Fast compost - great fertilizer and no bonfires on site

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The last month of summer is nearing completion. The autumn suffering is about to begin. A garden and a garden will “decorate” piles of dry weeds, leaves and plant debris. Where to put them? And the first thought is born - to burn. But a zealous owner will not burn such "wealth." All plant debris can be quickly and easily converted to organic fertilizer. There are several ways to quickly get organics for fertilizing garden crops through aerobic (fast) composts. They will be discussed in this article.

Advantages and disadvantages of fast composts

Aerobic composts have several advantages over traditional ones:

Fast organic fertilizer production from the source material, which is especially important on depleted and heavy soils, which need increased amounts of nutrients and loosening material.
Save space and labor. Burts for ordinary compost take up a lot of space and time for fertilizer production (up to 3–4 years), require constant shoveling during the fermentation process.
Nutrient Conservation. When cooking in piles and compost pits, some of the nutrients are lost due to seepage into the lower layers of the soil.
Quick compost is possible cook in small portions use mobile containers, freeing up the necessary land for growing vegetables and other crops.
Fast compost is also beneficial in that it way to use autumn heaps of vegetable debris. They do not have to be burned, poisoning the air and destroying the nutrients much needed by plants.

Aerobic composts and flaws are not without. The laying of the material for decomposition should be disposable and with a wide variety of plant waste. The laying of one leaf mass of fruit trees or only the tops of cucumbers, tomatoes, potatoes or other crops can slow down the composting process due to the increased carbon content or quickly “burn out” with excessive release of excess nitrogen.

What do you need to get high-quality fast compost?

The high quality of fast compost is ensured by a variety of compostable materials. In addition to the examples below, you can use all the waste from the garden, garden and surrounding wastelands.

Vegetation with a high nitrogen content - fresh nettles, mowed grass, green manure, land mass of peas and other legumes.
You can add in small quantities the urine of animals, bird droppings and manure of pigs and cattle.
High-carbon plant debris - leaves of trees and shrubs, wheat straw, sawdust.
If paper waste, stalks of tomatoes, eggplant, cabbage, which contain an average amount of carbon, are used for composting, the mixture needs to be additionally sprinkled with brown coal or powdered residues of carbon storage plants (melon, buckwheat, mustard, rape).

In addition, for the preparation of quick compost, containers are needed that can be easily transported from place to place. As a rule, they use multifunctional packages of food film for 120-150 (up to 200) kg or liters. But also boxes of the same volume are suitable, inside lined with a film (to preserve moisture), bags of other materials.

A smaller volume is unprofitable, the raw materials in it quickly dry out, and fermentation practically stops.

Important! Tanks for quick compost should not have holes or holes.

The main condition for making high-quality fast compost — loose laying of the source material. Why is fast compost called aerobic? Thanks to loose packing, the waste contains an increased amount of oxygen, which accelerates the decomposition / fermentation of the starting material.

Fast compost is prepared at least 2 times a year - usually in the spring (but it is possible in the summer) and in the fall.

Spring compost bookmark

In the spring, components of the future compost are evenly laid in layers (10-15 cm) in the prepared container: chopped weeds, tops, fruit tree leaves, legumes, mowed grass, small pieces of turf without earth and other waste (sawdust, shavings, paper).

If nearby is available, then you can add the green mass of plants-stores: comfrey, nettle, mustard, canola, legumes, etc.

Each layer is lightly sprinkled with a shovel of earth, sometimes a little wood ash or ammonium nitrate is added (it is literally enough to “salt” each layer).

It is even more efficient to shed each layer of the starting material with the working solution of the Baikal EM-1 plant extract. If the components are very dry, they are slightly moistened before treatment with EM-1 (humidity should not be higher than 50-60%).

A drug "Baikal EM-1" or another composting accelerator can be purchased at any garden store. The extract contains several tens (up to 80) strains of beneficial soil microorganisms that actively suppress pathogenic microflora and ferment organic waste into humic compounds, the elements of which are accessible to plants, with the help of useful ones.

Filled containers are crushed and tightly tied or sealed with tape, the boxes are tightly covered with a film. The temperature in the container rises to + 40 ° C, which contributes (along with fermentation) to the death of helminth eggs, seeds of most weeds, pathogenic microflora. Of course, part of the beneficial microflora, which is restored when it enters the soil, also perishes.

If possible, you can shed ready-made compost 2-4 days before direct use with EM-1 working solution, close it and put it into the soil after the scheduled time.

The process of fermentation of plant residues in fast compost lasts 1-3 months, and the compost is ready for use both during the growing season and in the autumn preparation of the soil for the next season.

Autumn compost bookmark

Autumn compost laying is carried out after full harvesting, leaf fall, dryness of the ground mass of vegetable and garden, greenhouse crops. In the container, the bottom layer (10-15 cm) is laid with the stalks of eggplant, tomatoes, dry weeds and other dense waste (bark, small branches, everything unnecessary, but organic). They will serve as a drainage, increase the aeration of the entire stored mass at low temperatures.

You can do without drainage. Grind the mass of plant waste on a shredder or manually with an hatchet, secateurs and fill the containers. Laying and processing of the material is the same as in the spring. Tighten / glue the filled container tightly and take it to the basement or other non-freezing place - in regions with frosty winters, in the south - the containers are left on the street.

By spring, you will receive a loose, rotted compost that can be used on garden beds, when planting fruit bushes and trees, replanting potted plants, fertilizing winter gardens and greenhouses.

Conveyor method for producing fast compost

Some gardeners (my friends, for example) have adapted to receive fast compost with a continuous conveyor. Somewhere in a secluded corner (behind the house, a shed, an extension), one or two 200-liter barrels are placed on bricks. On the side of the barrel below the ground they make a door 20x25 cm (for the shovel to enter).

All vegetable and even food waste are put in a barrel. Sometimes they compact slightly, more often they crush a little. Top watered with a working solution of EM-1 or another "composting accelerator." The barrel is covered with a film or a lid. The humidity of the weeds in the barrel is maintained at 60%, for which the material is moistened or in the rain they leave the barrel open for a while.

The fermented mass settles and, as necessary, are thrown new portions of plant waste inside and again literally sprayed with an accelerator. After 1-2 months, the first portion of the compost is scooped out through the lower door, the upper ones remain on fermentation. Two barrels on 4-6 acres are enough to keep the site clean and without autumn fires.

If the house plot is large, there is free space and huge amounts of plant waste, then fast or aerobic compost can be obtained in large quantities by the same laying of plant waste, but in stationary collars or compost pits.