Transcript All `Bout Composting

All
‘Bout
Composting
Composting: Nature’s Way to Recycle
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Leaves +
Grass Clippings +
Vegetable Peels +
Organic Waste +
Weeds not yet gone to seed +
Pet and human untreated hair +
Air and Water
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= Humus – the richest soil
conditioner available, and at
no cost to you!
Benefits of Composting
Environment
☺Reduces garbage by 27%, according to the EPA
☺Increases life of existing landfills and reduces need
for new ones
☺Creates healthier plans without artificial fertilizers
☺Builds up soil and makes it act like a sponge –
absorbing rain and releasing it in dry weather; holds air
☺Improves structure of clay and sandy soils; protects
them from erosion
Benefits of Composting
Gardeners
☼ Compost is excellent for the garden, the lawn and your
house plants.
☼ Compost gently releases nutrients as plants require them.
☼ Finished compost will never burn plant roots, so you can
use as much as you want.
☼ Compost creates stronger plants, naturally able to fight
off insects and diseases.
☼ Dark compost absorbs the sun’s heat; extends growing
season in cold climates.
How does composting work?
• Anything that lived will eventually decompose.
• Soil contains thousands of micro-organisms
that feed on moist organic waste, generating
heat in the process.
• As the temperature rises in the compost pile,
as high as 150 degrees F within first week,
bacteria and fungi add to the process.
• When the compost cools, turning the pile adds
oxygen, which builds the heat once again, and
kills harmful bacteria.
• When the compost is done, the temperature
drops for the final time. The composting is
finished when the earthworms move in. The
soil has a fresh smell and is dark and crumbly.
Little of the original material can be identified.
The basic recipe for compost
Slow Cooker Method:
Place leaves and grass clippings in a pile and let
nature do the rest.
This method, called “Cold Composting” is fine for
gardeners with large areas, and for those whose
main purpose is to reduce waste. It can take up
to a year to produce compost with this method.
Quicker “hot” method compost
Add Air to the mix –to help bacteria do their “aerobic” decomposition, which
produces sweet smelling compost.
Mix - Air only gets in a few inches, so the pile has to be turned, preferably
using a pitchfork. Or you can poke the pile and lift up the layers to introduce
air. Oxygen creates the high temperatures that kill bacteria. You can add air
by elevating the compost – placing the pile on loosely spaced boards, so air
can be drawn in from the bottom.
Add Water – compost should be moist to the touch, like a wrung out sponge,
not soggy. If too wet, turn pile over or spread to dry in the sun.
Add soil to introduce the bacteria necessary for the composting process to
begin.
Hot composting produces quicker results (as little as two weeks!) in less
space.
Variations on the compost recipe
• A good compost should consist of equal
amounts of brown and green ingredients.
• Brown Ingredients are woody materials high in
carbon, leaves, clean paper, peat moss,
sawdust, cornstalks, hay, straw, dry grass
clippings, coffee filters, cotton-wool-silk scraps,
pine needles, wood ash.
• Green Ingredients are garden refuse, manure,
tea and coffee grounds, feathers, hair and fur,
fresh grass clippings, bone meal, eggshells,
flowers, seaweed rinsed of salt, vegetable peels
and weeds that have not gone to seed.
Tips for successful composting
• If the pile doesn’t heat up, add green
ingredients.
• If the pile smells of ammonia, add brown.
• Do not add fats, pet wastes, rotting meat,
dairy or fish, infested plants, anything
treated with herbicides, crabgrass, rhubarb
leaves (toxic), Black Walnut leaves or
twigs.
• A good sized pile should be 4’ x 4’ x 4’
More tips
• Start bottom layer with an equal mix of
brown and green ingredients, then add
layers of alternating materials – greenbrown-green-brown.
• Cover pile to hold heat; keep it from getting
too wet
• If compost doesn’t heat up – pile may be
too small, too dry, need more greens, or
need a nitrogen starter like fresh manure.
How to use compost
• Trees and Shrubs: plant in half soil and half compost mix.
• Lawns: Dig in compost before seeding, or rake ½” of
sifted compost over existing lawns in Spring, when
ground has dried.
• Established plants: scratch compost into top layer of soil
and water deeply.
• Mulch: Spread compost around trees and shrubs when
ground has warmed. Spread on vegetables & flowers
when plants are several inches high.
• Potting soil: mix soil with compost for use in containers.
You can sterilize the compost in the oven for 1 hour at
200 degrees.
• Make Compost Tea: place compost in burlap bag or old
pillow case and soak in bucket until water turns tea color.
Use to water plants.
Bibliography
• Backyard Magic, The Composting
Handbook. New Brunswick, Canada
Department of the Environment.
• United States Environmental Protection
Agency website
• The US Composting Council.
http://www.compostingcouncil.org.
• Connecticut Department of Environmental
Protection. www.ct.gov/dep/