What is vermicompost? How is humus different from compost? What is the difference between rotted and caked sawdust? Is it useful to sprinkle ash on the beds? These and a thousand other questions do not give rest to novice summer residents, gardeners. Especially if they are going to engage in organic farming, that is, do not use all kinds of garden "chemistry" on their site.

Especially for beginners in horticultural science, today's article is intended on the topic of organic fertilizers, their types, differences and useful properties.

Of the organic fertilizers that are used in our country, the most popular are manure, bird and rabbit droppings, compost, humus, vermicompost, ash, sawdust, green manure and herbal infusion.

Abroad, you can find other types of organic fertilizers of plant and animal origin: bone and blood meal, emulsion from fish, flour from alfalfa, cotton and soybeans, green sand, algae fertilizers, etc. But it is almost impossible to get them from us, so we will stop on more familiar types of organic matter.

Manure is the excrement of herbivores mixed with bedding (straw), leftovers from hay and other feed. Most often, when it comes to manure, we mean cow manure (less often horse manure).

Any manure is counted in to a greater extent nitrogen fertilizer, although it contains potassium, phosphorus, calcium, magnesium, and a lot of trace elements. Therefore, feeding with manure is preferable in the first half of the season, when the plants are actively gaining green mass.

Usually gardeners are afraid to use fresh manure as fertilizer for fear of "burning" the plants. As a rule, it is left to lie in a closed, dense pile for a whole year in order to get the so-called rotted manure. It is he who is recommended for the preparation of liquid dressings or introduction into the soil for digging. However, some summer residents also successfully use fresh manure. For example, for mulching raspberries or when making warm ridges.

What is the use of manure? In addition to the nutrients with which manure enriches the soil, it gives it porosity, enhances permeability, and creates an attractive habitat for beneficial microorganisms and worms.

To fertilize the main garden crops, manure is used in a diluted form. First, "mullein" is prepared - a concentrate from cow dung... To do this, fill the bucket by a third with manure, add water and insist for a week. Then the concentrate is diluted with water in different proportions, 2: 1, 5: 1 or 10: 1, depending on the type of feeding.

The disadvantages of manure as an organic fertilizer include, firstly, its high cost, and secondly, the presence of a large number of weed seeds inside, which can sprout and add hassle with weeding.

Compost is a decomposed mass of all kinds of mainly plant residues and waste. On summer cottage usually a separate corner is set aside for the compost heap, where all weeds, kitchen waste, burned leaves, tops, paper, sawdust, branches are sent. The more varied the composition of the compost heap, the better the finished product.

With the advent of concentrated EM preparations on the market, it is possible to prepare compost at home as well.

For compost to mature properly, it needs warmth and moisture. Therefore, the compost heap is often covered with a black film: both heat is retained and moisture does not evaporate. The maturation of the compost is significantly accelerated by shoveling a heap or watering it with a solution of EM preparations, which, by the way, can be prepared on your own.

To use compost as fertilizer, it is mixed with soil. If the waste has been composted for more than a year, then you can safely use it in pure form... And crops such as pumpkin, cucumbers and zucchini feel great and bear fruit abundantly if they are planted directly in a compost heap.

Humus

Humus is manure or compost that has decomposed for more than two years. In the humus, individual plant remains are already invisible; it is a loose dark substance with the smell of fresh earth. Humus has no drawbacks, it is the ideal fertilizer for any crop.

Humus is often used to prepare soil for seedlings, as a mulching material, as a "filler" for holes with the most "capricious" and nutritionally demanding crops.

Bird and rabbit droppings

Bird droppings are also good because they are quite economical to use. Because it is rarely used in its pure form, except that it is scattered in the fall for digging. And to prepare all kinds of dressings, the droppings are first infused for a day (1:10 with water), and then diluted in a ratio of 1 part of the infusion to 4-5 parts of water.

Biohumus

Vermicompost is compost, manure or humus that has been "treated" with earthworms, ordinary earthworms or specially grown red Californian ones.

Vermicompost can rightfully be considered the most valuable organic fertilizer. In addition to micro- and macroelements, it is rich in humic acids, thanks to which the soil fertility quickly and significantly increases. Biohumus is sold both in dry form and in the form of liquid concentrate. You can use it everywhere and in any quantity.

Sawdust can be called the most controversial organic fertilizer, because some gardeners are afraid of them (they say that sawdust draws a lot of nitrogen from the soil), while others are happy to fill the beds with fresh sawdust and praise this wood fertilizer (they say it works especially well on garlic).

To get rid of the alleged shortcomings of sawdust, they are used not fresh, but rotted. In an effort to turn fresh sawdust into rotted beginners, it is often the mistake of leaving them lying in a closed pile, just like manure. Unfortunately, having spent a whole season in this form, sawdust does not become a valuable fertilizer. Quite the opposite. They turn into dangerous caked sawdust, which "sour" without oxygen access inside the heap. How to make sawdust rot?

