Compost Stinks and Attracts Pests? Avoid These 12 Things and Learn Healthy Composting Techniques

Making some compost yourself is very beneficial: it not only reduces how often you use pesticides, but also saves a lot of money and improves the soil in your yard. Below we discuss how to avoid problems and make composting healthier and simpler, and avoid attracting insects or smelling bad.

If you are very fond of organic gardening and do not like spraying pesticides or applying chemical fertilizers, then you must give composting a try; making your own compost is a good choice. Let us look below at how to increase nutrients and what should not be added to the soil.

To make compost work better, the following things must never be added:

1. Pet feces

Animal manure is excellent composting material, but pet feces is not necessarily suitable, especially the feces of cats and dogs. Your cat's or dog's feces may well contain parasites, which is very bad for compost. Only if you are certain the pet is disease-free can its feces do a good job.

2. Meat scraps and bones

Most kitchen waste can be used to make compost, but to avoid attracting all kinds of pests, do not add meat scraps or bones to your compost, especially bones with bits of meat on them; these must never be added to compost, otherwise they will attract insects and give off a bad smell.

If you want to compost bones, you must clean the meat off the bones completely, then steam or boil them, then sun-dry and crush them into powder or fragments before adding them to the compost.

3. Grease and oil

Grease and oil-based products are extremely difficult to break down, and they are very unsuitable for making compost. They not only make the compost smell bad, but also easily attract insects. Do not blindly believe in making compost from oil residue; it is very unsuitable for beginners to do it this way.

4. Diseased plants and weed seeds

For plants infected by pests or diseases, neither their branches nor leaves can be put into compost, and they cannot even be placed beside plants. Many pathogens are spread through these diseased leaves and branches.

Do not throw in weeds and seeds either. Many weeds carry seeds, and high-temperature fermentation simply cannot kill them; the highest temperature is only 60°C, which cannot kill weed seeds.

5. Chemically treated wood

Not all wood shavings can be added to compost. Wood shavings that have undergone chemical treatment must never be added to compost; only wood shavings from untreated logs can be added, to avoid releasing harmful chemicals and to help promote plant growth.

6. Milk products

Dairy products are also very unsuitable for adding to compost; they attract insects very easily. Unless it is a buried compost, do not add dairy products.

7. Glossy paper

Not all paper is suitable for adding to soil for composting. Glossy paper is especially cheap and practical, but it is very unsuitable for compost, and ordinary lead-containing newspaper also cannot be used for compost.

8. Sawdust

Many people throw sawdust into the compost as soon as they see it, and this is also very unsuitable. Before adding sawdust to compost, you must confirm that it has not undergone chemical treatment; that is, only sawdust made from untreated logs can be used for compost.

9. Walnut shells

Not all nut shells can be added to compost. Walnut shells contain juglone, which is toxic to certain plants, and they release natural aromatic compounds. Just to be safe, leave them out.

10. Chemical products

All kinds of chemical products from daily life must not be thrown into compost, especially all kinds of rubber products, batteries and similar materials. No chemical materials can be used for compost.

11. Plastic bags

All lined cardboard boxes, plastic cups, gardening pots, sealing strips and so on are unsuitable for adding to compost. In addition, note that fruits that are diseased or carry insects should not be used for compost either.

12. Personal products

Some personal daily-use items are also unsuitable for compost, including sanitary tampons, diapers and all kinds of items contaminated with blood; these all bring risks to the compost.

Materials suitable for composting include: fallen leaves, dry grass, fruit peels, vegetable leaves, tea dregs, coffee grounds, nut shells, eggshells, plant roots and stems, small twigs, and so on.