Rust in the compost - help

I tried this in the organic gardening section and got zilch....
thought I wold give it a go here - any suggestions?


Our compost pile is heavy on oak and maple leaves. Although when we put it together we used grass clippings, steer manure and we regularly add coffee grounds and green kitchen scraps.
It sat over winter, all the usual stuff, rain snow and freezing temps. This spring we turned the pile and from the bottom we took some of the mulch and worked it into our new rose beds.
At that time I noticed something yellowish/orange on the leaves... I thought it was corn gluten meal. (didn't have my glasses on)
Well yesterday as I was working in the garden I turned up some of the leaves from the compost pile and realized to my horror that the yellow/orange stuff is rust!!!
It's all mixed in and the roses are planted, there is no way I can get the infected leaves/compost out of the beds... ugh.
Is there any way I can treat this?
Any way I can keep it from spreading to my roses?

I have healthy fat worms in my beds and I want to keep my soil alive so anything chemical is simply out of the question
Anyone?

Dove

Oh boy, I bet you're upset.

I don't know that there's any rosarians on this forum, that would be the place I'd go to. Rust is not something I'm very familiar with, I'm afraid.

I would recommend doing any watering via a hose on the ground so you don't splash any of the soil up on the plants. Additionally, you could add a heavy layer of mulch on the top of the soil - one that would not carry the rust .... for instance, I have seen some recycled rubber mulches. You could always use shredded or layered newspapers under a bark mulch, too.... I'm just throwing out suggestions here.

Good luck!!!

Rust is very plant specific, a rust that is growing on one plant in your garden will not necessarily infect the plant next to it. I wouldn't be overly concerned about it.

poiuy704 is right. There are specific rust fungi for wheat, soybeans, blackberries, roses, and many other plants. They can seldom attack any other species of plant.

Also, by definition, rust fungi feed on living plant cells by growing a probe into the cells and extracting nutrients. There are many kinds of fungi that live in compost, but they make their living by feeding on dead plant cells, not live ones.

That compost fungus may look like rust, but it's not. I don't think you have a thing to be concerned about.

Excellent!

Thank you Ozark, that's a real relief.
The rust like substance was on oak leaves in the compost.
( Although to my eye it looked just like the rust I've seen on rose leaves.)

I will add a thick layer of mulch, what ever it is I'm sure that will help.

Dove

I love happy endings....

This will make you laugh. When I saw the subject of this thread, I thought to myself, oh, heck, what's a little rust - it'll just add some iron to the plant.

Then, I realized ya'll were talking about a completely different type of rust!

D'uh.

>grin<
.

It'd be interesting to know about all the organisms that break down compost. My compost piles are big enough I turn them with a tractor and front-end loader. Of the fungi that are large enough to be visible, I see quite a few colors and shapes - including many different kinds of mushrooms.

When I turn my compost piles, I also see nightcrawlers that are a lot bigger than the "Canadian nightcrawlers" sold for fishing. These guys are a foot long, as big around as a pencil, and very strong and active. You couldn't fish with them, because you couldn't keep them on a hook.

It's good to see things like that and to know there are lots of other little critters in there we can't see. It means the pile is live, healthy, and working.

.. but not to be approached at night, unarmed....

Beth,
I wondered if people would think the same thing.
Being an avid rose lover "Rust" is a mortal enemy!!

Ozark,
Aren't those gihugic night crawlers amazing?

Hey Ozark
I did a little search and found this site... got some cool compost fungi photos
http://www.eyeofscience.de/eos2/index2.html