By themselves, the sawdust will rot for a very long time. To speed up this process, gardeners mix sawdust with nitrogen fertilizers... Those who are not against chemistry use urea for this purpose. Proponents of organic farming add fresh grass to sawdust. After that, the mixture is well moistened, put in black bags, closed and forgotten for three weeks. After the expiration of the prescribed period, the sawdust can be used for mulching, laid in the beds for digging, scattered in the berry fields, etc.

Sawdust perfectly loosens and fertilizes the soil, it is often very easy to get them for free, so the use of sawdust as fertilizer has a great future.

Ash is an irreplaceable potash fertilizer in organic farming. It reduces the acidity of the soil and enriches it with valuable trace elements: potassium, phosphorus, manganese, boron.

The most valuable is ash from burning straw, but most often gardeners use more accessible to everyone wood ash... It is worth remembering that the ash of deciduous trees contains more nutrients than the ash of coniferous trees. Ash from burning young small branches is richer in nutrients than ash from old rotten tree trunks.

Ash is very often used in mixed dressings with manure or droppings, it is added to herbal infusion, layers of plant residues are poured into it in compost heaps. The only vegetable that doesn't like ash very much is carrots. But nightshades (potatoes, tomatoes, peppers) adore it!

Natural fertilizers mean not only obtaining ecologically clean agricultural products, but also significant budget savings. How you can make fertilizers at home and how to use them later on your site is described in this article. We'll cover everything possible ways how to make fertilizers with your own hands based on a compost heap and humus.

The purpose of composting is to obtain organic fertilizer. How much is the game worth the candle? How nutritious is it compared to manure? In other words, can the compost obtained as a result of correct compilation and storage be equated in nutritional value with horse manure (of all horse manure, it is considered the best in terms of its properties)? This is a matter of principle.

Why? In horticultural practice, it is somehow forgotten that the original purpose of composting is to make fertilizer from various organic residues (kitchen waste, hay, sawdust, peat.) As nutritious as manure.

Manure as fertilizer

We state the immutable truth: There is nothing better for a home garden than manure or dung. If the site is located next to a farm and access to manure deposits - both freshly thrown and perennial - is allowed, then nothing else is needed. For indoor flowers, for planting holes, for bulbs, potatoes and tomatoes, you need to take old, well-worn manure, and for cabbage and cucumbers - fresh manure from another heap. The beauty! Everything rushing, blooming and pouring. manure, as a fertilizer for agricultural crops, has an advantageous position, since it contains everything necessary for active growth and development.

But when there is no manure? For compost, in our understanding of the word, in different countries, urban gardeners took up in their small gardens, when there was not enough manure, and a substitute was needed.

Cow dung contains about as many nutrients: nitrogen - 0.5%; phosphorus - 0.2%; potassium - 0.5%.

This is, roughly speaking, to examine the "cake" left by a cow in the field. And if we talk about bedding manure, to which straw or sawdust is added, then the content individual elements in it may decrease.

With such seemingly small "percentages", manure, nevertheless, is an excellent fertilizer when making 1-2 buckets per square meter, and under individual crops or in the trunk circles, it is brought in 3 or more buckets.

Horse dung contains a bit more nutrients: nitrogen - 0.6%; phosphorus - 0.3%; potassium - 0.6%.

How to cook humus with your own hands

Consider the process of how to make humus correctly on own site, what needs to be taken into account for this. If you want to make your compost look more like horse dung then just a little more enrich it with nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium. Horse manure also has additional purely "technical" advantages over cow manure. It warms up better when created warm beds, but most gardeners do not use these warmest beds due to the complexity of temperature control. In addition, horse manure contains less water than cow manure - this is also not such a significant advantage for us. It follows from what has been said that today there is no point in looking for the difference between horse and cow dung: they would both be an equally desirable source of fertility for our land.

In truth, most often garden compost contains many times more nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium than manure! In any case, it is typical to have 1.5-2% nitrogen in garden compost from occasional faecal splash. In the same way, as 2-3% of phosphorus and potassium - due to the pouring of ash, also occasionally. In general, in different composts, the content of nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium can jump a lot, so it is difficult to indicate uniform figures for all composts. And those numbers that are given in different books, are approximate and are not suitable for accurate calculations.

As for microelements, their content in compost is often higher and more varied than in manure. Therefore, in order to prepare humus, it is not required to use additional nitrogenous fertilizers.

There is also some conventionality in the issue of composting doses per square meter. Compost can be applied, like manure, at 1-3 buckets per square meter, and if it is enriched compost (say, fecal or ash), then no more than 1 bucket per square meter.

