Organic is trendy. It is important to use organic materials in all our ways. In gardening, organic fertilizer is the best option – free, practical and earth-friendly. Actually, for gardening life to be simple and easy, buying ready-made fertilizer is a good choice.
However, organic waste compost really has more advantages and plants are sure to flourish.
This article will mainly discuss how to create your own organic compost at home. The entire process is fascinating, and once you’ll get the hang of it you will be interested to keep doing it all over again.
Good Composting Waste Materials
The process behind composting is through nature. The secret behind composting is the good mixture of ingredients. Any biodegradable material when left alone will surely decompose on its own but with the right mixture, once moisten and aerated the process will happen faster.
- Brown Materials – to create a good mixture, brown materials are important. These include shredded cardboard, paper cartons, branches, clippings, twigs, leaves and newspapers.
- Green Materials – another element needed for the mixture are the green materials. Examples of which are manure, egg shells, rotten fruits, plants, flowers and vegetable wastes.
- Water – for the process to happen, it has to be moist. Ensure that the pile won’t dry up – the water should be enough but not too much to create sticky wastes.
- Activators – this is usually added to the mixture for the process to speed up also to add more nutrients to the compost. Previous compost or chicken manures are considered as activators. However, if you don’t have one ready, dog and cat foods are good activators as well.
- Active Organic Matter – dark crawlers or earthworms are perfect examples of this.
Learn the Proper Way of Mixing
For starters, learning is quite tough and sometimes you may feel frustrated while learning the entire process. But you have to remember that nature’s way of decomposition may take some time. Do your homework, research and read.
Hot or Cold Compost
People that manage their compost pile well are producing hot compost, it cooks as the pile decompose. It doesn’t matter how small or large your compost pile is, as long as the mixture is well-balanced, you will produce good result.
Turning is Optional
Some books will suggest that turning the heap regularly will spread the oxygen evenly, producing good compost. For bigger piles this might be true, but actually as long as the pile is kept moist it will just aerate as it shrinks. Better reason for piles to be turned is checking if materials are moisten enough and as the materials become sensitive, turning them will help crushed to full maturity.
Composting Indoors
It is possible to perform composting indoors through captive earthworms. The process is called vermicomposting. Vermicomposting containers can be kept indoors for easy decomposition of papers and food scraps. This is not messy, composting is actually hassle-free.
During harvest time, get handfuls of material from the bottom of the container. Place the compost in a cone-shaped bucket and place it in a bright area. Two hours later, worms will go down the cone bucket. Scoop the 2/3 of the material and make sure to return the worms for future use.
Composting Livestock Manure
When using this material, make sure that you are one hundred percent sure that it is safe. Be cautious because at some point animal manure contains E.coli bacteria. However, these bacteria are eliminated by microorganisms present in the compost. It is always safe to check if all materials are properly decomposed to inhibit spreading of diseases.
At home, there are lots of wastes that can be recycled and can be used as part of the compost mixture. Be aware and be practical.
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