Every amateur gardener, and a professional too, knows about the benefits of such organic top dressing for the soil as compost. Everyone understands that this organic fertilizer can be prepared independently, 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 increase soil fertility under vegetable and fruit stands. Buy it in special garden stores, and this pleasure is quite expensive, and delivery to the garden site 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 interest those amateur gardeners who, in addition to green spaces in their area, have a lot of organic waste. Why throw away something that will be of great benefit, if you can also save money?
As you know, compost fertilizer is obtained as a result of decomposition of household food waste. Naturally, a rotting pile of waste can not smell attractive, so for its location you need to choose the right place and correctly bookmark it.
Pros and cons of its compost pit
The question of how to make compost at home worries, most likely, those gardeners who got a plot with poor land, or those who have a greenhouse in their household. And the quality of purchased fertilizer can be very doubtful, because often manufacturers use chemical accelerators for its production.
You should not have illusions, regularly asking yourself the question: “How to make compost quickly?”. This is a lengthy process, it will take at least two to three years to create high-quality humus.
So, the fact that the issue of the removal of waste such as grass, leaves, and the remains of garden vegetation can be considered resolved can be attributed to the advantages of our own compost. Naturally, construction and household materials do not belong to compost waste. To create humus, food waste, except for meat, is perfect.
As for the negative aspects, this is primarily an unpleasant odor that a rotting pile will exude when mixed. However, this procedure must be carried out only once every two to three months.
Choosing 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 arranging the compost pit would be the plot of land at the end of the yard, somewhere near the toilet or the drain pit. From the very beginning, it is necessary to provide for the possibility of unimpeded movement of waste to the place of storage. This is especially important when carrying bulk cargo:
- Mowed grass.
- Fallen leaves.
- Cut tree branches.
For crushing waste, a special crusher is very useful, which is best kept directly near the pit with fertilizer.
Features of the location of the compost pit
Choosing the location of the compost storage, it is worth considering several significant points:
- The source of drinking water should be no closer than 30 meters from the place where the compost is stored.
- If the summer cottage is able to slope, you need to place the compost below the water source. This is necessary so that wastewater from decaying waste cannot get into a well or well.
- It is also worth considering the fact that in the area open to the sun, the compost will be very hot, which will disrupt the process of decay. It is better if the compost is in the shade of trees or adjacent communal buildings.
How to make a DIY compost box
Of course, to create a compost warehouse, it’s enough to simply dig a hole about a meter deep, insulate it with dry grass, leaves, and use as intended. But the most convenient and long-term storage is a wooden structure, which can consist of several compartments. The material, like the container itself, can be completely primitive, for example, an unedged board is suitable.
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 be 1m x 1m in size. The presence of three compartments will help organize the production of better humus, so understanding how to make good compost should be directly proportional to the desire to maintain the correct volume of sections. A volume of less than one cube does not make sense, but more is perfectly acceptable.
- Four supports of the same length are dug into the soil at the same distance from each other.
- Boards are packed 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 drawer, it is worthwhile to provide a door for access to finished fertilizers.
Design features
Having some idea of how to make compost, it is worth remembering the details that can improve the efficiency of the structure for the manufacture and storage of this product:
- The container should be on the ground, so do not go too deep into the ground.
- The structure should have a bottom, which can be made of a sand pillow, twigs, leaves or brushwood.
- The choice of the number of boards located in height is purely individual, although four or five pieces should be enough.
Why do I need several 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 necessary for:
- Fresh waste.
- Waste in the initial stage of decay.
- Ready humus.
With the first compartment, everything is clear. Very fresh waste is placed here, which after some time fades and is transferred to the second compartment of the structure. The starting rotting process suggests 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 a ready-made compost.
What waste is suitable for composting?
To know how to make compost yourself, it is not enough just to own the technology of its production, you must also understand what can be used as raw material and what is not.
The following waste materials are suitable for compost production:
- Peeling vegetables and fruits.
- The remains of tea and coffee.
- Leaves, grass, branches, roots and tree bark.
- Hay, straw, weeds, ash.
- Paper waste.
- Uncoated wood natural waste.
- Manure.
Never use:
- Plants affected by the disease.
- Plants and plant waste treated with chemical products.
- Excrement of animals.
- Bones.
- Harmful insects.
- Inorganic and synthetic waste.
If there is no such variety of components, and the only interesting question is how to make compost from grass, you should use the simple recommendations of experienced gardeners.
Secret ingredients
To make compost from grass, you should use only freshly cut plants, because after they dry, the fermentation effect will decrease.
In any plastic container, whether it is a bucket or a barrel, pour grass and fill it 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 quickly burns out, and its effect extends for only one season. To get a more durable effect, it is worth considering the option of how to make compost from sawdust.
To do this, any organic waste, such as manure, grass or ash, is mixed with sawdust and compost is prepared in the usual way - they are mixed, moistened, turned over. Sawdust can also be used as a layer for compost from food waste.
Fertilizer with the addition of sawdust will nourish the soil for several seasons.
How to make compost fast
To make high-quality compost, it will take more than one year. However, there are methods for a much faster preparation of organic fertilizer.
So, how to quickly make compost of the highest quality possible? It is worth saying that for its faster preparation it is necessary to use special additives that accelerate the decomposition process. And, of course, the right conditions should be created, that is, a microclimate. For this you need to grind all available organic waste and thoroughly wet it. 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 raw materials for fast compost should be as diverse and plentifully moist as possible. Next, you need to cover the container or pit with a film or a felt coating.
After a few days, heating starts, which happens 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, as a result of which beneficial microorganisms can die. At least four such stirring should be done within a month, and then in five weeks you will get a completely mature and high-quality compost.
Making compost for mushrooms
Perhaps every mushroom grower knows how to make compost for mushrooms. To do this, 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 with the addition of 2 kg of urea is needed. This secret ingredient will form ammonia, which favors the softening of straw.
After a seven-day soaking, a so-called stack is made from straw and manure. If there is no manure, you can replace it with chicken droppings. These two components are stacked in layers in a compost box or pit.
Ready compost does not smell like ammonia, has a loose consistency, dark brown color with white spots.
So, now everyone who previously did not know how to make compost at their site, or simply could not solve the problem of recycling organic waste, can, without unnecessary efforts and additional financial investments annually receive a high yield from their own garden or vegetable garden.