Each knowledgeable gardener gives compost a special place, since the latter is the creator and source of vitality of plants and their main natural fertilizer. Plant health and future harvest are directly dependent on the quality and structure of compost. If you properly prepare this mixture, the gardener will not need to apply fertilizer. What is compost, how to cook it will tell this article.
Compost - what is it?
Compost is an indispensable component of fertile soil in any garden and the most affordable fertilizer in every sense, which is obtained from plant debris. If cooked correctly, it will not only meet the needs of plantings for nutrients that accelerate growth, but also significantly improve the structure of the soil, on which its friability depends, and how it can absorb and retain moisture.
Compost in the country house or garden is the only natural organic fertilizer of its kind obtained by fermentation, which is provided by earthworms and bacteria.
The manufacture of this fertilizer takes place in compost heaps or composters . They can be built just like a hole in the ground, but a specially equipped place will be the best option. This, as a rule, is a closed or open type container or a box with access to the inside.
Sometimes gardeners are interested in what compost is "American." This is usually a bucket in which food waste is collected and diluted with the ground. As it fills, the mass is transferred to a large container or poured into the main composter.
Compost conditions
All organic substances capable of decomposing are allowed to be added to the compost heap. These include, among other things, wood waste, hay and straw. Do not add fresh feces to the compost, because they are composted separately, mixing with peat and soil, for at least several years.
So that microorganisms that provide fermentation can process everything that is added to the compost heap and then produce humus from this, certain conditions are created, since they need proper nutrition to work. They get carbon from plant waste, and the corresponding additives, which are animal manure, must provide them with nitrogen.
About twenty percent of the total heap volume is added to cow manure, and less concentrated bird droppings are required. If there are difficulties with the presence of this ingredient, then it is replaced by legumes, bone meal, young nettles or grass.
Composting not without components such as fertile land saturated with microorganisms, and fermentation stimulants. To create a more caloric composition, processed phosphate or phosphorite flour is added at the rate of six kilograms per cubic meter and potassium (wood ash or potassium sulfate) in the amount of two kilograms per cubic meter.
When creating the necessary conditions and the correct design of the composter, the heap heats up, accelerating the decomposition of residues.
What compost is not made of
One of the most popular hobbies in people is gardening and horticulture. To successfully conduct them, you need to have certain skills, one of which is knowledge of how to prepare fertilizer for garden plants.
To obtain high-quality compost, it is important to understand what components it should not be:
- plastics
- fats;
- synthetic materials;
- bones
- sala;
- meat and milk waste.
The last three are undesirable because they smell and attract rodents. It is allowed to add them in small quantities for fast decaying and in the very middle of the composter.
Remembering what compost is, you cannot make a garbage pit out of a heap by putting such components into it:
- human feces and pet waste to prevent helminth infection;
- rags, glossy paper, stones, bones, rubber, as they do not decompose in the composter;
- disinfectants and chemicals;
- residues and wastes of food of animal origin causing rot;
- plants affected by diseases and pests to be burned;
- roots and stems with weed seeds, since in the process of over-ripening they do not lose germination.
Green Elements
The compost heap components can be divided into two categories:
- “Green”, which contains a significant amount of nitrogen;
- "Brown", which has virtually no nitrogen, but includes a lot of fiber.
The green group includes kitchen waste, tops, bird droppings, legumes, green leaves, squeezes, various fruits. The processes of decay of these components occurs quite quickly, occurs with heating and an increase in temperature inside. For the most favorable course, it is necessary to properly prepare the raw materials.
To make compost from grass, greens and leaves are dried before being put into compost. If this is not done, then the mass in the compost heap will compact, and will not let air through, which will lead not to decay, but to souring, and poisonous fertilizer will turn out. Also, the layers of green are shifted with dry foliage and sawdust.
Hay is a great basis for compost, but you need to remember that each layer must be covered with ready-made humus or wetted with herbal tincture to more quickly multiply bacteria and, therefore, speed up the composting process. Dried hay is watered with a solution of manure, kitchen waste or water.
Kitchen residues and fruits are transferred with brown elements, and bird droppings are bred with water.
The brown component of the compost heap
The brown category includes bark, husk of seeds, paper, dry leaves. Also included are sawdust, corncobs, straw, flooring, and manure. Compost containing these components acquires the necessary porosity, since they play the role of disintegrants and trap air and moisture.