Therefore, it is not only possible, but also necessary to strive to make compost equal to manure or even more nutritious than it. Getting rid of "feelings of inferiority" is important factor when composting, the gardener should not have the feeling that his “product”, with all his diligence, still falls short of real manure. Striving to create an organic fertilizer that is in no way inferior to manure is our main task in composting, and not a tribute to some newfangled technology. In order to better cope with this task, it is not superfluous to understand a couple of simple things.

1. The main value manure as fertilizer in that it contains a lot of nitrogen and carbon material. Nitrogen promotes plant growth and development to limit size, and this is an increase in yield, which, as we know, is necessarily observed when applying manure. Carbonaceous material replenishes or even grows the humus content of the soil, thus laying fertility for the future. Manure not only increases the yield, but also works for the future (according to its background, in the next 1-2 years, you can apply to the soil, for example, one ash - and it will still be noticeable high yield, all thanks to the carbon and nitrogen introduced with manure, which became part of the humus). This is the essential difference between manure and mineral fertilizers. And, accordingly, our compost will also favorably differ in the content of nitrogen and carbon from mineral fertilizers.

In some cases, gardeners get such compost that there is almost no nitrogen in it, because they did not care about its content. There is carbon, but not enough nitrogen. Such compost is obtained from peat, from sawdust, from straw, from leaves fallen in autumn. Sometimes - from the cut grass: it was kept in a heap for so long, trying to strictly observe the "two-year cycle" that gaseous losses of nitrogen became excessive. Such nitrogen-free compost, of course, will loosen the soil well, but, alas, it will not cause rapid growth.

Or, on the contrary, many people buy the so-called "liquid manure" - a solution of humates, which does not contain carbon material (more precisely, it is not enough there, although the solution has a dark color: there are organic humic substances there, but how can you compare the amount carbon from a truck of manure - from that "ton of manure" that a bottle of humates supposedly replaces!). After all, few people properly understand the importance of carbon for the soil. A solution of humates, due to its high nitrogen content, will give good growth and an increase in the current yield, but it will not increase the humus content in the soil. Without humus, the soil is unreliable. With humus, it is as reliable as black soil! The more humus, the blacker the color of the soil. It is the carbon material that makes it dark. Hence the conclusion: at worst, compost from rotten sawdust, from straw, from tops will go - all this turns into a dark mass containing carbon. Otherwise, when burned, all the carbon leaves for nothing, into the air, in the form of CO2.

2. Manure, to become fertilizer, simply falls to the ground. Just "flop to the ground" from a cow. Everything! Here a cow walks across the field, lazily chewing on a bunch of grass, and throws off cakes behind him - that's it, the manure has already gone into the cycle of substances in nature. It is already in this form created by nature as best fertilizer! No sophisticated technologies for the further maturation of manure, for its fermentation, are not necessary. They fundamentally do not change anything: even without them, manure is an excellent fertilizer, and, if it happens in the garden, it would only be worth sprinkling it with earth in order to avoid nitrogen losses. Until now, after thousands of years, the best for the harvest is the technology of digging in fresh or rotten manure: even if it is shallow, by 5-10 cm, but it must be mixed with the ground in order to retain more nutrients - and this is enough for the plant roots. And if there is a lot of manure, then it is laid out on the surface in the form of mulch - and this is also a fertilizer: after waiting for the dangerous stage of "burns", the roots then come up from below and receive nutrition from it overheating.

To have an analogy with compost: he serves much more often good fertilizer for plants than it might seem. He just needs to be given time. Even improperly prepared compost will then straighten in the ground, if you do not expect immediate action from it.

If you observe the further fate of the cow cake in the field, you can see how greedily and almost without a trace it will be divided over the next few days between all living creatures. First, flies will fly to lay the larvae, then, when the cake dries up, all sorts of dung beetles will begin to eat it from the inside. Only the rain will have time to wash away something for the plants, but, according to the plan of nature, it should be enough for them: there were a myriad of various hoofed animals wandering through the fields, and they left a lot of droppings. There was enough for the plants: with constant renewal, it is not necessary to get the entire cake at the disposal of the roots. Heavy rainfall or melt water immediately transfers soluble substances from fresh and transient manure into the soil. Fresh manure does not burn the roots, since each rain is washed out of it only a small part of the substances in the form of a weak solution. By the way, fresh manure is not so easily washed out by rainwater: it swells in the form of a dense monolith, from which excess water simply rolls off. Whoever collected manure behind a cow herd in the field will understand what they are talking about: soaked in rain, it is easily and completely removed from the grass, like jelly. More often, the droppings and its residues accumulate in the felt of the grass litter, saturating the upper centimeters of the soil with humus. The usual process of soil formation. Each soil has such a "felt" on top, and in each soil under this felt 3-5 cm of its thickness have a sharply increased humus content - this thin layer is most loved by plant roots and, if possible, capture it first. The gardener must "cherish and cherish" this particular upper layer without letting it dry out - with the help of mulch, which imitates "felt".

