Cotton Seed Compost

pfish 8/27/2011, 2:32 pm

I purchased a bag of cotton seed compost from the local nursery suppler. When I was driving home with the bag in my car, I smelled an overwhelming chemical smell (like Malathion). Would these cotton seeds have that chemical on them, as the Malathion is used to "defoliate" the cotton plants? I would not want to use this as one of my 5 kinds of compost, if it will be a problem...thanks for the responses.

littlesapphire 8/27/2011, 2:44 pm

I don't have any idea about cotton seed compost, but I used to work in a hardware store. And every spring, they'd get the chemical fertilizer in, and EVERYTHING in the whole store started smelling chemically. It was terrible. So I'm wondering if they had the bags of compost sitting next to bags of chemical fertilizer and that's what the problem is.

Just my 2 cents Smile

pfish 8/27/2011, 2:53 pm

Thanks...that's what I was thinking...will have to open bag and see if smell has permeated...it's still so HOT here (104) that I'm waiting just a bit before making Mel's Mix. Didn't follow directions last year (I had the original book and recipe), and had poor results from garden with too much peat moss, so will try again this year.

littlejo 8/27/2011, 8:08 pm

pfish wrote:I purchased a bag of cotton seed compost from the local nursery suppler. When I was driving home with the bag in my car, I smelled an overwhelming chemical smell (like Malathion). Would these cotton seeds have that chemical on them, as the Malathion is used to "defoliate" the cotton plants? I would not want to use this as one of my 5 kinds of compost, if it will be a problem...thanks for the responses.

I suggest calling the nursery and ask.If it smells other than dirt then it has not finished composting.

If the nursery says that it will grow(hasn' t been a defoilate used) then put some in a pot and maybe some radish seed and see if they will sprout. If so , then you should be good to go.

Be careful, If you are planting soon, watch, for it will pull the nitrogen from the bed til it finishes composting. If you are not planting soon, then, you are ok if the nursery says it's ok. You can always use an organic fertilizer or liquid compost tea to help til it finishes composting.

This spring most of my bought compost smelled of Jack daniels. I didn' t know of making tea(which I should have drank!) I resorted to 1 spraying of Miracle grow, and it helped til the compost finiished.

Jo

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Cotton Seed Compost

Cotton Seed Compost

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Re: Cotton Seed Compost


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