May I use pea vines with powdery mildew for the compost pile

My sugar Snap peas are finished for the year, but covered with mildew--- can I still use them in the compost bin? I hate to waste good vegetation if I don't have to. My bins have thousands of worms in them, if that makes a difference.

Others may disagree, but I sure would. It seems like any time I read an "official" publication, they say not to add anything with any 'diseases' ... but I'm a great believer in a) hot piles for taking care of a lot of 'bad' things (which mildew is such a commonplace mold (?), I can't see how it could be too harmful) and b) returning things to the earth and letting the normal processes -bacteria, worms, etc., do the decontamination work for me. But I also am careful about what I use the compost for; things have to be well composted for quite a while before I consider using the compost for growing edibles. A lot goes into my flower beds and back out into fields.

HTH!

Thanks for your input Pagancat - I chopped them into small pieces and put them in a covered rubbermade bin, covered them with horse manure, and wet the whole mess with some water. Had holes in the bin. So I think they'll cook and then I'll put them into my compost. Sometimes I think I make too much work for myself-- do we all do that?

LOL - it is a very, very fine line, is it not? I've been spending time on the Sustainable Living forum and the same question comes to mind frequently...

yes put them in compost bin. don't worry about spores spreading because there are billions more spores floating in the air and soil , than are in your peas. where did you think your peas got infected in the first place? certainly not from the compost bin.