In other words, the "ways" of manure can be very different, but in any case it will serve as a fertilizer. It cannot be that manure turns out to be harmful. Basically, there is only one mistake - to allow nitrogen to escape during storage: it would be good to sprinkle it with earth. However, there is another common mistake in working with manure: to confuse which crops need fresh manure and which ones need stale manure.

As for different technologies for working with manure and compost, they are all good in some cases: not because they are the best, but because in different situations it is more convenient to use one technology or another.

For example, a good liquid top dressing - herbal fertilizer, which is nutritionally equivalent to slurry, is obtained with the help of anaerobic microorganisms, and the classic loose compost for spring soil fertilization - with the help of aerobic ones. The quality of plant nutrition in both cases depends on what you feed your microbes with. Compost can be good or weak - you need to recognize this in time in order to correct the situation as soon as possible. With the proper skill, organic matter decomposes confidently and quickly enough, because it is impossible to "hide" it from fungal spores, and for them the most important thing is moisture and warmth. A gardener who knows composting technology does not experience any difficulties in feeding his plants, he receives fertilizer in large quantities and quickly. He even, on the contrary, has a surplus of fertilizers!

It is necessary to clarify such a concept as "humus". The word "humus" is always understood as the product of the "experience" of all kinds of organic residues, including animals. For example, in TSB it is written that humus is "a complex of soil organic substances formed during the decomposition and humification of plant and other organisms." Then, for some reason, some authors and editors narrowed the concept of humus: humus began to stubbornly call only the decomposition product of manure. They say, when the manure has melted, then it is humus, and when the grass has melted, then this is something else. And how, then, should one call the decomposition product of compost?

Compost heap in the country

If you just throw off all the waste in one place, then you get a great compost heap in the country! Is that possible. Having accumulated all sorts of organic residues over the summer, and in the fall, dig into the beds or tree-trunk circles of fruit trees. Or dig in in the spring (but if under fruit trees, it’s better still in the fall!). This is the path of the so-called one-year compost, that is, "from spring to spring". Even so simplistic, it is an excellent fertilizer. Given the rather fast speed decomposition of finely chopped organic substances, this is tolerable: during the season, organic matter partially began to disintegrate, and in the ground everything will finally mature quite quickly. But such a "raw" fertilizer will nourish plants for a long period. Only with this use, it will be necessary to mix the entire contents of the heap before spreading, so that the later layers would mix with the more decomposed lower layers of the compost.

DIY compost pile

A compost heap with your own hands is nowhere easier: put a box without a bottom of suitable sizes in any corner of the garden that is hidden from view. An essential component to the drawer is a straight path. If possible, lay a path of light tiles to it, since you will have to walk in rainy weather.

Stirring the compost in the fall before spreading is not as laborious as it might seem, you do not need to lift the whole heap on a pitchfork. Stirring occurs by itself in another operation. Throwing back the box, you gradually need to chop off the tops from above with a sharp shovel. It is convenient to "shave off" small crumbs from the edge, mixing layers and immediately filling buckets with them. Since it happens in the fall, the collected fallen leaves can also be added to this compost. Or you can also use autumn vegetable tops. The main thing is to mix everything well before digging (when fresh tops get into the soil with pieces of old growing vegetation, it serves as a "leaven", the destruction of the tops is accelerated, by the spring everything will be ready in in the best possible way). Or put the fallen leaves and tops on the next compost heap. Just install a new box in a different location.

Manure is a natural fertilizer, the most famous and used in all countries of the world, throughout the history of world agriculture. This type of organic matter is a natural source of macronutrients - nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium, as well as a number of microelements, such as lime, magnesia, sulfur, chlorine and silicon, necessary for the full life of plants.

Proponents of mineral fertilizing often say that manure is a fertilizer of the past, that it is not very effective, its composition is not balanced, it is inconvenient to work with it, and, in the end, it smells unpleasant. Yes, all these disadvantages are present when using manure. But, at the same time, this organic substrate has such an advantage that mineral fertilizers do not and cannot have. With the help of manure components, a fertile layer is formed, which, when mineral fertilizers are applied, is only depleted. Dung biomass over time transforms into humus, forming the upper humus horizon, without the constant renewal of which the most blooming garden turns into a desert.

Manure processing methods

For use in the garden and vegetable garden, agronomists usually recommend using well-rotted manure, in which the minimum content of ammonia, and it does not "burn" the roots of plants. Also, there are no harmful microorganisms in its composition, they die in the process of decomposition.

