Spent(ish) compost.... with 'residents'

Year before last, I made the error of obtaining some strawberry plants - I love strawberries, but any time I have attempted to grow them (in our large barrels) over the years it has always ended the same way - vine weevils. This time appears to be no exception, with all of the strawberry plants turning their toes to the sky last autumn - in all honesty, I haven't even bothered actually checking to see the cause, because I just have that feeling that it is vine weevil.

This week, our fences are finally being painted and the barrels shuffled around (all 14 of them), and we are going to refresh the compost (well, the top two thirds at the least) - at the back of the garden, we have our new 'raised bed' area which is looking for as much material as possible and whilst the compost in the barrels is used, it must still have some use as it is after all organic material?

The question is, what of the vine weevils, if there are any? Would they cause havoc if moved to a new home?

We also have a barrel with horseradish in it that we are no longer wanting - I know it is a bit of a thug, so will be careful about roots etc, but is there any risks from using the compost it has been in?

 

Used compost is still good on open gardens especially if mixed with normal garden compost.

If the compost may have vine weevil it may be best to try and check through it first. This may be difficult but I would tend to spread it on a plastic sheet and in small amounts. It's easier if you have a table at which you can do it. Put the sheet on the table and have a bucket/tub/wheelbarrow under the edge of the table to slide the sorted compost into. Any weevils found can be dropped into a separate bucket/container full of water.

Horseradish is certainly a thug but the plant usually comes out of a container with all its roots. If the roots are a solid mass I would be inclined to leave the soil in the barrel the season in order to see whether anything sprouts. Unless you need the barrel urgently it's easier than just trying to get rid of it and it may be useful soil for your garden. Otherwise you could empty it into just one area and see whether anything develops.

We never throw any used compost away unless the roots of the plants are so solid that it's not worth trying to sort them out.

Good luck

 

14 barrels of compost is a lot to move, transport and dump and I hate to waste anything
Signed Shiney Scrooge

 

We do have a large local bird population, so hopefully spreading it out on the raised bed will see any nasties off. Our thoughts were not to completely empty all of the barrels, but take them down by around two thirds

 

Crickey, I would need a production line for that @Scrungee - each barrel has to be 150 litres or more

 

It is nuts the cost of getting rid of stuff - we have a dozen or so large bricks that the barrels have been sat on for years. They will now likely get stacked behind the shed as they are £4.50 each to get rid of at the local tip. No wonder people fly tip in this country - over two grand in council tax and you still have to pay for each brick you dispose of at the tip

 

I have tried, but for some reason the software is not letting me - I suspect because we have answered since. Can you just repost in the other thread please?

 

@Upsydaisy just copy it, post it where you want it and then delete this post.