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 to horse manure (of all horse manure, horse manure 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: for personal plot there is nothing better than dung 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 pits, 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 over in their small gardens when manure became scarce 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 for individual cultures or in trunk circles it is brought in by 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 creating 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. From what has been said it follows 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 numbers 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 is 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, one can apply to the soil, for example, one ash - and still a high yield will be noticeable, all thanks to the carbon and nitrogen introduced with manure, which entered into 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 the 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: it serves as a good plant fertilizer much more often 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 residue it will be divided between all living creatures in the coming days. 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: at one time a myriad of various hoofed animals roamed 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 with 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 "nourish and cherish" this top layer in the first place, not allowing it to 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.

And 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 product of the decomposition 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 is 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 heap

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 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.

Sawdust, like other waste from sawing wood, is a good material for making fertilizers and compost.

However, mistakes in the process, which are made unknowingly, as well as incorrect use of the finished fertilizer, can not only harm the landings, but change soil characteristics, making it unsuitable for certain plants.

• why does the earth need fertilizers;
• how sawdust is composted;
• how to make compost from wood waste and droppings or manure;
• how to determine the readiness of humus;
• what kind of sawdust is better for getting humus;

During the growth of plants, their roots pulled out of the ground nutrients and various minerals in the form of aqueous solutions.

These substances are concentrated in the upper (fertile) layer, consisting of:

• clay;
• sand;
• humus (humus).

During irrigation, water permeates the topsoil and, mixing with these substances, forms water solution... The more intensive the growth of the roots and other parts of the plant, the the stronger it draws water from the ground and an aqueous solution of nutrients and minerals.

Gradually, the concentration of nutrients and substances necessary for growth in the soil decreases and the plant no longer receives them in an adequate measure. Because of this:

• the growth rate decreases;
• immunity decreases and vulnerability to diseases and pests increases;
• the number of fruits decreases and their quality decreases.

In nature, the consumption of nutrients by plants is compensated by the formation of humus from various organic matter:

• dead roots, leaves and branches;
• excrement of birds and animals;
• corpses of various living beings.

In gardens and orchards, this method of renewing the fertile qualities of the land is inapplicable, therefore, in the ground need to make special formulations , which contain nutrients and substances necessary for the development of plants.

By saturating the topsoil, they increase its fertility supplying plant roots with the necessary nutrition and building material.

Humus production

The transformation of sawdust into humus is natural result of the work of various bacteria that break down cellulose into simple organic matter, and also perform many other actions.

Therefore, the speed of obtaining humus, as well as its quality, directly depend on the conditions created for these bacteria.

In addition, very the composition of the source material is important- processing only one wood waste allows bacteria to make a good nutrient from them, but does not supply the soil with substances and microelements necessary for plant growth.

The process of producing fertilizer from sawdust begins when the following conditions are met:

• positive temperature and sufficient humidity;
• oxygen availability;
• the presence of a minimum number of bacteria.

For the vital activity of bifidobacteria that break down cellulose into glucose and other substances, nitrogen is required which they absorb from the air and earth. The nitrogen contained in the air is insufficient for the active activity of bacteria, therefore their activity is low.

You can increase it by adding:

• urea;
• land;
• droppings or manure.

During the activity of bacteria, a lot of carbon dioxide is released, therefore the process of converting compost into humus should only take place in the open air.

In addition, the bacteria that turn sawdust into humus generate a lot of heat, so the process does not stop even at subzero temperatures.

However, when the temperature drops, the bacteria living in the outer layer of the compost heap slow down their speed, so the decay process is less uniform.

But the heat inside the heap allows bacteria to transform material in the outer layers of the heap as well.

In addition to recycled cellulose and other organic matter, the compost must also contain inorganic substances, primarily calcium and phosphorus.

Therefore, to obtain a high-quality balanced humus, it is necessary to add slaked lime and other minerals to the compost.

During the life of bacteria, they mix as much as possible with humus and form compounds that are optimal for plant nutrition.

How to make rotted sawdust quickly?

For composting you need free space, separated from the vegetable garden by a “sanitary zone” measuring 5–7 meters.