Nowadays, there are many methods that help to quickly change the structure of fresh organic matter and improve its consumer qualities. For example, the processing of manure into fertilizer can be done in the following ways that are available to all gardeners and do not require special equipment:

Composting

You cannot get compost by simply placing the manure in a high pile and waiting for it to grind, as you end up with ordinary humus. In this way, only manure storage is usually carried out. And compost is a fertilizer richer in nutrients, since it contains many components.

To make a compost heap according to all the rules, it is necessary to lay last year's substrate at its base, which will provide a pile the required amount bacteria fermenting organic matter. The next layers are made from any organic waste (grass, tops, peels of vegetables and fruits), which is sprinkled with manure. Such a "layer cake" is erected until it reaches a height of 1-1.5 meters. Then the pile is poured over with water, and left to roast. The processed manure can be used as fertilizer within a few months. But, optimal time for the maturation of compost based on livestock waste, a time interval equal to a year is considered.

Vermicomposting

V last years organic farming is gaining popularity, which uses methods of natural renewal of nutrients in the soil, without the use of chemicals and mineral fertilizers.

Manure composting using worms (vermicomposting) allows you to get not only useful fertilizer, but also a constant, self-renewable source of nutrition for the soil, since along with this substrate, worms are introduced into the beds, where they continue their vital activity and reproduction, processing the soil around them.

In conditions middle lane for vermicomposting, agronomists recommend choosing a hybrid of red Californian worms with worms of the Kuban natural population. Before proceeding with their help to the processing of manure into fertilizer, the substrate must be acidified with slaked lime, or bone meal to an indicator of 7.5-8 pH units, since the worms cannot live in a neutral environment.

Accelerated fermentation using humates

These natural supplements are used to accelerate the fermentation process of the manure substrate during composting. They make the use of manure very economical, since after its treatment with bioactive preparations, the rate of application of this organic fertilizer can be reduced by three times, while maintaining the same efficiency. The price of manure in this case also decreases, due to a decrease in the volume of its use.

Humates are used to ferment organic matter as follows - 2-3 months before adding it to the soil (usually in early spring, as soon as constant positive temperatures are established), the manure heap is spilled with a solution of humates, adding about 10 g of biostimulants per 10 kg of manure. After the procedure, the heap is thoroughly mixed to speed up the processing processes.

Infusion

This is the fastest method for processing manure, which allows you to get rid of excess ammonia contained in uric acid and kill harmful microflora, including worms and nematode eggs. It is very simple to use it - horse, pig or cow manure is poured with water 1: 1, and insisted for a week. The resulting working solution is diluted again, in a ratio of 1:10, and the resulting mixture is watered over the plants in the evening. Manure infusion cannot be poured at the very root, therefore it is poured into the carved grooves between the plants.

Video: preparing liquid fertilizer from droppings / manure

Application of fresh manure

Fresh manure can be used for fertilization, although nutrients from its composition it is harder for plants to assimilate. But, sometimes the end justifies the means, since it is not always possible to wait until the compost matures.

Fresh manure is used in cases where there is no time, but is available a large number of animal organics. Then, with manure, proceed as follows:

• In summer, liquid fertilizer is prepared from manure. To do this, manure is bred in warm water in a proportion of ¼, and the resulting mixture is watered along the edge of the plants trunk circle in evening time. For 1 sq. consume 1.5 liters of solution.
• In autumn, it is used when digging soil. The manure application rate is 1 bucket (10 liters) per square meter, the embedding depth is no more than 30-40 cm.
• In winter, the soil is pre-fertilized with manure, scattering it around the garden directly over the snow cover. The consumption rate is 1.5 buckets per square meter, since with prolonged interaction with air (and in this case, the manure will be on the surface of the earth), it loses a significant part of nitrogen, and therefore this organic fertilizer with this method of application is required more.
• In spring - used as biofuel, in the construction of warm beds for cucumbers and others melons and gourds... Lamb manure will be most preferable for this purpose, since it has a heating temperature inside the heap of at least 60-70 ° C, and cow, pork and horse manure is 15-20 degrees lower. When applying fresh manure for seasonal feeding garden plants, it is necessary, in accordance with clause 4.4 of GOST 26074-84, to withstand a certain time interval before harvesting, otherwise worms and other unpleasant microorganisms can migrate to the finished product.

Manure types

Cow dung

This type of organic is the most common. Cow dung is used to fertilize all types of plants in all agricultural zones. But it must be used skillfully, otherwise you can oversaturate the finished product with nitrates, which are contained in it in large quantities. The composition of this substrate is as follows (per 1 kg of mass):

1. Total nitrogen - 3.5 g;
2. Calcium (oxide) - 2.9 g;
3. Phosphorus (oxide) - 3 g;
4. Potassium (oxide) - 1.4 g

When choosing the concentration of feeding, it should be borne in mind that, depending on the age and sex of the animal, chemical composition manure can vary. For example, the excrement of adult cows contains 15% more nutrients than calves and bull calves of the first year of life. It is recommended to introduce this substrate in the amount of 7-10 kg per sq. M., Depending on the fertility of the soil.

