blood

PeggyC 1/21/2011, 11:00 am

Sometimes when I've thawed beef, and there's that bloody mess in the package, I dump it into my compost bin. I've only done this a few times.

Should I stop, or do it more often?

Thanks!

LaFee 1/21/2011, 1:45 pm

I would shy away from it, if only because of the possibility of contaminating your compost if there should be some bad guys in the blood. They warn about the dangers of cross-contamination (e. coli and worse) that come from allowing animal blood to touch our countertops, hands, and cooking utensils...I would think that those same contaminants could run amok in a compost heap.

(there are strains of e. coli that aren't killed at cooking temperatures, let alone the temp of a hot compost heap)

Blood meal has been cooked and dehydrated, so considerably less likely to spread cooties you don't want.

Megan 1/21/2011, 6:16 pm

I agree with LaFee on all points.

Also... what the heck are you doing pouring that stuff on your garden? Pour it in a freezer container for future gravy makin's!

Lavender Debs 1/22/2011, 6:31 am

As a recovering vegan I get chills at the thought of putting blood or bone into my food. I'm working on it in my kitchen, I still resist in the garden. Not because of disease (I have never heard of it surviving in a compost heap; but then again, there is so much I don’t know) but because of a small animal that we have come across in town.... Rats.

I have two small terriers that have made both birds and vermin avoid crossing our fence line, but rats are nocturnal, for the most part terriers are not. I don't want to do anything to make the risk of crossing our man made boundary seem worth the risk. Blood in the compost might be more than they could resist.

Deborah.....thinking this isn't quite 2 cents worth

LaFee 1/22/2011, 6:42 am

Debs is absolutely correct - any kind of animal-based substance (other than manure) will draw rats.

Megan 1/22/2011, 8:25 am

Definitely at LEAST $0.02, Debs! I love you

I'm still plotting how to attract even more feral cats.

**camprn** 1/22/2011, 8:47 am

PeggyC wrote:Sometimes when I've thawed beef, and there's that bloody mess in the package, I dump it into my compost bin. I've only done this a few times.

Should I stop, or do it more often?

Thanks!

I wouldn't do this as it would be more of an invitation to varmints I really don't want rummaging in the compost.

LaFee wrote:
Blood meal has been cooked and dehydrated, so considerably less likely to spread cooties you don't want.

+1

Odd Duck 1/24/2011, 11:34 am

There are certain types of compost that can deal with that meat "juice" (blood) like Bokashi and certain vermicompost set-ups could handle a small amount of it. Vermicompost is very rarely contaminated with bad bacteria, when finished correctly, since the worms eat (and kill the bacteria). It would take a pretty large vermcompost set-up to handle much blood and you could still have the problem of drawing in pests/rats.

Here is a bokashi link

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bokashi_composting#Bokashi_composting

It takes some intensive tending compared to regular composting, but there are also some in-kitchen type bokashi composters that you can buy to help make it easier. I cannot give you any recommendations on brand, etc, as I've never tried it, only read about it.

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