Despite the fact that you can simply dump all the materials in a heap and leave to rot, many gardeners and gardeners prefer neat boxes, which prevent the compost from spilling out.

How to compost?

As such a box can be used ditches, platforms and any containers.

Putting compost in pits and ditches is most effective when various plants are planted over them.

In this case, the high temperature created by the bacteria will allow the seedlings or seeds to be planted 3-6 weeks earlier, thereby the harvest will be earlier. In addition, a little heating of the soil will have a beneficial effect on the development of the root system.

Depending on the type of wood, natural decay under such conditions is 1-3 years, and the temperature rise in the compost is 1-5 degrees.

Adding droppings or manure to sawdust reduces decay time up to 6-10 months, and the addition of drugs that accelerate the reproduction of bifidobacteria, reduces the period to 3-5 months.

At the same time, the temperature of the compost rises to the level of 40-60 degrees, even when the air temperature drops to zero or a little frost.

In more detail about this method of obtaining humus, as well as compensation negative impact on the ground, you can read in the article about.

To obtain humus from compost any suitable container can be used from materials resistant to bifidobacteria and light acids. The easiest way is to use plastic containers of a suitable size.

If you only have a metal barrel or box, then it can be covered with roofing material, but it will negatively affect bacteria in the outer layer.

Good for crafting compost bin suitable wood. Although it does not last long (5–15 years), it does not violate the microclimate in the compost heap.

A wooden box can be made either from planks or bars, or from old doors.

Sometimes the drawer is even made from disassembled cabinets ( chipboard plates), but the phenols contained in them negatively affect the microflora of the outer layers of the heap.

In such boxes, the decay process does not stop, but it becomes a little more uneven.

Subject to the terms of decay, humus from it is in no way inferior to any other, therefore the only drawback- it is necessary to wait 1–2 weeks longer.

The shape of the compost box can be any, but it is important to remember that the higher the height of the pile in it, the stronger the pressure on the walls.

It is easier to make a box larger in length and width by using thin bars and boards, than to fence a powerful structure that can withstand the pressure of a large heap.

After all, the task of such a box is prevent content spillage over the surrounding area.

It is not necessary to make the walls of the box completely closed, it is quite permissible to make them in the form of a lattice with a cell height of 3–10 cm (depending on the composition of the compost - for sawdust no more than 3 cm, for a mixture of sawdust and excrement up to 10 cm). The length of the cells can be any.

If there is no box, or you don't want to do it, then you can put the compost right on the ground.

At the same time, you must understand that the area under the heap will receive too much nutrients and minerals, and the soil on it will acidify.

Therefore, even next year it is undesirable to plant anything there.

After complete decomposition of the compost, such an area should be sprinkled with ash and slaked lime, or dolomite flour, then plowed so that the earth can absorb the nutrients, and after a year it can be used for planting.

Therefore, the area for the compost heap you need to choose very carefully- if possible not far from the planting site and so as not to damage the plants.

Indeed, even at a distance of 2-3 meters from the edge of the heap, the concentration of acids, nutrients and minerals will be dangerous for plants.

Methods for obtaining humus

Exists 8 composition combinations to obtain humus from wood waste, which differ both in the components used and in the final result:

• clean sawdust;
• processed with urea;
• a mixture of any parts of plants;
• with kitchen waste;
• with manure / compost;
• with the addition of the contents of cesspools;
• from wood waste, manure / compost and mineral additives;
• using drugs that accelerate the reproduction of bifidobacteria.

The first way simplest, but also the longest.

Wood waste is heaped and poured with water to increase its moisture content.

Sometimes the waste is soaked for 1–2 hours before heaping, but this is justified only for small volumes.

The decay time of such a heap depends on:

• wood species;
• air temperature;
• composition of the earth beneath it.

Soft deciduous species rot in 10-15 months, and conifers in 2-3 years. At intervals of 2 weeks it is necessary check the moisture and temperature of the heap thrusting his hand into it.

If the pile is dry or cold, then it needs to be watered. If it is wet to the touch, then there is too much water in it, so the pile needs to be stirred up to dry out, then raked again.

The process of converting compost from wood waste into humus can be accelerated by treatment with urea.

