Bird Seed in Compost?

[Allview]

I have allowed a mound of spent birdseed to build up under my big feeder. Now
I am shoveling it up and putting it in black plastic sacks. I intend to put
it out to the curb for yard waste pickup. I find it is warm and sour smelling
and I'm wondering if I could put it in my compost pile.

My pile is passive. I can't begin to turn it or stir it. I put kitchen waste
on top and pile some chopped leaves on top of that. In the spring I will cut a
hole in the wire at the bottom and take out some pretty good stuff for the
garden. Will the birdseed (shells and uneaten seed) simply make weeds or will
it help make compost?

Marilyn in Ohio

[KrisHur]

Safflower shells are OK, sunflower shells are not. There's an herbicidal
type chemical in sunflower hulls.

"Allview" <all...@aol.com> wrote in message
news:20020120074944...@mb-ci.aol.com...

[Setzler]

Sunflowers are allelopathic, but the shells if composted and don't make up 50%
of your compost they will be fine.

susan

[Tony Miklos]

KrisHur wrote:
>
> Safflower shells are OK, sunflower shells are not. There's an herbicidal
> type chemical in sunflower hulls.

I guess I should stop eating the entire sunflower seed, shell and all?
Or is this just for bird seed.

By the way, I noticed on the bird seed I bought last time, it was
irradiated so you don't get any weeds from it. Either that or you may
get some super strain of weed that will take over the earth?

--
Tony

[Janet Baraclough]

The message <20020120074944...@mb-ci.aol.com>
from all...@aol.com (Allview) contains these words:

> I have allowed a mound of spent birdseed to build up under my big feeder. Now
> I am shoveling it up and putting it in black plastic sacks. I
intend >to put it out to the curb for yard waste pickup. I find it
is warm and >sour smelling and I'm wondering if I could put it in my

compost >pile.(snip) Will the birdseed (shells and uneaten seed)

simply make >weeds or will it help make compost?

I recently threw some mouldy wheat on the compost heap and it
germinated even in winter..but it won't matter, because it will get
smothered by compost heap additions. Odd sunflower seeds dropped by
birds germinate round the garden, but they are easy to remove.

I'm surprised how much dropped seed you get left over..that could
that be due to the kind of feeder you put it in, or, seed that has
gone off, or, the kind of seed in the mix in relation to the kinds of
birds in your garden.

Janet.

[Allview]

It's a large (holds 26 lbs of seed) wood feeder on a 4x4 post. has glass and a
"porch" on one side. The porch has a molding around it to keep seeds from
falling, but........ I have squirrels. They search for sunflower seeds in the
mix and kick a lot of seeds onto the ground. That's not too bad because I have
a lot of ground feeding birds, but it does build up.

Marilyn

[Carol]

Yep to both, Marilyn. Some of the seeds will rot, but some will still
be viable when you spread your compost. As a passive pile, it probably
doesn't get hot enough to kill all the seeds.

Carol in Barrie, ON (Zone 5)

[Linda V]

"Allview" <all...@aol.com> wrote in message
news:20020120074944...@mb-ci.aol.com...

Back in the olden days (the 1960s, to be more precise), my grandmother threw
some of the songbird seed she got for her canary into the backyard for local
birds. Well, rains came and things sprouted. She neglected her gardening
duties and, before long, had a nice crop of what looked like marijuana
growing there. The cops told her that it happened all the time, because
birdseed manufacturers would add hemp seed to the songbird mixes to make the
birdies sing more.

Nowadays, I'm sure they've fixed that amusing little oversight. :)

Linda

[zeeag...@uogwelf.c.eh]

> Linda

You'll find that Mr. Squirrel often engages in transplanting to your
compost heap too. I had a lovely yellow tulip pop up in mine last spring.

Plus you will often find daffodils where you swear you never planted them :)

Scotty
--
Steve Howie ro...@127.0.0.1
Academic Services, CCS (519) 824-4120 x2556
University of Guelph
"If it's not Scottish it's CRRRRAAAAAAAPPPPPP!"

[ednaa...@gmail.com]

You know how the bird seed accumulates on the bottom of the Avery is it ok to ad to compost

[David E. Ross]

On 2/25/2018 6:30 PM, ednaa...@gmail.com wrote:
> You know how the bird seed accumulates on the bottom of the Avery is it ok to ad to compost
>

Unless your compost gets very hot, I would not include seeds. The seeds
might sprout and give you never-ending weeds. Unfortunately, most home
compost piles do not get hot enough to "cook" seeds.

--
David E. Ross
<http://www.rossde.com/>

President Trump: Please stop using Twitter. We need
to hear your voice and see you talking. We need to know
when your message is really your own and not your attorney's.

[songbird]

ednaa...@gmail.com wrote:
> You know how the bird seed accumulates on the bottom
> of the Avery is it ok to ad to compost

bury it deeply enough that it won't be disturbed.
many seeds will not be able to grow if they are buried
deeply enough that they don't get enough warmth/sunlight
and if any do happen to sprout they are down deep enough
that they run out of energy before they can get to the
surface.

this is a very good technique for a very weedy garden.
dig a deep enough hole and scrape the surface into the
hole and then bury it (i usually put some newspaper or
cardboard over the worst of it at the bottom of the hole
as that will also act as a barrier - but you have to be
sure you are deep enough for this method to work as it
would be a root barrier for several years to some garden
crops).


songbird