The temperature of cow dung at a depth of 1 meter is about - 31-34 ° С, at a depth of more than two meters - 40-46 ° С. At the bottom - 23-28 ° С. Therefore, the optimal heating beds for cucumbers will be piles of manure at least 1 meter high, only such a volume is able to sufficiently warm up the surface, providing a high temperature.

Cow dung, despite its wide distribution, is one of the most non-nutritious types of organic matter, since it contains the least amount of nutrients. At the same time, this property may even be useful, since it reduces the risk of an overdose of fruits with elements from the NPK complex, and, accordingly, the risk of nitrate poisoning of the finished product.

Horse dung

This type of organic fertilizer is considered one of the best, and is used both indoors and outdoors. Horse excrement contains large quantity nutrients than cow dung.

The approximate chemical composition is as follows (per 1 kg of mass):

• Total nitrogen - 4.7 g;
• Calcium (oxide) - 3.5 g;
• Phosphorus (oxide) - 3.8 g;
• Potassium (oxide) - 2 g.

Horse manure as fertilizer is used in the preparation of the soil for such garden crops like, squash, squash and pumpkin. When fertilizing the soil with manure, it is recommended to apply it in an amount of 5 kg per 1 sq. This amount is sufficient, since there is more nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium in its composition than in mullein. If horse excrement is used in the greenhouse as biofuel, the manure must be poured in a layer of at least 30 cm, and spilled thoroughly hot water with potassium permanganate, to destroy harmful microflora, including fungi. Cover it on top with a layer fertile land, not less than 20 cm thick.

Video: horse manure and its application

Pig manure

Slurry from pig farms is also used as fertilizer. These include excrement (both solid and liquid), feed residues, bristles, and a small amount of litter (hay, straw or sawdust).

Pig manure is considered one of the most "caustic". Indeed, it contains a large amount of nitrogen in the form of ammonia, a high concentration of which is present in the urine of these animals.

The chemical composition of pork manure, on the first day after receiving, looks like this (per 1 kg of mass):

• Total nitrogen - 8.13 g;
• Calcium (oxide) - 7.74 g;
• Phosphorus (oxide) - 7.9 g;
• Potassium (oxide) - 4.5 g.

Pig manure, unlike cow or horse manure, is a semi-liquid suspension, where solids (in the form of granules 3-5 mm in size) occupy at least ¼ of the total volume. Pork excrement is quite difficult to separate into fractions, so they are usually transported in a closed container.

In the article "The use of pig manure for fertilizing agricultural crops" (Promising pig breeding: theory and practice, issue 5, 2012), the authors are G.E. Merzloy, I.V. Shchegolevoy, M.V. Leonova., this organic fertilizer was compared with cattle manure. The authors pointed to interesting feature nitrogen contained in this type of organic matter, 70% of which is in an easily assimilated form, and tends to accumulate in the soil in mineral form... This is a big plus for pig manure, but also a noticeable minus. This saturation makes this substrate difficult to use. It is recommended to dilute it well, twice as thin as mullein, and keep it in compost for much longer.

Rabbit dung

This substrate differs from other types of organic matter in its consistency and composition, since it is much drier than all other types of animal organic matter, which greatly facilitates its transportation. Another benefit of rabbit manure is that it does not contain weed seeds, which allows it to be used without composting. Of the harmful microorganisms in rabbit droppings, only coccidia are contained, which can only harm the body of rabbits. To avoid this, in hot weather, storing manure near the cages is strictly prohibited.

Rabbit excrement is used in the same way as cattle waste, is brought into the ground for plowing or digging, insisted in compost, prepared from them liquid fertilizers... But there is one way of processing that is impossible for other species - dry powder is made from rabbit droppings, which is used not only for personal plot, but also at home, for feeding home flowers. To prepare it, the pellets are dried in the sun and pounded in a mortar. After that, mix with the ground, at the rate of 1 tbsp. spoon for 3 liters. land, and fall asleep in pots intended for planting home flowers. Rabbit dung can be bought not only on farms, but also in large supermarkets of garden products.

Ready manure is good because it has already been disinfected in accordance with GOST 26074-84 (Veterinary and sanitary requirements for processing, storage, transportation and use), and it can be used immediately, since it is already rotted and thoroughly dried.

Video: rabbit manure and vermicompost

The use of organic matter as fertilizer for private plots has never lost its relevance, and, in the last few years, in the wake of the revival of the popularity of organic farming, it has significantly replaced mineral fertilizers. Humanity comes to understand that thoughtless exploitation of lands leads to their depletion, due to the rapid reduction of the humus layer. The use of animal organics interferes with this process, and contributes to the restoration of a fertile soil horizon. This property of natural fertilizers, when choosing top dressing for their garden and vegetable garden, increasingly inclines the choice of gardeners towards organic matter, because it renews the most important resource - soil fertility, and therefore is the fertilizer of the future.

