Is it safe to compost the seed-heavy prickly pear remnants after juicing? I used a steamer juicer so they were steam-cooked for about 6 hours but I sure don’t want to spread prickly pear cactus in my garden next year!
If the steam didn’t kill them, freeze overnight and they’ll be dead for sure
Rtheguy
Anything steam cooked for 6 hours should be plenty dead. If you worry about anything, worry about the tiny spines that can irritate but even those should be thoroughly degraded by the cooking and the soon to happen composting.
If your compost process is hot, it would likely be fine even uncooked. There is a risk that you don’t get all the seeds hot enough though, especially if you toss them ontop of the pile and mix in later. Some seeds might never reach the hot core and thus stay viable. Cold compost will likely mean some seeds survive at least for some amount of time.
3 Comments
I think the steam would kill them. You’re good.
If the steam didn’t kill them, freeze overnight and they’ll be dead for sure
Anything steam cooked for 6 hours should be plenty dead. If you worry about anything, worry about the tiny spines that can irritate but even those should be thoroughly degraded by the cooking and the soon to happen composting.
If your compost process is hot, it would likely be fine even uncooked. There is a risk that you don’t get all the seeds hot enough though, especially if you toss them ontop of the pile and mix in later. Some seeds might never reach the hot core and thus stay viable. Cold compost will likely mean some seeds survive at least for some amount of time.