Durgan, very few are as lucky as you to have a city provide great compost to the citizens. It should be standard, but is not. I compost with the barrel system, and it produces quite a bit throughout the growing season. Now to my question. I have a relative that has tons of Virginia Creeper growing on his property. If I was to hack it up, would the creeper be ok for the compost? Don't want accidental growth from this invasive vine. The compost gets to 140-150's the first few days, so I doubt that the vine would survive to grow any parts, but I like to ask first. Thanks.
I have no experience with Virginia Creeper, but would certainly utilize it in as compost pile. All vegetation is placed in my compost pile. I do have a few odd plants growing, particularly since there is some of the pile that is not truly composted, but I live with this, rather than leave the pile longer to brew. The chipper/shredder probably destroys a lot of plants that would normally grow if not chopped. Oranament grass can take a long time to compost, but the fibre is still useful in the garden area if chopped into short lengths.
Thanks Durgan. The wife says no to the shredder for now. Give it two more seasons of committment to composting and she will give, likely from seeing the rewards of the garden. I ended up only using vines and leaves which had no seeds showing. With my laptop in repair, and being upgraded this past month, I am excited to get it back, and to end my use of this pre-historic desktop I rely on for backup.
My experience with Virginia Creeper is that like jellyfish, if you chop it up into a million pieces you will have a million new individuals. You will also have thousands of seeds as well. What parts don't manage to grow, you will still get a percentage that do and the seeds will also manage well. All that said Virginia Creeper is not the worst problem I have with invasive vines. I have three species of Paderia and Dioscorea bulbifera that are such a constant war that Virginia Creeper is by contrast only a minor annoyance. When I first moved in I had a Dioscorea grow from 0 to 7 feet tall between sunset and sunrise still red as it had not seen the sun yet! Virginia Creeper may be what you see, but it is easy to get other things in as well. Only if left in total darkness long enough for everything to sprout and use up the energy in a futile attempt to find the sun would I then trust the compost. I do not think even 150 degrees would do it. Even then a few seeds might manage.
