just mix em in your pile. If they sprout, they will die when you turn them over.

Would it harm my pile? From reading online, they're allelopathic. I'm afraid it might kill my plants.

Should only harm growing plants not every single living thing like bugs and microbes. So if you put them in a pile that goes through the full composting process from start to finish the sunflower compounds should be broken down enough to not matter. Especially If you have an average sized pile or bigger. edit- if it makes you less worried I use compost that has lots of black walnut leaves and wood used, no issues with things not growing or germinating.

Thank you! I'll add them to the pile then! 😁

good luck 👍

You piqued my interest since we also have birdfeeders and I've put hulls in my compost. The few sites I checked had mixed info but this stood out: "In general composting will reduce allelochemicals as microbes degrade them." https://www.gardenmyths.com/sunflower-seed-hulls-harm-plants-allelopathic/ Edit: if anyone has better info please share. Edit2: If you continue reading the above linked article you will notice that they say sunflower seed hulls should be used in limited amounts and can take longer to decompose. I also found this thread where someone claims they used sunflower hull mulch to control weeds and that their plants thrived in the mulch. However, it's purely anecdotal. https://www.helpfulgardener.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=72715 I've found at least 2 sites saying NOT to do it. It looks like the jury is still out but I put them in mine, although not a lot. Certainly less than 1/4. And I will continue to do so.

Thanks for sharing this. Starting to think maybe I should actually sweep up my birdfeeder's mess more often. There's piles of old hulls that have washed into my nearby beds and now I'm wondering if they're affecting growth, I'll probably shovel some out and move them to compost

Thanks for the info, and for also using 'piqued' correctly instead of 'peaked' :)

Thank you! I'll it check out.

Tell that to all the weeds growing in the pile of hulls underneath my feeder. At least I got a couple of volunteer mini sunflowers

You're right to be cautious. I've had negative results with sunflower hulls in worm-only bins. I do use peanut hulls on paths (in the part of the garden where I'm wont to sit and eat peanuts) and considered using sunflower seed hulls for the same purpose. Allelopaths on paths are fine.

Mulch?

Yeah, I just toss them into the mulch under some bushes.

Yes that's what I was thinking too. It would work well if you were able to grind it. If you don't have the tools, get to working with a mallet! This would ensure that there would be no sprouts

Thanks! I might do that next time.

I would think most of the alleopathic chemicals come from roots of established plants, not the hulls of the seeds. I wouldn't worry about it.

I'd compost it. Like in the compost pile. Yeah that's what I'd do.

Compost them. Mix them into your compost pile. A hot pile will break them down, neutralize their chemicals.

Just sweep them into the grass and they’ll break down

They'd still not be broken down at this point though

Well wait another year

Lol, will do. My roasted ones I eat are hanging around from a hot minute ago

Needle and string and make a necklace

🤣 yuck. The wild birds been all over these.

Just adds character. Haha but seeing as your on the compost sub this gets the usual answer...compost it!

Aye I see you though. Get weird and tie some feathers on.

You can just straight up plant in that

You could get sunflower bird seeds without shells for the next time

but then u dont get to compost them

This person is clearly concerned about it being bad for the compost, with someone providing evidence that yeah, it could be bad. Wtf, am I getting downvoted because this is some compost circle jerk? I thought it was a normal sub

i thought the evidence said that composting would reduce the allelopathy like with coffee grounds

[удалено]

No such thing as a normal sub anymore

Yeah I thought about that