Every amateur gardener, and professional gardener too, knows the benefits of organic soil nutrition like compost. Everyone understands that this organic fertilizer can be prepared on their own, but not everyone knows how. Making compost with your own hands is not difficult, it is enough to know a few secret tricks that economical owners successfully use.
What is compost fertilizer?
Compost is a fertilizer of organic origin, which is used to improve soil fertility under vegetable and fruit plantations. They buy it in special garden stores, and this pleasure is not cheap at all, and delivery to the garden plot only increases costs. How to make compost, which in its properties will not be inferior to purchased fertilizer?
Perhaps the answer to this question will be of interest to those amateur gardeners who, in addition to green spaces on their site, have a lot of organic waste. Why throw away something that will bring considerable benefit, if you can alsosave money?
As you know, compost fertilizer is obtained as a result of the decomposition of household food waste. Naturally, a rotting pile of waste cannot smell attractive, so for its location you need to choose the right place and make a bookmark correctly.
Pros and cons of owning a compost pit
The question of how to make compost at home is most likely of concern to those gardeners who got a plot with poor soil, or those who have a greenhouse in their household. And the quality of purchased fertilizer can be very doubtful, because manufacturers often use chemical accelerators for its production.
Don't be under the illusion of regularly asking the question, "How to make compost quickly?". This is a long process, it will take at least two to three years to create high-quality humus.
So, the advantages of own compost include the fact that the issue of the removal of such waste as grass, leaves, remains of garden vegetation can be considered resolved. Naturally, building and household materials do not belong to waste for compost. Food waste, except for meat, is also great for creating humus.
As for the negative points, this is primarily an unpleasant smell that will exude a rotting heap when mixed. However, this procedure needs to be carried out only once every two to three months.
Choose a place to store compost
Before asking the question "How to make compost?", you need to take care of the capacity for its storage, as well as the location.
The most suitable place for a compost pit would be a piece of land at the end of the yard, somewhere near a toilet or drain hole. From the very beginning, it is necessary to provide for the possibility of unhindered movement of waste to the place of their storage. This is especially important when carrying bulky loads:
- Mowed grass.
- Fallen leaves.
- Cut tree branches.
A special crusher is very useful for grinding waste, which is best kept directly near the fertilizer pit.
Features of the location of the compost pit
When choosing the location of the compost storage, it is worth considering several essential points:
- Drinking water source should be no closer than 30 meters from the place where the compost is stored.
- If the summer cottage can slope, you need to place the compost below the water source. This is necessary so that wastewater from decaying waste cannot enter the well or well.
- It is also worth considering the fact that the compost will be very hot in the sun-exposed area, which will disrupt the rotting process. It is better if the compost is in the shade of trees or adjacent utility buildings.
How to make your own compost bin
Of course, to create a compost store, you just need to dig a hole about a meter deep, insulate it drygrass, leaves, and use as directed. But the most convenient and long-term storage is considered to be a wooden structure, which can consist of several compartments. The material, like the container itself, can be completely primitive, for example, an unedged board will do.
You will need wooden supports - 4 pieces at least a meter long, and any board available. Presumably, the box should be 3 meters long and 1 m wide, where each of the compartments will measure 1m x 1m. Having three compartments will help produce better compost, so understanding how to make good compost should be in direct proportion to the desire to sustain the correct volume of sections. A volume less than one cube does not make sense, but more is quite acceptable.
- Four supports of the same length are dug into the soil at the same distance from each other.
- Boards are stuffed on supports from all sides. The gaps between the boards are not only acceptable, but also mandatory, because they will contribute to better ventilation.
- On the front side of the box, it is worthwhile to provide a door for access to ready-made fertilizers.
Design Features
Having some understanding of how to make compost, it is worth remembering the details that can improve the efficiency of the design for making and storing this product:
- The container should be on the surface of the ground, so don't go too deep into the ground.
- The design must have a bottom,which can be crafted from a sand cushion, twigs, leaves or brushwood.
- The choice of the number of boards arranged in height is purely individual, although four or five pieces should be enough.
Why do you need multiple compartments
Before you start installing the container on the site, you need to understand not only how to make compost, but also how the whole scheme of its production works in a three-level design.
So, three compartments are needed for:
- Fresh waste.
- Waste in the initial stage of decay.
- Ready humus.
With the first branch, everything is clear. Very fresh waste is placed here, which after some time wither and are transferred to the second compartment of the structure. The beginning process of decay indicates that the waste must be moved to the third section. That is why the third section should have a design that allows you to get to the humus located at the very bottom, since this is already ready-made compost.
Which waste is suitable for composting
To know how to make compost yourself, it is not enough just to know the technology of its production, you must also understand what can be used as a raw material and what can not.
The following wastes are suitable for compost production:
- Cleaning vegetables and fruits.
- Remains of tea and coffee.
- Leaves, grass, twigs, roots and barktrees.
- Hay, straw, weeds, ash.
- Paper waste.
- Uncoated natural wood waste.
- Manure.
Strongly not to be used:
- Plants affected by the disease.
- Plants and plant waste treated with chemical products.
- Animal excrement.
- Bones.
- Harmful insects.
- Inorganic and synthetic waste.
If there is no such variety of components, and only the question of how to make compost from grass is interesting, you should use the simple recommendations of experienced gardeners.
Secret ingredients
To make grass compost, only freshly cut plants should be used, as the fermentation effect will decrease after they dry out.
In any plastic container, be it a bucket or a barrel, grass is poured and filled with water. These two components are quite enough for the fermentation effect to appear. But there is already a proven technology in which nitrogen fertilizer is added to speed up the process.
However, this herbal compost burns out quickly and only lasts for one season. For a more lasting effect, consider making sawdust compost.
To do this, any organic waste, such as manure, grass or ash, is mixed with sawdust and compost is prepared in the usual way - interfere, moisten, turn over. Sawdust can also be used as a layer for food waste compost.
Fertilizer with the addition of sawdust will nourish the soil for several seasons.
How to quickly make compost
It takes more than one year to make quality compost. However, there are ways to make organic fertilizer much faster.
So, how to quickly make the highest quality compost? It is worth saying that for its faster preparation, it is necessary to use special additives that accelerate the decomposition process. And, of course, you should create the right conditions, that is, a microclimate. To do this, all available organic waste should be crushed and thoroughly wetted. The material should be watered with water diluted with an auxiliary preparation. This will speed up the decomposition and rotting of the compost.
It is important to remember that the raw materials for quick compost should be as diverse as possible and abundantly moist. Next, you need to cover the container or pit with a film or felt cover.
After a few days, heating starts, which is faster if the compost material contains bird droppings. To achieve the highest quality result, you need to mix the compost every four to five days. This is necessary in order to prevent overheating, which can kill beneficial microorganisms. During the month, you need to do at least four such stirrings, and then in five weeks you will get quite mature and high-quality compost.
Composting mushrooms
Probably everyonea mushroom grower knows how to compost mushrooms. To do this, you need to fill the container or pit for compost with straw and wet it well. For a straw volume of about 100 kg, 300 liters of water are needed with the addition of 2 kg of urea. This secret ingredient will produce ammonia, which is beneficial for straw softening.
After seven days of soaking, a so-called stack is made from straw and manure. If there is no manure, you can replace it with chicken manure. These two components are stacked in layers in a box or compost pit.
Ready compost does not smell like ammonia, has a loose texture, dark brown color with white spots.
So, now everyone who previously did not know how to make compost on their site, or simply could not solve the problem of organic waste disposal, can, without extra effort and additional financial investments, annually receive a high yield from their own garden or kitchen garden.
