cotton bur compost - shortage

I heard today from a local nurseryman that cotton bur compost prices will be sky-high this year due to the recent drought in Texas. I saw some on sale at Walmart early this year and only bought a few bags. I checked Lowe's today and a $3 bago of cotton bur compost is going for around $8 this year. So if you can still find it cheap, stock up.

You're real lucky to be able to buy compost such as cotton burr. Nobody carries that around here. I can order it from various websites but then I'd pay out the wazoo for shipping and handling charges.

So far, in my town I found 3 kinds of compost: chicken manure, black Kow manure and 100% composted cotton burr. I never heard of cotton burr compost before and didn't buy it. Is it great as part of the 1/3 blended compost for Mel's Mix? It seems like there's not enough variety in this 100% cotton burr compost.

I live near a cotton gin and there is a mountain of cotton boll leavings beside it.  The bottom layers are composted.  The locals say it is great dug into a garden. Haven't tried it myself.

Kay

I wanted to get an opinion about cotton bur compost:  I have read that cotton bur compost often contains a heavy amount of pesticides.  The reason (from what I read) is that, because it is a non-food crop, farmers apply pesticides with wreakless abandon.  Has anyone heard about this?  Are there organic options available for this type of compost or does it even matter?

Windmere wrote:I wanted to get an opinion about cotton bur compost:  I have read that cotton bur compost often contains a heavy amount of pesticides.  The reason (from what I read) is that, because it is a non-food crop, farmers apply pesticides with wreakless abandon.  Has anyone heard about this?  Are there organic options available for this type of compost or does it even matter?

Wow! That makes sense that farmers would put pesticides on cotton because we don't eat it. Until it says on the bag that they didn't, I will be too scared to use it now.

Windmere wrote:I wanted to get an opinion about cotton bur compost:  I have read that cotton bur compost often contains a heavy amount of pesticides.  The reason (from what I read) is that, because it is a non-food crop, farmers apply pesticides with wreakless abandon.  Has anyone heard about this?  Are there organic options available for this type of compost or does it even matter?

The question should be, does it matter to you?


My understanding is that cotton has a low pest threshold.

http://www.toxicfreenc.org/informed/pdfs/Cotton_chems.pdf

Organic cotton farmers do in fact use pesticides.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Organic_cotton

http://rodaleinstitute.org/2013/made-in-the-usa-organic-cotton/

camprn wrote:

Windmere wrote:I wanted to get an opinion about cotton bur compost:  I have read that cotton bur compost often contains a heavy amount of pesticides.  The reason (from what I read) is that, because it is a non-food crop, farmers apply pesticides with wreakless abandon.  Has anyone heard about this?  Are there organic options available for this type of compost or does it even matter?

The question should be, does it matter to you?


My understanding is that cotton has a low pest threshold.

http://www.toxicfreenc.org/informed/pdfs/Cotton_chems.pdf

Organic cotton farmers do in fact use pesticides.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Organic_cotton

http://rodaleinstitute.org/2013/made-in-the-usa-organic-cotton/

I guess it does to some extent.  In passing, I've seem cotton burr compost offered here, but I never gave it a second look because I felt I had the components I needed.  The store where I saw it does offer organic composts, but I did not check to see if their cotton burr compost was also organic (and maybe a less expensive component).  Regardless, I appreciated your cites.  I'm better convinced I have other better options.

I bought some 2 cu-ft bags of cotton burr compost at Orscheln Farm store in Sedalia, MO just this past Sunday for $4.69 each.  Don't know if anyone is close to an Orscheln store or even wants cotton burr compost.

cotton bur "compost" is recommended by garden centers here in the KC area to lighten clay soils...my problem with the material is that it is not actually compost...it is dead plant matter that has not even begun to break down yet.

Pesticides are one thing and herbicides are another. It may be fine for your plants. However, the idea of ingesting pesticides doesn't sound all that great to me, even if my plants would be relieved to know no herbicides are involved.

I used to live in TX and had always heard from the "environmental" crowd that one should also avoid foods made with cotton seed oil...nasty chemicals used in the oil-extracting process....not to mention all the junk sprayed on the growing crop.

That's really common in some of the seafood snacks I eat. Kippers, little smoked oysters, and such. Guess I should avoid them in the future, but I stocked up! Probably won't buy more though.

Y'all got me nervous because I just bought a couple bags of cotton burr compost this week and put it in my new beds.  I had never heard of it before, but in my quest to find 5 different composts, I came across it.  I paid $7.99 for a 2 cubic foot bag at Calloways in Flower Mound TX (I found it at another local nursery for a similar price as well).  I didn't blink at the price because I don't have my own compost yet and I knew my start-up costs were going to be high.
But this talk about pesticides scared me so I went into the trash to dig out the bag to see what it says.  I bought Back to Earth All Natural Cotton Burr Blend Premium Compost.  This is what it says on the back of the bag:
"Back to Earth Soil Builder is a natural soil builder consisting of feedstock, finely shredded hardwood, and composted cotton burrs blended. This product contains no chemicals, weeds, insects, or harmful pathogens.  Soils low in organic matter and humus or with poor tilth and structure cannot be rejuvenated with chemical fertilizers.  Back to Earth compost can quickly start improvement of such soils, since it begins to function immediately, restoring vital organic matter and humus to soils, regardless of soil conditions . . ."
On further examination, it doesn't seem like 100% composted material, but I added extra compost to the beds for that reason.  At least it claims to not have chemicals, which I would assume would include pesticides and insecticides . . .

The cotton burr compost I got looks nice.  I used one bag today and only found one piece that I could have identified as the hard "leaf" that hangs down from the cotton ball.  I did find one small rock  

That stuff is supposed to be high in nitrogen.  Sounds like a good addition to the 5 blend.

Kay