How To Compost – Page 97 – Crazy About Compost

Debunking the Myth About Composting Citrus Peels

Recently, I've been receiving a lot of questions about whether or not citrus fruit belongs in your compost pile...yes it definitely does! Any and all food is fair game- for every amount of food added, be sure to add 2-3 times as much brown materials (leaves work best) and you're golden. I'm not sure how this urban legend really came to fruition, but it's simply not something to worry about. It seems the common belief is that it takes longer to decompose? A chemical by the name of limonene needs to be chewed up by particular bacteria, but as soon as that happens it's like anything else. In fact, citrus fruits will heat up your pile quite nicely. A week ago, I received a gift in the form of a…

The Urban Legend of Citrus Peels

I've received some funny emails recently regarding the pH of compost and whether or not citrus peels can be thrown in there. Simply put, there's nothing wrong with putting any amount of citrus fruit in your compost. In fact, as you just saw in the last week my compost tumbler nearly doubled its temperature after I added a huge bucket of citrus fruit waste...nothing wrong with that! I think that this perception comes from vermicomposting more than anything, as it helps to keep citrus waste to a minimum for the worms. Even still, you can add it in small amounts. Does anyone have a different view on this? I'm tending to think it's all hearsay, and anyone that actually tries to compost citrus peels will see that it's just fine.