Composting meat

[Cjk85]

I know common advice is to never compost meat, because of rats etc, but I do.

I don't throw it straight on my heap, I dig a small hole in it throw in the scraps and recover touchwood I have never had any problems with pests.
Has anyone else tried this?

 

[ACSAPA]

I haven't personally done it because I think my dog would dig it up.
I saw a TV show where a Chinese woman composted some fish heads.
Does meat actually make good compost? You would think that maggots would get into it or that it would smell like a dead body.

 

[zigs]

With fish waste I put it in a bucket of wood ash & urine, breaks it down quicker so that the plants can get to the nutrients.

Only eat fish so can't help with the other meat stuff.

 

[Cjk85]

I haven't personally done it because I think my dog would dig it up.
I saw a TV show where a Chinese woman composted some fish heads.
Does meat actually make good compost? You would think that maggots would get into it or that it would smell like a dead body.

The trick to avoiding that is quite easy, my compost heap is always quite large, I dig a hole about 45cm into it drop the meat in with a little water too, then recover the hole.

 

[mandikl0721]

I'd always heard to never compost meat as well. We usually don't have much meat or meat products leftover or going to waste, so special care to let it compost without getting disturbed seems like a lot of extra work for very little gain.
I had heard that buried fish remains are especially good for enriching soil, though.

 

[ViperDove]

I have never heard of someone composting meat. Won't it smell? Or maybe the quantity isn't much.

 

[ChanellG]

With meat you can either use a solar digester or a bokashi bucket. Meats and fats are not recommended for regular composting in the garden. When it comes to fish, there are a few different things, depending on whether you just want to bury a fish or fish waste so it is available to plants later or if you want to make fish emulsion.

 

[southernmom3]

My husband always buries the fish heads, etc in our garden after a fishing trip. Once it's underground it doesn't smell. We have never tried with any red meat.

 

[ChanellG]

My husband always buries the fish heads, etc in our garden after a fishing trip. Once it's underground it doesn't smell. We have never tried with any red meat.

My mom is planning to do that when she repots her fig tree.

 

[Jewell]

I haven't personally done it because I think my dog would dig it up.
I saw a TV show where a Chinese woman composted some fish heads.
Does meat actually make good compost? You would think that maggots would get into it or that it would smell like a dead body.

Bokashi changes the meat by fermenting (pickling) The meat or food wastes breaking them down with many micro-organisms (lactobacilli, yeasts and phototropic microbes) all working together. You then cover it and its not usually bothered by critters since the wastes have changed. That is the only way I have heard of putting meat scrapes (that aren't fish) into the soil.

 

[ChanellG]

Does meat actually make good compost? You would think that maggots would get into it or that it would smell like a dead body.

No, it doesn't, and your dog would definitely dig it up. I managed to locate the thread I started a while back on bokashi; you can find it here:
https://www.gardening-forums.com/threads/has-anyone-tried-bokashi.134/#post-2251

Also, Maddie started a discussion about composting kettles, but there wasn't much discussion there. I guess there just isn't enough use/information out there yet on them: https://www.gardening-forums.com/threads/composting-kettles.544/

 

[Cjk85]

That's why you dig it into the middle of the pile, I can't say I have had any other problems with pests or anything smelling like dead/rotten/rancid etc.

 

[Gardener]

I have heard that one shouldn't compost any dairy or meat products. But what I usually do is dig a small hole and stuff it in there. Then I cover it up for a while, so animals or bugs don't get in there. After a while, it just decomposes. Sometimes I forget to check so who knows, it could quite possibly still be out there.

 

[starshinesis]

Putting fish heads in the ground seems like it would put lots of nutrients in the soil as long as its deep enough not to be dug up by your dog or other animal. When the Native Americans would plant corn they would put a fish head in each hole with the corn kernels. I wonder though if they used small fish or fish heads, more like minnows or sardines. It seems like a bigger fish head might cause the corn to rot before it would grow. Things that make a person wonder.

 

[marlingardener]

Starshinesis, welcome to the forum!
When we first started gardening, in upstate NY, our next door neighbor would go out every spring and get lots of little fish (I've forgotten the name) and bury the heads, entrails, and tails in his garden. We had a cat, Sampson. SamCat proceeded to dig up our neighbor's entire garden going after the fishy smell. Fortunately our neighbor was very fond of SamCat, and didn't make a fuss.
I don't think you could bury the fish remains deeply enough to discourage raccoons, cats, and even a smell-impaired dog!