composting citrus

I am doing some research on composting citrus peels.  I have heard in the past that it is not good to throw lemon, orange and grapefruit peels into the compost because the acidic fruit can wipe out some of the good bacteria.

Searching online, people say they compost o.k., just a little slower.  Certain worms and bug will leave the citrus alone but it will still compost.  Any comments or info on this anyone?

I'm recycling this post because I have this same question. I know banana peels and apples cores are frequently cited as being good for compost, and because I kind of group all of them together never gave it a thought that orange peels would be bad (even though apples and bananas aren't citrus).

In one of the permie books I'm perusing, citrus is cited as a 'no-no' for composting. Why?

I am glad you resurrected this post, because I wonder too. I've been putting my citrus peels into the garbage disposal, but would love to compost.

citrus peels don't compost?

shhh... don't tell my compost bin that.  I don't want it getting any ideas.

yeah, we compost a fair amount of citrus peels. they go just fine.

Maybe a bokashi bin would be the most optimal way to go?  

News to me that you're not supposed to. I read a whole study about someone reforesting a reserve with orange solid discards from a juice production plant.

Here it is;
https://www.gardeningchannel.com/orange-peels-forest/

Compost your orange peels. Might change the Ph a little for a bit. By the time it's compost it won't matter any more.

I have heard this too, but for me compost is how I responsibly manage my waste first and only creation of garden nutrients second. We have citrus trees and produce a lot of citrus waste, it all goes into the compost.

It certainly breaks down, I can't tell you what it's doing to the microbiology, but there are worms aplenty. Birds seem to like the seeds.

If you're looking for an alternative to composting your citrus peels, dry them out and use them as firelighters. They burn long enough to get the fire going and have nice smelling smoke. Being part of a culture that still frequently cooks over a fire, citrus peels don't go to waste in this house.

We also compost a lot of citrus, mostly lemon and lime peels. We use bokashi for all our food scraps but that is mostly to help manage kitchen waste while we are building up enough to make a compost pile.

Here's an alternative to composting the peels; eat them ! I rub the peels with salt, put them in a mason jar and make sure it's covered by it's juices or added water. The peels will be easier to eat after fermentation, but you can cook them in tajines or such to soften them up even more.

Patrick Marchand wrote:Here's an alternative to composting the peels; eat them ! I rub the peels with salt, put them in a mason jar and make sure it's covered by it's juices or added water. The peels will be easier to eat after fermentation, but you can cook them in tajines or such to soften them up even more.

You can also dry them and use them in herb bouquets for flavoring foods (a la France).

r ranson wrote:citrus peels don't compost?

shhh... don't tell my compost bin that.  I don't want it getting any ideas.

It's not that they don't compost, the stuff I read is that you're not supposed to toss them in the compost pile. I think I read further somewhere (I forget) that bacteria or other critters in the pile (or soil if you apply compost directly in the garden) doesn't like them. They'll still break down, but may take longer.

EDITED: Zoinks. The thing about bacteria not liking it is in the OP. :sheepish grin:

We feed citrus peels to our cows... it sort of "pre-composts" them, you know?  We had a few that would not eat them, but otherwise our feeder cattle will eat them after a day or two.  I get pulp, etc from a local juice place and it is loaded with citrus peels.  I am glad that my cows "pre-compost" it for me.  

Pre-bokashi, when I used large amounts of citrus I used to dig a trench in the garden, put the peels in, sprinkle some lime on top, and let it sit a week or two, then plant right on top. Works great.

(another thing to do with lots of citrus peels is to soak them in white vinegar to make limonene cleaning solution. I make maybe 5L at a time)
Thanks for the idea about drying them for firestarter. Definitely will do some of those (if I can get some to dry without moulding)

I pick up from a small kombucha producer. One of the things they have is powdered organic citrus peel. Sometimes I see they have added wedged fruit as well. I will say this, it will compost. However, the piles that get citrus always seem to take 2-3 times the length of time needed for breakdown. Caveat - I rarely if ever turn piles. I rely on fungi, bacteria, and worms to process. I see a stark delineation where the worms avoid any citrus. You can definitely tell where the citrus was. The good part is that they don't use a lot and the wedges are removed when I dump into the piles. I have a small barrel composter I put those in.

I also stopped getting the high oil hops powder. The hops could be separated. They will compost but it takes forever and I'm not sure even oyster mushroom spawn would use that.

