# Cactus for compost?



## TxGypsy (Nov 23, 2006)

Does anyone know if you can use cactus in a compost pile? Being in the desert I have a definate dearth of vegetation....or at least usable vegetation. The predominant plant here is the creosote/greasewood shrub. This bush produces a natural herbicide that suppresses all plant growth(except for other creosote bushes) around it. It also produces a nasty toxic smoke when burned that will make you really really sick(why do I have to learn everything the hard way). So I am assuming that I don't want to use it in compost. As a side note...this used to be prairie...ie grassland, until ranchers overgrazed the dickens out of it and allowed the woody shrubs to take over. About the only thing that leaves is prickly pear cactus. There are other varieties of cactus but they aren't abundant enough to use for compost. I just love finding new cactus varieties in the wild. I do have access to some stall cleanings from a local stable. Now I just need something to put with it. You don't even want to know what the cost of straw and hay are here!  One of my main concerns is will the thorns break down. There are some small stands of johnson grass in some of the low wet areas but it is on private land. That is about the only other possiblity. Wish you could compost rock


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## james dilley (Mar 21, 2004)

The only draw back I can see. Is that the cactus may start growing.I would think that if you can grind the cactus real fine. And catch the dripping juice .You may be able to use it. I would think thatyou can use A chipper shredder to chop it .


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## suburbanite (Jul 27, 2006)

Gypsy, while you could make an experiment of it, the commercial compost-makers of my area won't accept cactus as a feedstock for their operations. My guess is that even under commercial composting processes, the spines don't break down quickly or reliably enough.

Prickly pear are edible. I imagine if you skinned them to remove the spines then the center portions would be okay to compost.

It sounds to me like a reasonable thing to do would be to remove the creosote bushes and any cactus from your yard, fence it with hardware cloth extending underground to exclude rodents, and let your dogs or cats roam in it as a playpen for a few weeks until they've removed any remaining vermin trapped within the fence. An experiment on this theme in Southern California/Arizona border regions reverted the desert to native grassland within a year; the rodents are part of what keeps it desert after the overgrazing.

Likewise with the garden area but plant your desired crops instead of letting the native grasses take over.

If you and neighbors can get behind a patchwork of rodent-exclusion zones, these and a creosote eradication program might rehabilitate the area back to grassland, as your exclusion zones could act as seed-producing islands to restore the grasses to the adjacent areas. (You needn't remove the cactus for this, though, and certainly don't mess with any protected cactus species!)


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## TxGypsy (Nov 23, 2006)

"Prickly pear are edible. I imagine if you skinned them to remove the spines then the center portions would be okay to compost."

You're correct, they are edible. Seems like a shame not to run it through the stomach of something first doesn't it? I wonder if I were to remove the thorns if it would be good for rabbits. Goodness knows the jackrabbits thrive on the stuff. I'll add that to my list of questions for the ag extension agent.

"It sounds to me like a reasonable thing to do would be to remove the creosote bushes and any cactus from your yard, fence it with hardware cloth extending underground to exclude rodents, and let your dogs or cats roam in it as a playpen for a few weeks until they've removed any remaining vermin trapped within the fence."

 You mean....actually put his highness out in the wild where he might run across a rodent?!! LOL...my dog would probably faint if he saw a mouse. The local folks call our rodents pack rats and they are supposed to be fairly good size. I haven't seen any yet. I may try the good old slick sided metal trashcan trap. Any other rodent control suggestions? 

Good luck getting my neighbors to agree to anything! I'm afraid my little prairie restoration project will have to start with me. I'm sure if I would offer to do all the work they might let me do a couple of acres  Fortunately I am buying more ajoining land as I can get folks to sell to me so I'll be able to expand my efforts. My main problem right now is a lack of native grass to reseed the area. The area between the creosote bushes is bare.


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## pixelphotograph (Apr 8, 2007)

I wouldn't use them because like one poster mentioned the spines don't break down readily and I don't feel like putting my hands into compost and digging around into something that could hurt me..


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