Lots of neighbors have bags of weeds to donate to my compost. I need the greenery for my pile, but is there a fear that the weed seeds will germinate in my garden even after six months of composting?
Good question. My thought is if the compost gets "hot" enough it will kill the seeds. Could be wrong, I had the same question after putting weeds in my compost barrel.
some seeds will survive, so I've heard. Heard of people having tomatoes sprout out of compost, and a lot of weeds are resilient so if they have gone to seed, I would be suspicious.
Gil, another weed control option you might consider is soil solarization. Covering the ground with clear plastic for a few weeks to kill the weeds and seeds with intense heat.
Yes they will survive. They can survive for more years than we will ever live. I would just avoid some serious noxious weeds. Temps will get around 150 F in alot of compost piles but that wont kill alot of weed seeds. They will just lay there dormant waiting for thier chance.
I can testify that morning glory seeds are not killed by composting. I put two pickup truck loads of composted horse manure on my garden 7-8 years ago in the spring and tilled it in. After it warmed up, I had a carpet of morning glories come up that first year, and still am doing battle with them.