why are onion peelings not allowed in compost piles

[vegie chicken]

i have always wondered

does it hurt the worms or something?

 

[Greenthumb18]

I would think onion peelings would be fine for the compost. I always add them to my compost. The onion peelings will get mixed in anyway.

Hope this helps

 

[boggybranch]

Sure, you can compost them. Have never seen, otherwise. Have always done it, myself, without any bad results. If it's vegetable "matter".......I'll compost it.

 

[Hattie the Hen]

Sure, you can compost them. Have never seen, otherwise. Have always done it, myself, without any bad results. If it's vegetable "matter".......I'll compost it.

I wonder if it is like potatoes peelings being undesirable in compost heaps because of the virus' they carry. I know a lot of gardeners here in the UK can no longer grow onions in their gardens or allotments because of these 'illnesses' so I'm pretty sure they would not compost the skins.


Hattie

 

[Hattie the Hen]

I have just done a bit of research, without much of a result, but I found a remark about not putting them in wormeries. It is from http://club.omlet.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?f=22&t=46560&start=15


Finally, regarding citrus peel, onion skins and other acidic items, you're right that the worms don't like the low pH. However, as long as you neutralise the acid by adding something alkaline too, then once again they'll be fine. The traditional additive is calcified seaweed, but ground shellfish shells, chalk or crushed egg shells also work fine. It's a matter of balance rather than avoding any particular ingredient.

I will continue to search & let you know if I find anything interesting.....


Hattie

 

[hoodat]

Worms won't eat onions or citrus but that doesn't mean they won't compost. The worms just avoid them but aren't harmed by them. Onions can take awhile since they have an inhibiting effect on bacteria.

 

[rebbetzin]

I save my red/brown onion skins for a recipe I have for Middle Eastern dish.

You boil the eggs in the onion skins, then lightly crack the shells of the eggs once they are hard boiled. Don't peel the eggs, just put some cracks in the shells, the more cracks, the more the onion "dye" will penetrate the egg shell. Put the unpeeled, but cracked shelled eggs back in the pot with the onion skins and let them stay there until the pot cools off.

When you peel the eggs, they have a very nice "marbled" appearance, in a deep brownish color. And they have a slight onion flavor too.

I have always put onion and the onion skins in my compost, my worms don't seem to mind. I put citrus in there too. I think it is a matter of balance. Most my compost is straw, sand, chicken droppings and kitchen and garden waste. Plus once in a while a big dose of coffee grounds from a local Starbucks, and grass clippings from a landscaper I know. The coffee grounds and grass clippings seem to really heat up the compost pile!

 

[hoodat]

Now that you mention it I remember my grandmother using onion skins to dye muslin flour sacking a nice straw yellow color. Remember when flour and some animal feeds came in muslin bags with printed patterns on them? Farmers wives used to give them a snipped piece for a sample so they could buy the feed and flour with the right print to match something they had going.

 

[i_am2bz]

I wonder if it is like potatoes peelings being undesirable in compost heaps because of the virus' they carry.

Hattie

No potato skins in the compost??

Yikes, I've never heard of that!! Is all my compost ruined now?? (Not that I add a lot, but there's a bit)

 

[lesa]

I always put potato skins in mine (if I don't cook them and feed them to the chickens). If you are eating healthy looking potatoes- I would think there is no problem. Obviously, putting any diseased plant (blight, etc.) into the pile is not a good idea...Perhaps, that is what Hattie is referring to?
Onion skins go in too!