Hello -

I'm just starting out with composting and I'm wondering if there are any vegetables I should NOT be adding to my compost pile for zone 10a? I'm in Pinellas County, FL. Ex: I read not to add any cruciferous plants to the pile (cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower, brussels sprouts, kale, etc.) because those plants are susceptible to viruses. But then I'll go to another page and it says they're fine. Getting conflicting information. And I eat a ton of those vegetables, so would/will have a lot of scraps.. :/

I know the obvious items not to add (meat, dairy, fats/grease, pet waste, etc.) I'm talking about fruits and vegetable waste that you do NOT believe should be added and why? (Attracts too many bugs? susceptible to viruses? etc.)

Also - how often do you water your compost? I read every 2-4 days for Florida (especially in dryer months) to keep it moist - and HOW MUCH water do you add? My compost will be in a rolling tumbler - if that matters.

NOTE: Please only respond if you are an experienced Florida gardener who HAS a compost pile. :-D Thank you so much!

-Meg

UFL does not mention anything about not using cruciferous material.
https://sfyl.ifas.ufl.edu/sara...

Hi & welcome!

Guessing from the lack of responses, it may be that most FL gardeners are not composting in specific piles. Although I'm 18 miles north of FL, I hope you don't mind some additional comments. I gave up pile-composting after my first couple of attempts after moving south from OH. It's too hot to move stuff around multiple times when it could just decompose in its' final resting place, and a pile of composting materials will mostly just be eaten by ants.

I'll be curious to hear if your tumbler is noticed by ants or not.

The only things I don't compost are larger pieces of wood, bones, meat. Otherwise, if it can decompose, it is put on the soil surface to become part of the mulch/compost. I am not sure which critters you are referring to by "bugs" but decomposition involves various bugs, insects, and microscopic critters of many kinds, who work to convert dead organic material into the smallest possible particles to eventually become part of the soil, and then to become available to plant roots as "nutrients".

If any decomposing organic matter is very moist but without oxygen, (anaerobic), it will stink. so if you notice an odor, you can let it dry, and/or add more browns. The wider variety of materials you add to your compost, the more robust and "nutritious" it will be for your plants, regardless of the location where the initial decomposition occurs.

Best luck!

I've always composted my kitchen veg and fruit scraps, and the only things I don't put in are citrus peels - they take much too long to compost because the oils in the skin are a preservative. Also corn cobs and avocado pits. Same thing, they just take way too long to compost. I'd be sifting what I thought was a nice batch of compost, and come across these things, completely intact, amongst the rest of the nice compost.

I tried pulverizing the citrus peels in the blender before putting them in, and I think they just slowed down the whole process because I had introduced the citrus oils throughout the pile instead of just in one concentrated area. Citrus oils are anti-bacterial and anti-fungal it would seem.