Significance

Tomatoes, especially indeterminate types, produce lots of long, robust vines and leaves, providing ample green material for the compost bin. As the end of the season approaches, you also may have unripened fruit that you'd rather compost than ripen indoors.

Considerations

Vigorous tomato seeds may survive composting and sprout in unexpected places in your garden via spread compost. Tomatoes suffer from many diseases, such as fusarium wilt or bacterial canker, that may survive the composting process, as well. Vigorous tomato vines may not completely break down during the composting process.

Recommendations

Don't compost the tomato fruits unless your compost reaches high temperatures to kill the seeds. Never compost diseased plant materials, tomato or otherwise; bag and discard them instead. Chop tomato plants up so they compost more easily, and screen your compost before applying it to the garden to remove large chunks of plant debris. Some people develop a slight skin rash when working with tomato plants. Wear gloves when you handle tomato plants if you are sensitive to them.