How to Make Compost Fertilizer

Using compost fertilizer is a good way to make depleted soil nutrient-rich again. With some compost fertilizer, you can transform your lawn or garden. But what is the exact method of making compost fertilizer? Read this post to learn how to make compost fertilizer.

Why compost

The main goal of making compost fertilizer to enrich the soil, but there are many other benefits of composting. Beneficial microorganisms grow in the soil, and they create humus. Humus retains moisture and increases nutrient content. Compost fertilizer can also suppress many types of plant diseases.

Explosives, polyaromatic hydrocarbons and heating fuels and other organic compounds contaminate soil. Using compost fertilizer is a good way to clean up contaminated soil. Compost fertilizer prevents heavy metals from being absorbed by plants or migrating to water resources.

Before you learn how to make compost fertilizer, you must know why you are doing it in the first place. Compost fertilizer can cleanup contaminated soil by eliminating chlorinated hydrocarbons, pesticides and wood preservatives.  

Types of composting

Before you dive into action, it is good to know that composting is of two types: cold and hot. Cold composting is collecting eggshells, coffee grounds, vegetable peels, fruit and other organic materials in a bin or pile. These materials decompose in a year or so.

Hot composting is a faster process, and serious gardeners do it. During warm weather, the process can be done in just 1-3 months. You need these 4 ingredients for hot compost: air, water, carbon and nitrogen.

The type of composting you need to do will depend on what you are going to do with the compost fertilizer. It depends on whether you are an experienced farmer or a DIY enthusiast.

These ingredients feed microorganisms, and as a result the process of decay accelerates. Garden waste is plentiful in fall or spring. Making hot compost is easier in these seasons. But it does not mean that you can not make hot compost in other seasons. You can do it in any season of the year.

Worm composting is known as vermicompost. Food scraps release castings as worms eat food scraps. For this, only red worms are not enough; you need red wigglers. If you visit a garden supplier or an online shop, you can purchase worms for composting.

What to compost

Composting is a way to get rid of the things you do not need. And to make compost fertilizer, you need a compost bin. We suggest is a dual rotating outdoor garden compost bin used by serious gardeners.

However, you can also use a homemade compost bin. Now let’s see what materials you can compost:

• Vegetable scraps
• Fruit scraps
• Grass and plant clippings
• Eggshells
• Coffee grounds
• Shredded newspaper
• Dry leaves
• Sawdust
• Straw

 What not to compost

There are some materials you should never try to compost. If you want to know how to make compost fertilizer, you must know what items to avoid. They do not work well, and they attract pests and animals. Here are some items to avoid:

• Diseased plant materials
• Anything containing oil, meat, grease or fat
• Sawdust from pressure-treated wood
• Dairy products
• Cat or dog feces

The procedure

Now we are going to show you the step-by-step procedure of making compost fertilizer. Please not that it is a general guideline, and you always have the freedom to do it in your own way. But these instructions will help you understand a good way to do it.

Step 1                

First of all, you have to combine all the materials: green and brown. Do not dive into action if you do not have enough materials to make a hot compost heap. Make sure the pile is 2-3 feet deep. Combine the wet items with the dry items.

Wood shavings, hay or straw and dried newspaper are some dried materials. They have carbon. Grass trimmings, fresh plant, animal manures, coffee grounds and kitchen scraps are some “green” materials. These materials have a lot of nitrogen. In your compost pile, the ration of brown to green materials should be 3:1.

If you want to learn how to make compost fertilizer, knowing the exact ratio of brown to green materials is a must. More brown items can be added if the pile of compost looks wet. And you can add some green items if the pile looks too dry. To make it moist, you can add some water.

Step 2

Now you have to water the pile. Sprinkle water over the heap to make it like a damp sponge. Do not sprinkle too much water because it will drown the microorganisms in the pile. Remember, your goal is to compost the materials, not to rot them.

Use a thermometer to monitor the temperature of the heap. This is a way to know whether the materials are decomposing properly. You can also put your hand into the pile to know if it feels warm.

Step 3

Now you have to stir up the pile to mix everything well. Use a garden fork to do it. The goal is to provide oxygen to the pile. Turn the compost when the thermometer reads around 140 degrees Fahrenheit.

To learn how to make compost fertilizer, you must know the right way to stir the pile. If you stir it well, the material will not become matted down, and it will cook faster. So we highly encourage you to stir up the pile. This is an important part of the process.

Make sure that the layers of the pile have equal amounts of brown and green materials. For this, you have to stir the pile thoroughly. Aerate it regularly to make the composting process faster. 

Step 4

Feeding your garden is the last step of the process. How do you know when the compost is ready? Well, it is ready when it becomes brown, dry and crumbly. With the arrival of each planting season, add 5 inches of compost to your pots and your flower beds.

You can use your finished compost to make some “compost tea”. The process takes several days because you have to allow the compost to “steep” in water. After straining it, you will get some liquid fertilizer. If you are interested in learning how to make compost fertilizer, you should also know about this liquid fertilizer.

We have tried to show you the step by step procedure of making compost fertilizer. If you follow the steps, hopefully you will be able to make some good compost fertilizer. This is one of the best ways to add nutrients to the soil of your garden.

As a gardener, you are not obliged to do things the way other gardeners do. Your composting method should be in line with your lifestyle. But now matter how you do it, composting is very easy. You can make an amazing treat for your garden with just some patience and a few kitchen scraps.

Last update on 2024-04-10 / Affiliate links / Images from Amazon Product Advertising API