Nowadays, agricultural experts have come up with many ways to help recycle organic matter and raise them beneficial features... Most of them are simple and do not require the use of special tools. The most popular methods for changing the structure of a mullein include composting, vermicomposting, adding humates and infusion.

Composting

To make compost, it is not enough just to put it in a large container and wait until it is overheated. In this case, it will turn out that ordinary humus. This method is often used to store this substance. Compost is a more complex fertilizer containing many beneficial substances.

To get a full-fledged compost, you need to add a substrate from the last year to it. It will saturate the compost with beneficial bacteria that will decompose it. Above, they give a layer consisting of various organic waste, and cover it with a mullein. Such layers must be made until the height of the heap is 1-1.5 meters. Then it is poured with enough water and left for a while. Usually overheating is carried out after 5-6 months, but to ensure that a high-quality fertilizer is obtained, it is better to let it stand for a year.

Composting with worms

Using this method, you can get not only a useful organic fertilizer, but also a constant source of soil nutrition. This is due to the presence of worms in its composition, which continue to live and multiply in the soil, thereby processing it.

To obtain compost, experts recommend using a hybrid of a red Californian worm with a Kuban one. Before processing mullein, slaked lime, ash or bone meal to increase the acidity. The optimal pH value is 7.5-8. In a more alkaline environment, worms will not be able to exist and will die.

Processing with humates

Humates are special substances that are used to accelerate the processing of the mullein base during composting. This method of obtaining fertilizer allows you to reduce its consumption by 2-3 times, without reducing efficiency. This is a very beneficial method from an economic point of view.

Method of using humates: 2-3 months before fertilizing the soil with a mullein, it is watered with a solution containing humates. For 10 kg of mullein, you need about 10 g of humates. After watering, the pile must be thoroughly mixed to speed up the decomposition processes.

Infusion

This is the most quick way receiving. At the same time, harmful bacteria and microorganisms die. The ammonia content in this fertilizer is minimal.
Method of obtaining: the mullein is poured with water in a ratio of 1: 1, covered and left for 1-2 weeks. The resulting mixture is diluted with water again, in a ratio of 1:10 and the plants are watered in the evenings. Liquid mullein is not recommended to be poured at the very root. At a short distance from the plant, small recesses are dug and the solution is poured into them.

Using fresh mullein

In some cases, fresh manure is used, despite its disadvantages. This is justified if there is no time to wait for the compost to be processed.

In the warm season, a liquid solution is made from it. For 1 part of the mullein, 4 parts of water are given. Plants are watered with this solution in the evenings. Pour 1.5 liters of the mixture onto 1 square meter.
In the fall, manure is used when digging the soil. 10 liters of mullein are added per 1 square meter and buried to a depth of 30-40 cm.

With winter fertilization, the mullein is scattered over the snow. 15 liters of mullein are added per 1 square meter. In winter, the mullein needs to be applied a third more than usual. This is due to the evaporation of large amounts of nitrogen when interacting with air.

In spring, mullein is used as biofuel for beds.

And a little about the secrets of the Author

Have you ever experienced unbearable joint pain? And you know firsthand what it is:

• inability to move easily and comfortably;
• discomfort when going up and down stairs;
• unpleasant crunching, clicking not on their own;

Leaf humus is most often used to fertilize crops. But you can make this nutritious fertilizer not only from leaves. It is also important to store it properly so that it does not lose nutrients.

Humus - what is it? Inexperienced summer residents often ask such questions. Humus is a fertilizer of organic origin. With its help, you can saturate the poor soil with all trace elements necessary for the growth and development of plants. Humus is easy to do with your own hands. All the ingredients necessary for this can be found in any subsidiary farm.

What does it consist of?

Before preparing humus at home, you need to find out what is in it. The composition of humus, as a rule, includes the following components:

• Leaves.
• Cattle manure.
• Bird droppings.
• Straw.
• Hay.
• Weeds from the site.
• Ash.
• Remains of fruits and vegetables.
• Bark.
• Wood sawdust.
• Special additives to accelerate plant growth.
• Branches of trees and bushes.

We can say that all parts of plants that grew on the site, as well as cattle manure, can enter the composition of humus. This is especially convenient for those summer residents who are also engaged in agriculture.

How to do it yourself?

Grass and leaves are the basis for fertilization. But that alone will not be enough. Also, you can not do without poultry droppings and cattle manure. Otherwise, instead of nutrient fertilization, you can get silage or rotten grass, which does not bring any benefit to the plants.

What cannot be used for processing into humus:

• Chemical agent.
• Infected plant parts.
• Food of animal origin.
• Weed seeds.

