fishgirl

what method do you use to disopse of unwanted non-native plants if you cant give/sale them? I boil them and then freeze them befor throwing them away.
Susan

bhcaaron

I don't know anything about freshwater aquariums, but, I'm curious, why would you boil then freeze a plant you'll throw away? What good would that do in a dumpster? (not being ornary, I really am curious to know)

fishgirl

I want to make very very sure that any non-native plant will not get in to my local water supply.
Susan

bhcaaron

So you flush them? Or dump them? I wouldn't be surprised to find that our local waste removal system dumped in our river too. Good thinking ahead.

zeddy

You Could Always Burn Them

fishgirl

I dump them. but as we have animals that get in to the garbage cans I want to make sure the plants are very dead.
Susan

bhcaaron

Ooh, fire! I like fire! (No, i'm not a pyro!)

fishgirl

maybe I should boil...freeze then burn....hmmmm

purple_phoenix

I just stick them in the compost heap. Plants seem to take a while to decompose, but at least it can come in useful... All this recycling and stuff.

Isabella

WOW, what precautions! Honestly, I don't think the plants will survive in a garbage can without water and in too cold/hot a temperature. Besides, I don't think the garbage people actually throw the garbage in the water (i.e. lakes, rivers, oceans, etc.). If they do ... then I am OUTRAGED ! Never heard of anything like that! Is it really possible? Anybody heard about or saw something like this happening?

Anyway, do kill the plants by freezing or boiling (or burning probably at best) if you're genuinely concerned and believe that your garbage is dumped in water somewhere.

MrWaxhead

I have a really hard time throwing out plants, I usually pass clipping off to friends that need plants, or start new tanks and sometimes I trade plants to a couple LFS in exchange for store credit.

If I have to dump them though, its my compost as a earlier poster stated. I try to reuse everything that I can, pretty much everything that comes out of my tank gets used. My water changes go into house plants and hanging baskets etc, they love the rich nutrient soaked water.

zeddy

thats right there is nothing wrong with cleasing by fire