Cabbage/caterpillars in compost pile

countrywoman

Caterpillars have decimated my cabbages unfortunately
My husband chucked the whole lot of them into the compost pile. Is this a good or a bad idea
I imagine they'll just eat everything in there?

magicbastarder

you *want* what is thrown in your compost pile to be eaten - be it by worms, millipedes, bacteria, etc.
however, i suspect the caterpillars will die in there as they'd be looking for actual live plants to eat.

denismc

Well, that's the whole point of a compost heap, the green material gets gobbled up by worms, insects, bugs etc and comes out the other end as compost.
Although I doubt the caterpillar s will survive for very long in there.

countrywoman

Thanks very much
First attempt at composting so it's all new to me

my3cents

Its over winter that they normally say to clean up dead leaves in the veg garden because of the pests and diseases they can help carry over to the following year. Nothing much however should survive on a decent compost heap.

Vicarious Function

During the recent hot weather, I threw cabbage leaves that were infested with the cabbage white butterfly caterpillars onto the compost heap. In just one day the cabbage leaves were completely burned up. Sad ending for the caterpillars! In a few months, it will all have broken down into nice compost.