Citrus in Compost

Is there any reason NOT to put citrus in compost? Someone recently told me that they heard the acid was bad for compost and could kill the bugs. Recently I had to remove numerous citrus from compost because I found they had gotten moldy in the compost . They were not moldy before they went in.

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Permalink Reply by Jeff Reich and Farraday Newsome on March 15, 2011 at 4:47pm

I have found citrus peels & unusable fruit to be a valuable addition to my compost because they break down readily (the mold is part of that process) and they acidify the compost a bit, which is really good when used in our alkaline native soil. I've never had any problem with citrus adversely affecting my (beautiful!) compost.

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Permalink Reply by Linda Enger on March 15, 2011 at 5:05pm

Thanks for your replies

The mold not being a problem actually surprised me that it is NOT a problem.

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Permalink Reply by Kate Anderson on March 16, 2011 at 10:04am

I have heard that grapefruits shouldn't be composted because of their seeds. Does anyone here use Grapefruit Seed Extract? The product is amazing - antifungal, antiviral, antibacterial! But because of these properties, a site on composting mentioned not to compost their seeds (ie, the whole fruit).

Anyone else experience this?

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Permalink Reply by Gerry on March 16, 2011 at 10:24am

I compost all of our citrus (lemons, tangerines, grapefruit, oranges, pumelos including the seeds). I need to cut up the larger rinds to help it break down faster. I found that the citrus may mold if the pile goes anaerobic and does not heat up.

I have steam coming off the new compost. I think the addition of dry crumbles helps in heating up the pile.

The mold may only be a problem only if you are allergic to it.

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Permalink Reply by Linda Enger on March 16, 2011 at 2:29pm

what are dry crumbles. I do have a problem with lack of heat from compost

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Permalink Reply by Gerry on March 16, 2011 at 4:16pm

Linda, It is the Bioflora organic fertilizer I purchased along with the bare root trees from the Jan sale.

No aeration, too much moisture, or a bad mix of carbon to nitrogen components can cause the pile to go anaerobic and not heat up.

Here are two well-done videos which should help you out on composting:

Composting (Part 1)

Composting (Part 2)

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Permalink Reply by Linda Enger on March 16, 2011 at 10:18pm

Interesting videos. thank you for the link. I thought we were supposed to avoid putting soil in our compost here due to the alkaline nature of our soil. I could not help but wonder about this in the video.

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Permalink Reply by Gerry on March 17, 2011 at 10:29am

Soil is used to keep down flies In the pile and to add microbes to the compost for decomposition. Adding finished compost to the soil buffers the alkalinity.

True alkaline soils are clay soils with a high PH (> 9), poor structure, and have slow drainage. Large amounts of organic matter and gypsum are needed to reclaim such soil.

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Permalink Reply by HaroldS on March 20, 2011 at 9:41pm

Oh thank you. Nice to know I can put citrus in the compost. I've been sending it to the landfill.

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Permalink Reply by Suzanne Vilardi on March 22, 2011 at 6:22am

Harold, I use Red Wiggler worms in my compost and keep my citrus compost separate from them as I've been told the citrus will "burn them up"....not sure if this is true but I have 6 bins so it is easy for me to compost the citrus separately.

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Permalink Reply by Hassena Kassim on March 22, 2011 at 6:42am

I've read that these plants may burn little wormies so they are excluded from my worm bins...these should be ok in a larger well balanced non-vermi composting situation.