Can I compost fish scraps?

[Edward Charette]

I don't know much about composting. I haven't done it but thinking of doing it. Thinking of digging a  hole in the walkway of my garden, fill it with scraps , bury it and dig another one. But I often come across  large amounts of fish waste from fish heads to its guts. I found an article by a dumpster rental company which shows how to compost organic waste. Can I do the same with fish waste also? One of my friend deals with it differently, he runs it through garbage disposal and easily mixes it with a carbon source like wood chips or saw dust. Can anyone suggest a healthy way of composting fish waste?

[boogaloo]

We would quite often bury our fish scraps in the vegetable or flower garden. I never saw any harm as long as you don't put too much in one hole and make sure they are deep enough that the neighbors cat won't get at them...............................Daniel

[smerchly]

I gave my two compost bins away . Every cat and rat in the hood thought I was running a deli for them ,,,,and the vultures were circling my house (not sure if they were eyeballing me) !   Fish will compost and I remember farmers using smelts around their fruit trees ....or people enhancing their rose bush . In the warm weather , I freeze the fish scraps , then toss in the green bin with the dog $hit (mixed with sawdust or stove ashes ) .....have some perch skins/bones in there now .....

[bigugli]

Farmers used to take the bycatch and guttings from the fish plants and plow them direct into the field. Fish breaks down very quickly.

[Chrisb]

I used to bury all my fish guts beside the roses. Just make them deep enough so the racoons and skunks don't dig them up.

[DaveC]

I freeze the remains in zip locks and save for garbage day...compost the landfill site in michagan...lol. Had 2 composters left behind by previous owners. Found they just attract rodents.

[Botchegalupe]

You may end up with lots of skunks and raccoons in your garden. My wife planted 10 dozen tulips in November, she put blood meal in with the bulbs, they were dug up three days in a row for the blood meal. She had to cover the area with lots of cayenne pepper to get rid of the pests.

[Edward Charette]

Yes, I do fear skunks,rodents and raccoons in my garden. It is a matter of concern for me. Do I need to think of other options? Am not sure about digging thats why I sought your further guidance. Thanks for all the suggestions.

[smerchly]

On 2016-12-22 at 11:56 AM, bigugli said:

Farmers used to take the bycatch and guttings from the fish plants and plow them direct into the field. Fish breaks down very quickly.

Yep ......they are using fish' s.......crap  in Flamborough to feed the Mary Jane plants . Tanks full of tilapia fish are feeding the plants from their feces  , and when the fish get too large they are used to feed people ......   and then , as bigugli said , the fish guttings may go to fields to grow our cheerios ......THAT is what I call recycling 101 !