How To Speed Up The Preparation Of High-quality Compost, Or The Benefits Of EM Compost

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How To Speed Up The Preparation Of High-quality Compost, Or The Benefits Of EM Compost
How To Speed Up The Preparation Of High-quality Compost, Or The Benefits Of EM Compost

Video: How To Speed Up The Preparation Of High-quality Compost, Or The Benefits Of EM Compost

Video: How To Speed Up The Preparation Of High-quality Compost, Or The Benefits Of EM Compost
Video: The Art of Lazy Composting | How to Make High-Quality Compost the Simple Way 2024, March
Anonim

Every year, plants remove a huge amount of nutrients from the soil. Our task is to return at least some of them to the ground in order to maintain fertility. Compost is one of the most readily available methods. Being an organic fertilizer, it not only improves the nutrient composition of the soil, but also its structure, the habitat of useful biological organisms, preserves its ecology. Even a novice gardener can make compost with his own hands. You just need to figure out how to arrange a compost heap, what can be put into it and how to speed up the processes taking place in it.

Even a novice gardener can make compost with his own hands
Even a novice gardener can make compost with his own hands

What is compost?

When thinking about organizing a compost heap on your site, you immediately need to understand - this is not just an orderly dump of food waste, branches and weeds. This is a well-organized process in which several components take part at once, namely organic matter, soil and microorganisms. And we can manage this process by providing conditions that improve their interaction.

Compost can be aerobic or anaerobic. The first is formed with oxygen access, the second, as the name implies, without it.

The fastest, and therefore the most frequently used option - with oxygen access - is aerobic. Its peculiarity lies in the fact that such compost can be prepared in small portions, in relatively small containers, which, if necessary, can be easily moved to another place. Due to the high temperatures, pathogenic microbes are killed in aerobic compost. Thanks to the oxygen supply, it does not emit an unpleasant odor.

At the same time, the anaerobic method of composting waste also has its significant advantages:

  • more organic matter can be added to the compost heap;
  • there are no special requirements for its composition;
  • fermentation (decomposition) processes in such compost occur with the formation of mobile forms of nitrogen, which plants absorb well.

However, both methods have their drawbacks. So, aerobic compost involves a one-time filling of plant residues, constant control of humidity and temperature, and regular mixing. Due to the accelerated decomposition of organic matter, it loses ammonia nitrogen.

Anaerobic compost takes a long time to prepare - from 3 to 5 months. With earlier use, harmful microorganisms and weed seeds do not have time to burn in it. And although it can be applied after 4 weeks, it is inconvenient to do this, because during this period the plant residues have not yet completely decomposed.

How to make quality aerobic compost?

In order to prepare aerobic compost, you first need to prepare a container. It can be a barrel, a plastic box, or a container with a volume of at least 200 liters.

For the conversion of organic matter into compost, the nitrogen-carbon balance is of great importance. If there is not enough nitrogen-containing components, the decomposition processes will be slowed down or stop altogether.

Therefore, the composition of aerobic compost should include both green parts of plants rich in nitrogen (mowed grass, specially collected nettles, freshly cut weeds) and plant residues rich in carbon (sawdust, straw, leaves fallen from trees, dried remains of garden crops) … It is better to have it all crushed.

If there is chicken or cow manure, ash, you can add them to the container, but in a small amount.

Prepared components are laid in layers of 10 - 15 cm, which are sprinkled with a small layer of earth - 3 - 5 cm. Tamping is not used, keeping the naturally obtained friability - this provides oxygen access to plant residues, which speeds up the fermentation process.

To improve, and hence accelerate the decomposition, each layer is spilled with a working solution of the microbiological preparation "Ecomik Urozhainy" - this is 100 g per 10 liters of water. The optimum moisture level of the compost heap is 50 - 60%.

Composting organic residues using a biological product "Ecomik Urozhainy" belongs to the category of EM compost
Composting organic residues using a biological product "Ecomik Urozhainy" belongs to the category of EM compost

The temperature of the compost during the period of overheating of organic residues with the access of oxygen rises to + 45 … + 60 ° С for 15-20 days. This ensures the death of pathogenic microbes, helminth eggs, pest larvae, fungi and weed seeds. Therefore, the compostable mass during this period must be periodically mixed in order to neutralize the outer layer of organic matter and provide oxygen access to the anaerobic bacteria located in the center of the organic mass. At the same time, you need to ensure that it remains moist. When the temperature of the compost drops to + 20 … + 25 ° С, it must be spilled again with the microbiological preparation "Ecomik Urozhainy". And already after 3-5 days such compost can be used.

If there is a lot of organic residues, such compost can also be made in the pile. To do this, it is necessary to arrange a drainage at its base, which provides greater oxygen access to the decomposing mass. For its formation, branches, bark, large shavings are suitable. In this case, the mixing of the compostable mass during combustion should be even more thorough. Since the organic storage system is open, it will contain both cold and hot zones.

Aerobic compost can be used after a month of fermentation, but it is considered fully ready in 1.5 - 2 months after placing organic matter in the container.

Rules for the preparation of anaerobic compost

For anaerobic composting, pits about 50 cm deep are used. Any organic matter is placed in them, in any proportions, the main thing is that it is crushed. Each layer of organic matter with a thickness of 15 to 20 cm is covered with 3 - 5 cm of soil, well tamped and spilled with a working solution of the "Ekomik Urozhainy" biological product. The total moisture content of the substrate should be 50 - 60%.

After the pit is filled, the collar is covered with polyethylene, the edges of which are pressed tightly to the ground. The combustion temperature in such a compost is low - approximately + 15 … + 35 ° С, therefore it takes more time to fully mature. And the longer the decomposition process lasts, the less pathogenic microflora in it, and the higher its nutritional value.

Under anaerobic conditions, high-quality compost is also obtained, and a high nitrogen content is considered a good difference.

Benefits of EM compost

Composting organic residues with the use of a biological product "Ekomik Urozhainy" belongs to the category of EM compost. Such compost is obtained two to three times faster and several times higher in efficiency than conventional compost. The output is a high-quality product containing not only a wide range of nutrients so necessary for plants, but also an increased content of beneficial microorganisms that continue their work after fertilizing the soil.

Any crops can be fertilized with such compost. Apply to the soil in the spring when preparing beds for planting seedlings or sowing seeds. In summer, use as mulch. In the fall, fertilize the beds after harvesting the main crops. It perfectly improves the structure of the soil, retains moisture in it and gradually releases nutrients, increasing its fertility.

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