For this, urea is dissolved in water and this solution is poured over a bunch... The urea solution fills the wood with nitrogen, which is necessary for bacteria to live, therefore, the rate of their reproduction, as well as the efficiency of work, increase markedly.

Both types of humus, obtained from sawdust alone, contain only good nutrients, therefore, together with them you need to add trace elements... Otherwise, they will be effective only as a top dressing on non-depleted soils.

In addition to sawing wood waste, you can compost any part of the plant. For example, in the fall, you collect leaves and rake, then form a pile by stacking sawdust and leaves in layers.

If you pruned trees, then pruned branches grind with special equipment, which we talked about in this one.

Twigs and branches big size will rot for decades, and bacteria will process the crushed wood as quickly as sawdust.

Remember, diseased or pest-infested leaves and branches should not be allowed into the compost. Such waste is needed pile up and then burn.

After all, bacteria that process wood will not be able to kill pathogens or pests, so humus from contaminated materials will pose a threat to your plantings.

In addition to waste from the garden or vegetable garden, you can use to obtain humus and any kitchen leftovers with the exception of meat.

They can be both fresh and sour or covered with mold, the only condition is that all waste must be crushed. , otherwise, the decay process will take several years.

A mixture of sawdust and dung or manure is obtained in barns, pigsties and other places where animals are kept. The most popular is a mixture of sawdust with chicken droppings or manure.

The excrement of animals and birds not only fills the compost with nitrogen, but also are a source of many trace elements necessary for the normal growth of plants.

Such compost decays in 8-12 months.

If we add to it drugs that accelerate the reproduction of bifidobacteria, then the humus will be ready in 4-6 months.

In addition, such humus is the most balanced and suitable for use on any soil for any plant.

Together with droppings or manure, the contents of cesspools and street toilets can be poured into the compost heap.

The only condition is in them home sewage should not come out, after all, water containing shampoos and washing powders is poured into it, and such chemistry negatively affects both the soil and the planting.

To create the correct heap, first a layer of sawdust 10 cm thick is laid, then watered with the contents of the cesspools (1 bucket for 2-10 m 2) and a new layer of sawdust is laid.

The height of the heap is chosen based on convenience and overall volume.

Rotation completion is indicated by:

• completely absent smell of excrement;
• loose structure, similar to loosened sandy soil;
• lowering the temperature to the street temperature both outside and inside the heap.

If you have acidic soil on your plot, and plants like less acidic or alkaline soil, then folding a compost pile, sprinkle it with slaked lime or dolomite flour... Ready humus can also be applied during spring plowing, but this method is less effective, because the soil will not have time to be saturated with humus and the plants will not receive balanced nutrition.

You can also use the compositions that did not have time to re-mix.

If they are treated with agents that accelerate the growth of bacteria, then such compost can be applied after harvesting green manure, during the autumn plowing.

During the winter, sawdust and other components will completely rot and mix with the soil.

Therefore, in the spring, the plants will receive the most balanced nutrition.

Fresh compost is added to the soil only in three cases:

• its composition ensures rapid decay and is treated with preparations that accelerate the growth of bacteria;
• the field is left fallow;
• compost is used for heating planting material in pits and grooves.

In all other cases, fresh compost will reduce the productivity of plants and can make the land unusable.

In, where the soil around the trees is not dug up or dug up very rarely, ready-made humus laid out around the trunk and watered abundantly.

Nutrients and trace elements from humus, together with water, penetrate into the soil and saturate it, so that the tree grows faster and bears better fruit.

The same method is used for fertilizing fields planted with currants, raspberries and other bushes.

Related Videos

Watch a video on how to make sawdust fertilizer:

Output

Wood sawdust - good material to obtain humus. After reading the article, you learned:

• what kind of sawdust is better for obtaining humus;
• how long does the decay process take;
• how this process is influenced by chicken manure and excrement of other birds and animals;
• how you can quickly get good humus;
• how to apply humus correctly.

