on the worms to break down scraps you are doing vermiculture which is different, and requires different things. Something sprouting in a worm bin is no big deal!

You don't get it right all the time (who does?) But gardening is not airy fairy theory. It is making things grow. I am a member of an American gardening forum but actually just watch it now because they are so mad on 'doing it by the book'. Maybe that is where we differ. A gorgeous sedum appeared in my compost pile. So I kept it. If a gorgeous dandelion appeared, I might just get rid of it. LOL.

John.

There is a difference between a compost bin and a worm bin! One properly turned will not allow weed seeds to survive, the other will.

Nothing wrong with a worm bin and a few surviving seeds, or sedums showing up, but some of those seeds and sedums may be weeds.

Also, pathogens such as fungi, bacteria and viruses will certainly have survived. Even a well tended compost pile does not guarantee the eradication of potential problems.
That said, most of those problems already exist, so you probably are not adding anything that you already don't have.

Problem with buying "treated compost" from someone else you might be importing problems. Make sure they really know what you are doing.

In the states we have no problem with peat moss. I do understand your different problems. Most of ours comes out of Saskatchewan. Now are we depleting those reserves. Yes. So do we stop mining for Potash? It too comes from the largest potash miner, also in Saskatchewan. POT is the stock market symbol.

I prefer to compost with my neighbors horse manure and all the leaves I can scarf up. I never buy compost from the soil yards that take diseased plants and other garden rubbish..:

All the gardeners that NP watched on TV to inspire him all 'faff' and they all now advocate organic gardening and I have watched a few gardening shows which have shown how to make fertilizers and other methods of 'faffing'!!
With reference to growing plants in the compost heap, many professional gardeners use their compost to grow squashes like butternut, pumpkins, and yams as the heat generated is good for growth. Each to their own I say. This site is for different advice, ideas and opinions and to call it faffing is not really constructive is it?

I agree Andrea. I love 'faffing'. To me it is the pleasure of gardening. If you could just buy a book of instructions then I would give up gardening in my retirement and take up heart surgery.

John.

just a word andrea i tip the rubbish in and i get soil its as symple as that i dont care what makes it that way.surly thats fairly simple with no faffing as i call it to be done so lets agree to disagree.what about my garden looks unhealthy.i use my pond pellets to feed them.i water them out my pond.to many people read to many books instead of gut instinct.well this isnt an arguing sight its a friendly helpfull sight and i like it that way

I let tattie's grow in my compost from the peelings i put in, and there Most delicious :)))) if you see seedlings growing you can just pull em out.. I do..

like i say a weed is a plant in the wrong place .all life is valuable and beautiful even stinging nettles

more importantly they have a reasen to be hear

Do you think the original person has given up with this question?
I hope she has managed to trawl through and find some helpful suggestions to her question.

Should she let them grow or weed them out!!!
Idisagree Andrea, Her question was Answered.. :)

ofcourse its just common sense not text books

Yeah Leigh when youv'e done it for a while, But if your new to Composting, doesen't matter how much common sense you have you still have to know what, and how to compost, i read up on it at first and thats how i learned, i wasn't on line then..

reseaarch is so importene