The processes of overheating of these components are quite long and occur without the formation of heat. During their decay, the amount of nitrogen in the compost decreases slightly. Therefore, when forming a heap, brown ingredients should act as auxiliary layers that feed bacteria. A good way to maintain this process is to water the heap with urea in a proportion of one and a half to two kilograms per cubic meter of heap.
The most suitable manure for compost is straw, or horse, worse - pork. When using the latter, it should be shifted with straw, sawdust or husk, before laying, liming in the ratio of a couple of kilograms per cubic meter of raw material and withstand until fully ripened.
Proper use of fertilizer
After the compost has ripened and turned into an organic fertilizer, it is important to use it correctly, with the benefit of plants. Advice to gardeners and gardeners can be given as follows:
- With ready-made compost mixed with ash, you can dig up near-stem circles of young seedlings if they are weak and grow poorly. Mix a layer of earth about twenty centimeters.
- It is imperative to add compost under the currant and gooseberry bushes, in the aisles of raspberry and strawberry bushes.
- Having previously added lime to the compost, the mixture is added under cabbage and cucumbers, mixing ten centimeters with a layer of earth.
- Fertilizing the earth in autumn can be done by introducing unripe compost into the soil, covering these places with a film for the winter so that valuable substances are not washed away by precipitation. By spring, the fertilizer will ripen.
Composter Dimensions
The components for cooking are folded in a certain way in the composter. If the bookmark is made correctly, the heap will not emit harmful substances into the ground, and also will not annoy with a strong unpleasant odor.
Therefore, compliance with the size of the compost is a rather important point, otherwise a comfortable temperature and humid regime will not be created for the compost to mature. The most acceptable dimensions of the composter can be considered one and a half meters wide and about twenty meters - height. Length is optional, but more than one and a half meters. A smaller pile will not be able to warm up well and will lose moisture quickly, which will slow down the maturation of the fertilizer.
It is also advisable to arrange composting constantly in the same place. This will lead to the multiplication of the necessary microorganisms and their rapid settlement of new heaps.
How to make a compost pyramid
Fertilizing land in the fall is of great importance for the ripening of a good crop. Therefore, properly organizing composter to obtain useful organic fertilizer is the task of any gardener.
Recommendations will be as follows:
- In the shaded area of the site, select a site for composting and prepare it: level it, remove extraneous roots (especially weeds).
- The place to fence boards, slate or shields.
- For unimpeded outflow of liquid, put drainage consisting of sand, gravel, or a fine lattice or mesh on the bottom.
- Next, a layer is laid of last year’s already matured fertilizer - it will become a source of bacteria for fermentation.
- The components for the bookmark must be ground with a shovel.
- The brown and green layers are stacked alternately, not forgetting that the green mass should be no more than a third of the total volume.
- Between layers, you can add a little litter, manure or a fermentation stimulator.
- Closer to the top, the width of the heap should converge cone-shaped.
- The top of the heap is covered with straw or boards (for air access).
Fertilizer ripening conditions
Gardening and horticulture are quite common, but for their successful management you need to have some knowledge, including how compost matures.
Fermentation and ripening of compost lasts from several months to a couple of years, depending on the conditions created and the preparation of the components: the volume of the heap, the size of the crushed ingredients, and the regime of fermentation.
It is important that the temperature inside the heap reaches sixty and above degrees Celsius, which will accelerate the process of overheating, the death of pests. Equally significant is adequate air access and humidification of the components of the pyramid.
Tips for gardeners on compost heaps
A few tips for caring for the compost pyramid:
- With the onset of heat and drought, in the morning on a clear day, the heap must be abundantly watered with the addition of fermentation accelerators until all layers are wetted, which requires a lot of water.
- A couple of times a season, a bunch needs to be thoroughly shoveling layers.
- The composter left for the winter needs to be insulated - covered with humus or peat and covered with straw. Next year, this “cover” will come in handy for a new pile.
- Compost can only be used if it has matured, with a loose, uniform structure with the smell of moist soil and pretty leaves (without mold and fungus).
- You can not arrange compost in the pit to avoid rotting due to stagnation of water.
The article discusses what compost is, how to properly prepare and use it. This knowledge is important for people engaged in gardening, since fertility of the land and the abundance of the crop depend on it.