In contact with

A large number of people on our planet have summer cottages or suburban areas. Especially, those who have large families, or simply like to enjoy nature and silence, suffer from such a "disease". The reason for buying such a place is not only privacy and clean air, but also the environmental friendliness of products, vegetables and berries, which are usually grown in similar conditions and circumstances. Of course, all this is due to the fact that you want to give your loved ones and yourself the freshest and most natural, therefore our mothers and grandmothers are so eager to go to the dacha so that later they would have something to treat the youth to. But not every such site can boast of fertile land, so it needs to be fed, but with what?

Specialty stores are full of all kinds of fertilizers and fertilizers for plants of this type. But how natural and ecological they are, no one can say. Therefore, you should not, having bought a bag of store fertilizer, hope that it will not harm your plant, and subsequently you. What is the way out of this difficult situation? And the simplest! If a natural product of this plan cannot be bought in the store, then it must be prepared!

What kind of fertilizer you can prepare yourself

The most popular, effective and budget fertilizer that you can easily make with your own hands is manure. Indeed, according to the reviews of ardent summer residents, compost is indispensable for a personal plot. Especially lucky those whose farm is close to some kind of animal farm. In this case, humus can be mined regularly and in large quantities, unless, of course, the owners of the farm themselves need it. There are at least two types of slurry: fresh and old. Both are very well suited for different crops. Fresh compost is better for cabbage or cucumbers, but old compost is better for everything else.

With the help of such a natural and safe fertilizer, you can ensure that everything in your garden will grow quickly and efficiently! After all, it is in the manure that there are all those very necessary and necessary elements that are needed for the full development of these crops!
Sure, it might seem like a lack of humus can impair the growth of your beautiful plants, but that’s not a problem. Why? Because even a small and insignificant presence of humus in the fertilizer will significantly speed up the processes, you just need to mix the manure with straw, wood or sawdust.

Composting at home

Naturally, the preparation of such a simple fertilizer will not be difficult, but you need to keep in mind a few rules, or rather recommendations.

How to improve yields?

We are constantly receiving letters in which amateur gardeners are worried that due to the cold summer this year there is a poor harvest of potatoes, tomatoes, cucumbers, and other vegetables. Last year we published TIPS on this matter. But unfortunately, many did not listen, but some still applied. Here is a report from our reader, we want to advise plant growth biostimulants that will help increase the yield up to 50-70%.

Read ...

• Firstly, it's not a secret for anyone that it is horse droppings in this regard that are the most productive and profitable. Why? Because it contains much more of those important elements for growth vegetable crops, namely: nitrogen, potassium and phosphorus. Therefore, if you want to bring the effectiveness of ordinary chicken or cow compost closer to horse compost, then all these substances must be used additionally.
• Secondly, horse manure is more flammable, so you should not use it on those beds that are subject to strong and intense exposure to sunlight.
• Thirdly, the same horse compost has a lower moisture saturation, therefore, it is best suited for planting areas that have sufficient access to water.

Rabbit waste compost

Thus, we see that all manure and humus are good in their own way, if used correctly, given their main advantages.
As for the dosage, then there are also some things to consider. If the manure is diluted with straw or ash, then it needs to be used more than pure compost.

How to get high-quality vermicompost?

Methods for making home fertilizers

As you know, any manure fertilizer loves time, so it must be prepared in advance.

It should be borne in mind that manure fertilizers can be different. For example, you can make humus from any organic thing: fallen leaves, food waste, grass clippings, and so on. In this case, you need to collect this fertilizing material for a long time, 2 or three years. All these substances are added to a certain place, and left there for subsequent decay. This heap can be watered periodically with water or stirred, which will double the speed of the process of humus and the decomposition of these waste products.

The second option is animal manure: chickens, cows, horses, and so on. In this case, you do not need to wait long for it to ripen for the appropriate use. It is enough in early summer, or spring, to collect the necessary feces and put them in a barrel or any other large vessel or container. After that, put in the sun for several weeks. Then you can mix, or not, it with other substances: straw, sawdust, wood. It is worth noting that mixed manure is much better to use and more pleasant than pure manure for obvious reasons.

Another option for compost, the third, is ash. It does not require special training, it just needs to be collected throughout the year. Moreover, many people use stoves or fireplaces to heat their homes. In this case, the collection of ash is greatly simplified.