I always compost citrus peels and they disappear completely like everything else. I have heard though, that composting non-organic citrus peels could be a problem because they have been treated with fungicides to prevent mold, and this might inhibit fungal activity in the compost. It made sense to me (on an intuitive level) :)

They get a blue powder on them here so I like to burn them in fire and then compost or char them in a charcoal making setup. I'm not sure about the acidity but I'm sure the microorganisms can choose not to eat the acid and prefer the other things

I compost pretty much all the things that people say you shouldn't compost.  Everything organic that something else in my household doesn't eat goes in mine.

We made candied citrus peels recently. The recipe called for a mix of different citrus, we only had grapefruits that day. They turned out okay, I might "follow the recipe" more closely next time... trimming more of the pith away, one more water change during blanching, and MORE (the right amount of) peels.
Pretty much used the whole peel of the grapefruits, had the flesh to eat, and some juice, candies, and the remaining syrup can be used in drinks!  (Or... could be cooked further to make hard candies? I also plan to save the dusting sugar that gets sticky with drips of syrup for use in the next batch! )
So all that was left for the compost was pithy bits, and the membranes from around the flesh!

I would like to make some cleaner with some, and fire starters are also an a-peel-ing idea!

I have composted plenty of citrus (pails full, from restaurants) and it is like anything else in quantity... it requires thorough mixing and a proper balance of other stuff. A big blob of citrus in your compost will turn nasty, and will require a couple of well-mixed turnings of the pile to correct.

I've been worm composting for years, but I'm only now starting to put lemon skins into one of my bins. We'll see how it goes. . .

I've been putting a massive amount of citrus peels in my compost pile for about a year.  At first, it never seemed to break down in less than two months, but something happened.  Now I throw in a bucket of orange and grapefruit peels every week, and it breaks down entirely within a few days.  Something got into the soil that just devours it.  I've got earthworms in there too, but not as many as the other parts of the garden.  I should say, I live in the mountains around San Cristobal de las Casas, 7500 foot altitude and it's not a warm environment.  Half the year it hovers around 40 degrees F, but it's still rain forest.  In fact, it looks just like northern Thailand, even though northern Thailand is hotter than Hell.

Anyway, the citrus peels break down great.  I dug a hole right in the middle of it, in the hope of transplanting an eight foot high root bound Norfolk Island Pine tree.  That's not the Norfolk in the US.  It's the Norfolk in the South Pacific ocean.  Sometimes they're called a Polynesian Christmas Trees too.  I really want this tree to take off, because it can reach a hundred feet in just a few years and it's just so beautiful and weird.  

Does anyone have any suggestions?  I don't want to kill my tree.  The soil itself is clay like and very dense.  Any advice?  Thanks.  

Yes, compost peels will decay and turning into compost but it will turn the overall composting process down.
The Question is of cause how much you chuck into your compost pile.

If it is one Lemon it won't matter too much but I can assure you that if you would add a bucket full of peels you will create quite a bit of a massacre under your microorganisms and fungi.

I know from our Backyard Aquaponics with 10.000 gal of water in the whole system that just a few cups lemon juice used for cleaning had enough antibacterial properties to stop our entire bio filter growbeds from working.
It literally killed all Nitrosomonas and Nitrobacter and the ammonia levels went skyhigh within 48 hrs...

Also a friend from Germany who is working on the city sewage water treatment plant of Bremerhaven told me that the biggest fear they have is an overload of citrus based shower and dishwashing liquid used by the population of the city.

The Mexican beers had always a slice of lemon on top and it became popular to pop it into the bottle for a refreshing taste.
But actually it was meant to clean the bottle at the so called mold seam, the area where your lips are touching it, cleaning eventual mold growing under the lid and give you some blistered lips or even "Montezuma's revenge"..

That should tell us enough to confirm that especially lemon juice is one of the best (bio) disinfectant you can have.

I regularly will compost the peels of 1-2 bags of limes or lemons from Costco after making a big batch of lemonade or margaritas or other cocktails and the compost does fine.  It may slow it down a little (not sure, i don't tend to run hot compost either way) but without livestock we usually generate enough compost to fill one of those black plastic bins annually.  I'll stop adding to it when it's full (by then I'm usually into building a new raised bed so the compost things just get chucked into the garden bed straightaway) and maybe a month later the only identifiable things in the compost are avocado pits and skins, and egg shells.