Which weeds can I compost?

elliep_2

On my allotment I've got various weeds growing and I'm not sure which ones can go in the compost and which ones need soaking/light exclusion until they're properly dead.

Nettles - leaves and stems in compost, roots in dark and wet?
Bindweed - all into dark and wet?
Dandylions - compost leaves, roots in dark and wet?
Dock - leaves in compost, roots in dark and wet?
Thistles?
Grass - all into compost? roots and all?
that funny sticky stuff that sticks to clothes (sorry don't know it's name)?
Brambles - into the council collected bin for composting?

(By dark and wet I mean a dustbin with lit filled with water)

Any help would be much appreciated. I have loads of weeds because I only took on the allotment this year and it was only part tended last year and not at all for a long time before that! I don't want to waste good compost plants and don't have enough room in my dark wet bin for them all anyway. I also don't want to have them all re-rooting in the compost and making it unusable.

Lotus-eater

I wouldn't compost brambles myself. Everything else, leave out in the sun till its dead then compost.

brownfrog

You can compost the grass including roots, the nettle, dock and dandelion leaves (make sure there isn't a scrap of root left on any of them), and also the cleavers (I think that's probably the sticky stuff you mean) as long as it doesn't have seed pods. Not sure exactly what you mean by 'dark wet bin' - if you mean a large dustbin full of water as Alys on GW describes, then that should be fine. You'll probably need to burn the brambles - they'll take too long to rot down - but you can use the ash.

elliep_2

I've tried that with some of the nettles and dock but they seem to manage to re-root wherever they're left. I don't have any hard surface on my allotment yet, it's all either loose or compacted soil.

It there any trick to sunning the plants in such a way they don't re-root? Should I put a sheet of plastic down first?

elliep_2

Brownfrog, thank you. I've updated my original post to be clearer.
Is there anything I can do with the brambles other than burn them as I live in a smoke free zone. Which means I'm only allowed to burn stuff at stupid hours of the night when the wind isn't strong.

brownfrog

Well, I guess you could leave them in your wet dustbin for a long time, but the fibres in them will take an age to rot down. Does your council pick up garden waste? Their heaps would probably get hot enough to kill it properly.

elliep_2

Yes my local council collects green waste. I'll give it to them then.

While I'm thinking about giving the council stuff, is it worth giving them the roots of other stuff that won't compost easily? I'm just wondering if it's worth doing the whole soaking them for ages thing when they smell so much and I could get rid in another way.

Lotus-eater

What are you getting rid of them for? Crazy. You don't take anything off the plot, apart from diseased stuff. Everything you take off you lose that fertility for ever. You have to do it with crops, although you can mitigate it a bit by returning your urine which keeps some of the nutrients on the plot.

Just leave the plants in a sunny place and they will die. Sometimes I leave mine in a bucket till they dry, I also have a couple of woody outside compost piles and I dump the load of roots on top of there, after a few sunny days they usually die, not enough moisture up there.
Come on, do I have to tell you everything? I can't see what your plot is like, so I can't tell you how to do it. Of course a sheet down first is a good idea, you need to keep them dry.

elliep_2

Lotus-eater.

I'm sorry that you feel you have given me enough advice and I shouldn't be asking for any more.

I'm young and I've never done this before and neither has anyone else in my family. I don't know what I'm doing, especially on an overgrown allotment and I came here to ask moneysavers how to go about things.

I do not mean to be asking silly questions but I am trying to do my best to grow fruit and veg to feed my family and I thought here was supposed to be a place where those basic questions are allowed.

If you do not wish to answer a question please don't, If you're happy to answer then please keep the rudeness out of it.

Lotus-eater

Didn't think I was rude. And I thought I just gave you a couple of ways to do it? As well as explaining why. You're welcome.

elliep_2

I took offence at the reference to crazy and the 'come on do I have to tell you everything'.

re-reading it perhaps I took to much offence but I do still feel that your response was rude. I'm doing my best and I thought all questions were allowed here.