OK to burn vegetation or a potential 'contamination' problem?

[Alan Ambrose]

I have a bunch of apple tree prunings, cut weeds etc that I would be happy to burn at the plot once they've dried out.

 

But ... I wouldn't want to create a 'contamination' problem for myself when/if we need to send truck loads of topsoil / underlying clay offsite and they ask for WAC testing.

 

Any thoughts?

[joe90]

Burning that won’t create contamination.

[SteamyTea]

Why burn it, that just contaminates the air.

You could turn the small stuff into compost, and let the larger stuff rot down more slowly.

Just this Sunday was a bit on GQT about it.

 

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m001wrjs

[Susie]

I have over 10 apple trees that are pruned yearly and I shred the prunings then compost in a darlec and use the following year in the garden.

weeds are composted separately thrown in a corner of a field out of sight not to be used in the garden. 

[saveasteading]

1 hour ago, Susie said:

I shred the prunings then compost

Ditto. all my branches up to an inch dia or so go through my bosch machine and make mulch.  It drags the small stuff with it

Everything else to compost. I've got 2 daleks that take everyday stuff plus kitchen veg waste, and an old coal bunker that takes sticky stuff like hay and hedge cuttings..it take 2 years to go through and comes out like soil.

10 barrowloads of compost each year, and much better than the bought stuff.

 

Brambles and hedge cuttings d destroy under the lawnmower, and into the compost too.

 

If the apple trees are diseased then burning is best, 

[Susie]

Yes mines Bosch and I think a few others have the same on here, next year I’m going to treat my self to new blade. 
I have 4 Daleks but only 3 lids, 3 black and one is green, anything that might regrow goes in the green or down the field. 
Council ran a free Dalek scheme once, then a while later some people offered free locally when the novelty wore off.

 

[Alan Ambrose]

OK let me mull that all over. The last time we tried composting we attracted rats…

[saveasteading]

2 minutes ago, Susie said:

anything that might regrow

Once chopped up and buried under the rest it never seems to grow. 

But if you've got the space that is wise

I've got a Bosch too. 20 years old, and the knob has fallen off but its still great. 

I bought another type for a present and it slices rather than grinds so the bits are much bigger. Also it doesn't drag the branch through with all its twigs, and doesn't like brambles,

[saveasteading]

2 minutes ago, Alan Ambrose said:

we attracted rats…

They aren't interested in garden waste, otherwise they'd eat it where it grew. They do eat kitchen scraps of course, but not if mixed with weeds and grass.

I found a dead rat yesterday. but it's the countryside and they survived before people arrived.

[Susie]

Im careful what food I compost no bread or meat mostly veg no corn cobs they take too long to decompose, no fruit they attract flies.

coffee grinds are ok and some t bags.

 

[saveasteading]

5 minutes ago, Susie said:

no corn cobs they take too long to decompose,

2 years. but they don't do any harm. Avocado stones take 2 years as well.

coffee grinds can go straight on the flower beds and slugs don't like them.

[Susie]

We no longer have a slug problem a few late night searches and we feed the birds regularly so the few we have I don’t mind. I use to put the coffee grinds out but it’s too regular a thing to do in winter so they go in the caddy for the compost.