Quote:
Originally Posted by gssgarden
Late last year I bought a gallon bag of fresh peanuts for something my daughter wanted to do. I didn't get done! lol
Should I put the peanuts in the compost bin? I read somewhere that you shouldn't put the nut in because of the fat content??, or just the shells.
Thoughts?
Thanks!
Greg
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Greg.. I have a friend who grows huge tomato and pepper plants. He goes around to all these places and gets bags and bags of the peanut shells. He throws them out in his compost pile and lets them break down. They aren't fully decomposed when he mixes them in with his regular potting soil.
I have bought several containers of plants from him. The problem I had with those pots that had the peanut shells in them, was the pots weighed a ton. A 3 gallon pot felt like a 50 lb bag of soil. I could barely lift it. The other problem I had was the peanut shell pieces dried out fast and dried out the soil fast. I was having to water those huge pots twice a day.
The other thing too that always crossed my mind with the peanut shells was the fact that most of the peanuts grown today have been treated and I don't know even after some composting, how much of the residue still stays on the shell and gets into your soil. It's a whole different discussion, but for me personally, I think that is why so many children have peanut allergies now a days. I don't know if residue from the peanut shells could cause somebody to develop a tomato allergy if grown in them.