Answer #2 · Gardenality.com's Answer · Hi Kyran,

Many new herbicides are very resistant to breaking down...Atrazine is a Triaine herbicide which might survive and be found in quickly made compost. If the grass clippings were a year old, there wouldn't be much if any of the chemical left in the clippings.

That beings said, I'm kind of a freak when it comes to organic gardening. In the world we live in, it's impossible to grow 100% organically. However, if there is anything I can do to avoid toxins making their way into my veggie garden, I'll do it. My lawn has had herbicides used on it to control weeds so I avoid using the clippings in the compost pile for my veggie garden. I mainly put leaves, table scraps, potting mix from container gardens, and the dead plants removed from my vegetable garden in it. We use OMRI certified organic plant food in all our container gardens and in our vegetable garden. I usually hand pull weeds in the garden but, if they get out of control, I use a new OMRI certified weed killer called Avenger to spray and kill weeds in the vegetable garden. It's made from heavily concentrated citrus oil. We plant a flower/herb garden right next to the veggie garden to attract beneficial insects that will kill, eat or ward off damaging insects. If I do use an insect control spray it is an OMRI certified organic one containing Neem oil. When I use it, I avoid spraying the flowers on plants. Reason being is to avoid killing the pollinating insects.

Being the way I am about it, if I had accidentally put grass clippings in my compost pile, I'd probably start a new compost pile just for the veggie garden and use the one with the grass clippings for mulch or as a soil amendment when planting ornamental shrubs and trees.

Hope this info was helpful,

Brent)