Composting
Composting
- Humus - the process of decomposing organic matter into a soil like structure
- Natural process - leaves fall to ground an they decompose
- Grasscycle - leaving clippings on lawn, build up thatch layer
- Sheet / lasagna composting - alternating layers of soil, materials to be composted
- Trench composting - digging a trench and dump the stuff in
- Co-composting - Variety of materials going into compost, often used faecal sludge and
commercial scale
- Vermicomposting - red works put in bins with materials to be composted
- Windrow composting - long windrows of materials, turned on a regular basis
- Aerated static pile composting - piles of materials with tubes running through to aerate / water
Composting recipe
- Need to manage: air, nutrients, water, raw ingredients, MO
- Browns - dried leaves, straw, keep dried leaves in bags over the winter. Mainly a source of
carbon
- Greens - fresh material, fresh and dried green grass clippings, garden waste, household
scraps, mainly a source of nitrogen
- ***You do not want rotting you want decomposition
- rotting is anaerobic and bad smelling, the end product is not as stable
- Decomposition is earthy smelling, and has a stable end products
C:N ratio
- Not all carbon is readily decomposed, woody materials take a long time to break down \
- best thing is to chop things up fairly fine - increase surface area and will compost faster,
but you don't want to compact things so there not too fine, you need good aeration
- Ideal C:N ration is 30:1
Moisture / aeration
- You want to keep compost damp
- excess water = lack of air = anaerobic =
More
Less