How and Where to Place a Compost Pile on Your Site

Of course, the position of such a heap will not affect the quality of the manure in any way, but it can alleviate a lot of things that are associated with it. For example, a pile located away from the beds will make you run from it to the right place... This is what often becomes the reason for poor-quality and unscrupulous distribution of fertilizer material. Therefore, it can be concluded that the pile should be located as close to the planting areas as possible.
How to arrange a favorable place for such a "dirty" business? Very simple, in fact. Any box, metal or wooden, can be adapted for this. It is in it that you will store all organic waste: weeds, tops from plants, food waste, leaves, grass and much more. If there is no such box, then you can make it. To do this, you need to have several old, ugly, boards in the house and not a large number of nails. Any responsible and skillful owner can make such a thing in no time!

It is also worth remembering that when the pile is almost rotted, they exude bad smell... Therefore, if there are resting places on your site, then it is better to place a bunch away from them.

Of course, if we take into account the fact that any decay occurs faster at a sufficiently high temperature, then the intensity of the penetration of solar heat into the latrine area must be taken into account. Naturally, for the winter it is worth covering it with straw and polyethylene so that snow does not fall, and the pile does not freeze too much.

If you follow these simple and elementary rules for the preparation of such fertilizers, you can achieve unprecedented results. You will have not just a vegetable garden, but entire plantations, which will delight not only your eyes, but also the bellies of your loved ones! After all, what could be better when the most loved ones can afford, thanks to you, to eat clean, ecological and natural products. Therefore, it is not surprising that all summer residents are famous for their excellent health, always a positive attitude and fighting spirit!

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;
• pain during or after exercise;

Many summer residents who weed gardens and orchards several times a season solve the problem of the accumulation of green grass and weeds by simply storing them in anticipation of an opportunity to be taken to a garbage dump. Naturally, such actions may seem quite logical, but not in this situation. Experienced gardeners are well aware of the benefits of using green grass and weeds as fertilizer.

Compost made from grass, weeds and plant residues is an ideal fertilizer that can be applied regularly, independently and without significant time and money.

Humus composition

To make good humus, a number of conditions and rules must be observed.

So, in order to achieve the required result, it is necessary that the following elements be included in the composition of humus:

• green grass;
• hay;
• straw;
• weeds;
• green branches, leaves;
• plant roots along with the ground;
• sawdust;
• bark;
• vegetables;
• fruits;
• ash;
• bird droppings;
• manure;
• special additives to speed up the composting process.

Grass is a fundamental component of compost, but it cannot be used alone, otherwise the summer resident may receive silage instead of fertilizer, or liquid slurry, which is a rotting product, and is unsuitable for use as fertilizer. It is important to remember that humus must be clean and pleasantly smelling, and therefore, it is unacceptable to exclude from its composition:

• food of animal origin;
• human, dog, or cat feces;
• elements that are not subject to natural decomposition;
• chemical substances;
• weed seeds;
• plants infected with pests and fungal diseases.

When making a compost pyramid, you should avoid getting into it horsetail, hops and other plants, the seeds of which are not subject to decay processes. Once in the soil along with the fertilizer, these seeds will quickly sprout and contaminate the planting area, doing the opposite of the work for which the fertilizer was created.

The quality of humus can be influenced not only by its composition, but also by the storage conditions, therefore Special attention should be given to how to make a compost pit or box.

Compost pit, or compost bin

Before talking about getting humus, consider how to properly make a box, or a pit for storing it:

• The right place might be wooden box large volume, made from ordinary boards. Ready-made humus, sawdust, or chaff should be used as bedding. In the latter case, the bacteria necessary for fermentation will have to be added to the humus, which will not be necessary if you stock up in advance with a certain amount of last year's humus, which already has the proper number of bacteria. When making a box, you should make sure that one of its walls can be easily removed.
• Instead of a lid, you can use a piece of slate, or a dense greenhouse film. The device of the box should be such that moisture that has got into it has the opportunity not only to evaporate freely, but also to drain down, soaking into the ground.
• The compost bin should be located in a shaded area out of the reach of sunlight. It is also necessary to avoid excessive waterlogging or drying out of the compost.

