Culture and Horticulture by Wolf D. Storl

Author:Wolf D. Storl [Storl, Wolf D.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 978-1-58394-568-1
Publisher: North Atlantic Books
Published: 2013-02-19T05:00:00+00:00

Compost Ingredients

Any organic substance can be composted. There are different types of composts that can be made from different materials for different purposes. Common garden compost can be made from organic garbage, weeds, manures of domestic animals, leaves, paper, and sod. The ingredients should be mixed as well as possible; this is even better than layering the ingredients. Chopping the materials as finely as possible with a silage chopper or shredder can be of great advantage, especially when dealing with such ingredients as sunflower stems, cabbage or corn stalks, and other tough haulms. A neighborhood or a garden club could share the cost of a compost shredder.

The carbon-nitrogen ratio (C-N ratio), the relative amount of carbon to nitrogen in the compost materials, is of major importance in correctly setting up a compost. Sawdust, which has 500 parts carbon to 1 part nitrogen, is said to have a wide ratio, whereas sludge, which has a ratio of 6 parts carbon to 1 part nitrogen, is said to be close. An ideal C-N ratio at the start of the composting process is about 30:1 or 25:1. After the compost starts working, it will lose volume due to the escape of carbon dioxide and water vapor, which brings the end product close to an ideal of a 15:1 to 20:1 ratio.

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