Pickles in Compost?

I have a lot of whole Kosher dill pickles that are unusable for my purpose. Would it be OK to put these in my compost bin? I'm kind of concerned about the amount of vinegar on the pickles.

http://forums2.gardenweb.com/discussions/1651465/can-you-compost-pickles

If it's edible, it's compostable. I'm worried about the pickle smell!

Thanks everyone! Into the compost bins they go.
Jo-Ann

http://www.dailybulldog.com/db/features/sams-spade-clues-to-a-good-compost/

Jo-Ann,
Based on what I've researched, I'd say go ahead, but, proceed slowly depending on the size of your existing compost pile(s).

I'd cut the pickles up and blend them first (I have a blender dedicated for making veggie slush for the compost piles), then add it a little bit at a time, so as to not throw off the balance..

Or not...

Hugs!

Sounds like a good idea, but too late. After I read the first 2 messages, I went to my compost pile, dug a trench in it, and dumped the whole thing in! This is a new compost pile, so it'll have several months to sit before I use it. I'll give it a turn in a week or so. Thanks for all the info.
Jo-Ann

I also would have chopped them up a bit, first. When I get a few bags of discards from a fruit stand, I lay some plywood across by wheelbarrow and grab my favorite cleaver. WHACK WHACK WHACK, and i figure that cuts a few weeks or months off the time to finish decomposing them.

I would also have held back on the vinegar, and only added that in small doses - depending on the size of the pile, a few cups to a few gallons. Vinegar is very acidic.

That WILL help keep your pile from losing Nitrogen as ammonia, which can happen if your pile is "too green". But if you add so MUCH vinegar all at once, you'll lower the pH to a very acid level, and that might slow down decomposition a little, until microbes digest the vinegar, or rain flushes it out.

By the way: a pile that is all vinegared-up is a little like a pile that got anaerobic for a few weeks. That vinegar is a little toxic to root hairs, like most anaerobic fermentation products. Make sure the pile gets enough air into its center, and it will digest that vinegar almost like it was sugar.

BTW, if you add lime to a compost heap, it strongly encourages Nitrogen that is in the form of ammonia to be neutral (NH3), gaseous, and evaporate right out if your pile. The raised pH encourages dissolved ammonia (NH4+) to lose the acid H+, and become NH3. The positively charged ammonium (NH4+) has to stay in water solution, just like sodium (Na+). Once it goes neutral (NH3), it can dissolve in water OR evaporate into the air.

You want N to stay in your compost heap so you can feed it to your plants! Once it evaporates, rain will eventually carry it into SOMEone's garden or a river or ocean, but your plants won't get it.

Of course, if you have a heap that is SO acid that microbes don't thrive in it, you might HAVE to add a little lime, to get it back closER to neutral. I had that, once, with a pile that was 99% pine needles. It didn't cook very fast until I added a little lime. Then it collapsed rapidly, but now I know it lost what little N it had, while breaking down. I should have added just a LITTLE lime at a time, and added no more than needed to get it cooking a little.

Moderation in all things.