As the bin fills with green grass, weeds, and the other ingredients listed above, the compost is mixed and hosed with water, allowing the lower deeply fermented layers to get out and speed up fertilizer preparation, making it more susceptible to microorganisms and bacteria.

It is imperative to maintain constant humidity and temperature in the compost bin.

To speed up the composting process, the green components of the plants are crushed using a conventional shovel. In addition, it is advisable to periodically add fresh soil to the compost bin, which will also increase the composting rate. The earth can fall into the box together with the roots of plants, so you should not rush to get rid of them when selecting plants suitable for creating humus.

Having unlimited space for carrying out gardening activities, you can use an ordinary pit, lined with slate from the inside, instead of a box. At the same time, a certain distance must be maintained between the slate sheets to maintain free air circulation. The compost pit is made in the same way as the box, trying to adhere to the puff cake principle, and constantly alternate large amounts of grass with some earth and sawdust.

In summer, the prepared humus is protected from rain, and in winter from the cold. In extreme cold, the compost bin is covered with a thick layer of straw, corn leaves, or old rags. V next year plant residues from the shelter can be used to prepare new compost.

Characteristics of grass compost

High-quality humus must meet the following characteristics:

• Colour. The color of the correct humus is dark brown. Humus sold for planting and fertilizing plants in markets and flower shops is usually black. Such humus is devoid of many beneficial trace elements and is obtained as a result of normal combustion under the influence of excessive high temperatures and high humidity.
• Smell. Properly prepared compost smells good. The smell of fresh humus gives off forest, mushrooms and dry leaves. If, when opening the compost bin, the grower smells rot and mold, then the process has been disrupted. In this case, it is necessary to remove the lid of the box and let the humus dry properly, and then dig it up, providing access fresh air to parts of compost that are lacking. If this does not help, you do not need to do anything else, the fertilizer will have to be thrown away, as it washes and becomes dangerous for plants.
• Composition. The correct humus is friable and friable. The degree of readiness of humus is determined by the ability to make a solid ball out of it. In addition, the presence of a large number of worms in the humus can be a sign of increased readiness of the fertilizer.

To do good fertilizer constantly, considerable experience and several years of practice are required. In the presence of optimal conditions grass, weeds and other plant elements will become humus only by the next summer cottage.

Precautionary measures

When planning to make a large amount of humus, you should take some precautions, for example:

• try to place the compost box away from sources of drinking water;
• placing the compost pit on uneven surface, care should be taken to ensure that it is below the well, or wells with water;
• you should not allow the compost to overheat, being under the scorching rays of the sun, humus may lose some of its useful qualities.

Accelerated composting

The maturation rate of compost depends on temperature, humidity and size compost pit... Natural cooking lasts from 3 months to 2 years, but thanks to modern technology, it is possible to speed it up.

Modern technologies make it possible to make humus much faster, which is quite realistic with regular watering of decaying elements with special additives. In addition, the size and weight of the grass affects the speed of composting. Ideally, all compost constituents should be crushed to minimum sizes and abundantly moisturized. Composting speed is directly related to the temperature that can be increased when added to compost. chicken droppings.

The bacteria that have formed in the compost can multiply faster with regular mixing of the humus, which is recommended at least once a week.

Compliance with the designated conditions, such as: creating a closed microclimate with high humidity and temperature; regular watering of compost with artificial additives; inclusion of chicken droppings in the compost; constant mixing of layers will allow you to achieve the desired result after 4–5 months.

Thus, to get the correct organic fertilizer of high quality, you must have a lot of patience and a willingness to tinker with not always pleasantly smelling ingredients. Good compost takes months or even years to prepare. The basis for fertilization is green grass and weeds, but it is possible to achieve real humus only with up to 7 components. Humus should be stored and processed in a special box, or pit, compost heaps and impromptu dumps should be avoided - this is not only not hygienic, but also hazardous to health.

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 the 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 roots of plants.
• 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. The most nutritious humus for plants is obtained from manure. 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 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 peel, 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 the humus prepared by your own hands so that it does not lose beneficial features? 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.