Comments | gardening: Mystery Plants in Compost

advaya in gardening

Mystery Plants in Compost

Apr 20, 2009 22:23

I have several plants growing out of vermicompost I've added to my houseplants, so amongst aloe vera and my Christmas cactus I have random vegetables sprouting . I'm thinking of transplanting them into my garden, but I'm not sure if they will produce fruit or not. Anyone had any luck with this? One seedling is a mystery and the other definitely ( Read more... )

vermicompost

Comments 6

meijhen April 21 2009, 02:59:13 UTC

I ended up with pumpkin seedlings in my compost pile. I tried to transplant them into the garden, but they died :(
I think if I'd waited until they were a little bigger, it would have gone better, though.

advaya April 21 2009, 03:03:52 UTC

Yeah. I usually just pluck them out and toss them, but since I've been starting seeds and working on my outside garden it finally occurred to me I might be able to get some free seedlings this way. I've been letting the new ones grow as they pop up, and they seem to be doing well, although they seem to be growing very slowly. It's still a while before I can plant most things in the ground, so by the time that rolls around I might have a better idea of what I'm dealing with anyway.

I tried to find some information but the only things I found were people talking about tomatoes sprouting in compost piles, and the hybridization of mystery compost plants. I'm hoping they grow up to be healthy, producing plants.

0okie April 21 2009, 03:17:39 UTC

Lucky one you are! I have weeds growing out of my compost :(

advaya April 21 2009, 03:21:12 UTC

Yeah, for the longest time it didn't even occur to me that they would have to be vegetables of some sort. Logically, they'd have to be since my vermicompost is kept enclosed in the house, and all I throw in there is food. A compost pile outside would be a totally different situation.

rhodielady_47 April 21 2009, 08:55:32 UTC

Tomato seeds often do make it completely through the human digestive tract. Problem is, almost all the tomatoes we eat these days do not breed true from seed. These tomato plants do often make good cherry tomatoes though.
:)

juniperpearls April 21 2009, 15:38:09 UTC

It can't hurt! I've gotten an onion plant from the compost and an avocado plant, too. Both are healthy and well.