Create Your Own Eden

COMPOSTING - Invasive weeds

It can be difficult for people to accept that well loved plants like honeysuckle and Mexican daisy are deemed to be pests, but it is essential to control them. Plants like ginger, jasmine and privet can cause serious harm to our native environment and others can threaten the livelihoods of producers of commercial crops.

To find out more and to identify invasive weeds, visit:

www.doc.govt.nz

www.weedbusters.org.nz

www.arc.govt.nz

How to compost invasive weeds
It is possible to compost invasive weeds, however it is essential that they first go through a “pre-compost” process in order to ensure that they die. This requires the following steps.

Put the weeds in a large plastic bag with a handful of soil and water.

Tie the top and leave for at least two months, until there are no green shoots or other signs of life.

Add them to your compost heap as a green.

If you leave them for long enough, they will turn into soil. There is also another way to handle noxious weeds.

Put them into a closed bin and cover them with water (or submerge them in a sack).

Leave for 2-3 months by which time the water will turn a green/ brown colour but it can be used as fertiliser for your plants.

Empty the solids into your compost bin.