What Can And Cannot Be Put In Compost? Types Of Compost. How To Make The Compost Clean? Photo

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What Can And Cannot Be Put In Compost? Types Of Compost. How To Make The Compost Clean? Photo
What Can And Cannot Be Put In Compost? Types Of Compost. How To Make The Compost Clean? Photo

Video: What Can And Cannot Be Put In Compost? Types Of Compost. How To Make The Compost Clean? Photo

Video: What Can And Cannot Be Put In Compost? Types Of Compost. How To Make The Compost Clean? Photo
Video: What can I put in my compost bin? 2024, March
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Each owner, having a summer cottage or a house plot, necessarily allocates a place where he dumps all waste: garden, garden, kitchen, household, from animals, including indoor, etc. When rotting, they form compost. The more diverse the composition of the waste, the better the quality of the resulting compost. But, there is one condition - only healthy plant material is selected for composting. Otherwise, the compost turns out to be “dirty” and needs to be disinfected from diseases, cleaned from weed seeds, and pests must be destroyed. That is, it turns out that you cannot put weeds and diseased fruits and plants in the compost? Can. But in this case, you need to work extra with compost.

What can and cannot be put in compost?
What can and cannot be put in compost?

Content:

  • What is compost?
  • What can you put in the compost to keep it “clean”?
  • What waste should not be used for “clean” composting?
  • How to make dirty compost clean?

What is compost?

Compost is a concentrate of fermented or rotted organic matter. Compost is prepared in two ways: aerobic and anaerobic. In the first method (aerobic), the compost heap is laid loosely (not compacted). It must be shoveled every day or every other day. A large flow of oxygen into the loose biomaterial provides accelerated fermentation.

If the compost material is not cleaned, then the compost becomes "dirty" and often becomes a spread of diseases and weeds. Weed seeds and spores of fungal and other diseases do not die in a short period of ripening.

The second method (anaerobic) is longer in time, but it allows you to preserve more of the valuable nutrients needed by plants. At the same time, a more diverse, including coarse organic material (dry thick branches, large chips, roots, etc.) can be laid in the compost heap, which increases the value of the resulting biofertilizer.

In the second method, the components are well compacted, on the contrary, reducing air access. Unlike the first method, frequent shoveling of the contents of the pile is not required. The temperature in the pile / compost heap is maintained at the level of + 20 … + 30 ° С. But under such conditions, weed seeds and spores of fungal diseases also do not die.

What can you put in the compost to keep it “clean”?

In the compost heap, you can put one type or a mixture of household waste, which is processed by soil microorganisms into nutrients available to plants. The greater the variety of waste, the richer and better compost will be.

A large amount of one type of waste forms depleted compost. In such biofertilization, the ratio of carbon and nitrogen (elements very important for plants) is disturbed, a large number of other elements necessary for the normal development of plants are missing.

With an excess of carbon (large branches, dense stems of peppers, eggplants, dry bark, etc.), the composting process slows down until the excess carbon evaporates in the form of carbon dioxide. In this case, the composting period is lengthened. With excess nitrogen (which is rich in leaves, herbs, vegetables, fruits, food residues, etc.), it evaporates from the compost and its losses can be up to 30%.

The more varied the ingredients, the richer the compost will be in nutrients.

For "clean" composting use:

  • wood waste - branches, wood chips, shavings, sawdust, plant roots, bark and pieces of wood, but not painted with oil and other paints; they are used in the compost pit as drainage and ripper (to drain excess water and increase air flow);
  • cut grass, cabbage leaves without signs of fungal and other diseases, healthy tops of carrots and beets, aerial parts of peppers and eggplants (healthy);
  • carrion of fruits and vegetables (healthy);
  • domestic animal manure, which, on the one hand, is a ready-made fertilizer, and on the other, serves as a warming ingredient that accelerates the decomposition of other waste;
  • kitchen waste, with the exception of food residues, which included meat and dairy products;
  • edible mushrooms (over-grown, wormy), poultry egg shells;
  • waste paper (napkins and paper towels, single-layer cardboard).
The more varied the ingredients, the richer the compost will be in nutrients
The more varied the ingredients, the richer the compost will be in nutrients

What waste should not be used for “clean” composting?

Do not put the tops of potatoes, tomatoes, cucumbers in the compost heap. In most of them, by the end of summer, they are massively affected by late blight and other fungal diseases, the spores of which remain viable for a long time and, when placed in favorable conditions (soil), infect plants.

Rotten apples (scab carriers), plums, cherries, cherries, peaches, apricots, grapes must not be used in compost. They attract rodents with their smell. In addition, fruit and grape seeds rot very slowly, but young shoots are formed quickly, turning the compost heap into thickets of new weeds.

Weeds with seeds and roots must not be placed in the compost. Seeds, even of immature flowers and inflorescences, ripen in the soil, retain their germination capacity and are sown in the field with compost.

Do not put grasses with tenacious roots (rhizome, root-sprouting) into the compost, which retain their viability even if they are partially overheated.

In addition, you cannot add to the compost:

  • bones of animals and fish (will attract rodents);
  • Moldy bread (mold can get into the soil and infect garden plants);
  • weeds, which were disposed of with the help of herbicides (residues of undecomposed pesticides - soil contaminants);
  • multilayer glued cardboard, painted wood, glossy colored paper, polyethylene and plastic waste (only organic waste can be put into compost);
  • faeces of pets and the contents of cat litters (the waste may contain toxoplasma parasites that are dangerous to the health of children and adults).

All listed ingredients and some others that we may not have mentioned in this list are subject to destruction. It is better to burn them, and use the ash as fertilizer. Plastics and materials containing heavy metals are disposed of separately.

The most acceptable way to disinfect and clean compost from pests is "hot" composting
The most acceptable way to disinfect and clean compost from pests is "hot" composting

How to make dirty compost clean?

If all waste is dumped into the compost heap, including those listed above from the “black list”, the compost turns out to be “dirty” and needs to be disinfected.

The most acceptable way to disinfect and clean compost from pests is "hot" composting. With this method, the compost heap needs fresh manure or material containing large amounts of nitrogen. The release of excess nitrogen in the form of ammonia causes a "warming" effect.

Stirring the ingredients every 3-4 days to increase the access of oxygen, sufficient moisture of the mass (within 60%), contribute to a very rapid rise in temperature inside the compost heap to + 65 … + 75 ° С. In these conditions, weed seeds, spores of fungal diseases, helminth eggs, and pest larvae die. At the same time, most of the beneficial and pathogenic microflora also perishes.

With the end of the "burnout" of excess "warming" ingredients, the temperature of the pile / compost heap drops to + 20 … + 25 ° С. Since that time, the compost heap is mixed less often - after 12-14 days. The fermentation process is normal.

To restore positive microflora, the compost heap can be moistened with working solutions of the Baikal EM-1 preparation or others.

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