If cattle manure is used, then the animals must be healthy. Not all waste that is intended for disposal can be used to make humus at home.

How do you get humus?

In order to get high-quality homemade humus, you need to know exactly in what sequence to arrange the layers.

• Plants. The first layer is plant remains. It should be no more than 15 cm. If this layer turns out to be larger, then the decay process will be slower. All parts can be used from grass, except seeds. Otherwise, they may germinate and then you will have to fight the weeds. The first layer of grass should be sprinkled with earth mixed with lime.
• Straw and hay. Thanks to the straw, the deciduous and all other layers are saturated with oxygen. The straw creates a porous structure and binds moisture in the humus. Before spreading hay or straw, it must be thoroughly chopped. Mulching with humus with the addition of hay to provide oxygen access to the plant roots.
• Leaves. The leaves need to be dried before making your own humus. If this is not done, then they will go into lumps. Leaves are mixed with other plant residues and spread in a thin layer.
• Sawdust. To cook humus in the country, you can use sawdust. But they do not decompose well, so they are mixed with grass and bone meal before laying.
• Tree bark. The bark contains a large amount of nitrogen. But in order to increase its concentration in the compost, it is necessary to mix the bark with chicken droppings, cattle manure or urea.

How to make humus?

At home, you can get humus from the following components:

• Food waste. Cooking humus is not complete without food waste. They contain many nutrients. But to prevent their decomposition, the waste is mixed with a solid material to provide oxygen.
• Manure and droppings. Manure produces the most nutritious humus for plants. It contains a large amount of nitrogen, which helps to accelerate the growth of crops. It is advisable to sprinkle it on top with soil.
• Paper. Before laying the paper when preparing manure with your own hands, it must be coarsely cut and moistened in a decoction of herbs. An herbal decoction can be made with nettle. There are a lot of nutrients in nettles, and the paper absorbs them in the process of soaking. Mix wet paper with another hard material. Otherwise, it will crumple.

How to prepare humus from manure?

Many summer residents are interested in the question of humus and where to get it. You can cook it at home with your own hands. The most common type of humus is based on cattle manure. Dung from sheep, cows, or horses will do.

We prepare humus as follows:

• Manure for humus must be taken fresh. It contains more nutrients.
• Punch up a box and put coarsely chopped grass on the bottom. Then you can lay out the straw. So the humus will be saturated with oxygen.
• Then lay out the manure (you can use chicken droppings).
• In order to accelerate the decomposition, biodegradants can be added to the humus. It can be Baikal-M or Shining. They contain bacteria that accelerate the decay process.
• Humus should be watered regularly (but not poured). It is important not to let it dry out.

You can use humus when it will not be possible to consider individual parts. The mixture should be uniform in consistency. The smell of finished humus should be like that of wet soil. And the color is brown or closer to black.

How to quickly make humus from leaves?

Leaf humus is also prepared with the addition of manure. You can use straw, paper and other plant debris.

Leaf humus is prepared like this:

• You can use any leaves of deciduous trees. If shrubs or fruit trees grow on the site, then fallen leaves are used.
• Since the leaves are poor in micronutrients, they must be mixed with food waste or sawdust.
• Put bird droppings on a layer of foliage.
• Humus should be watered periodically. If a large number of midges appear above the box with humus, then this is a clear sign of high humidity. In order to get rid of them on a sunny day, the humus must be left open. When it dries a little, cover it back.
• If the humus does not change color and does not acquire the smell of damp earth, then it is overdried. You can remedy the situation by adding water, potato peels, or fresh grass.

They mulch plants for the winter so that the roots do not freeze and the bushes do not die. Fertilizers made in this way can be stored in bags.

Where to store it?

How to properly store humus prepared with your own hands so that it does not lose its beneficial properties? The optimal way storage is a drawer. How to make a humus box?

Humus storage box:

• You can put together such a box from any unnecessary boards. At the bottom, you can pour sawdust or leave the box without a bottom, and immediately put humus into it.
• On top of the container, you can lay slate or greenhouse film. Moisture that gets on humus along with rain should not accumulate in one place, but should drain into the ground.
• Also, do not forget that one of the walls of the box must be pulled out. This will make it easier to pick up humus for application to the soil.
• Humus can also be stored in bags, but you just need to make sure that the sun's rays do not fall on it.

How to store?

What are the features of humus storage? First of all, the container with humus should not be located under open sunbeams... So the fertilizer will begin to decompose and pathogenic microbes will begin to multiply in it.

It is important to maintain a constant temperature and humidity in the drawer. The earth and humus itself should not be too wet, but they should not dry out either.

It is not advisable to place fertilizer containers next to trees. Very soon, trees can direct their growth towards the composts. And then all the nutrients will be spent on their growth.