Thursday, October 23, 2014
Composting Report From LCHS
By: Sydney Hall, Lauren Perry, and Katie Gibbs, LCHS Agriculture Department, Environmental Science Class
Composting is where you take dead organic matter such as plants and animals and turn it into usable soil amendment. Compost nourishes the soil, which naturally helps plants thrive.
Composting also helps reduce water erosion, wind erosion, synthetic fertilizer and pesticide use. Compost can reduce your fertilizer cost and reduce the amount of garbage we put in landfills every day.
Compost is much less likely to burn plant foliage and greatly improves soil structure. Composting occurs naturally from decaying organic materials. Composting is easy and only takes a few minutes a week.
There are two types of materials that you can use to create your compost. These are called browns and greens. Greens include manure, kitchen scraps, grass clippings, etc.
Then there are the browns which are straw, leaves, bark, wood chips, newspaper, etc. Materials that will not work are meat, fish scraps, dairy products, cat or dog feces, grease, and bones.
The three things you need to create high quality compost are the proper mix, aeration, and moisture. The proper mix is how you combine your greens and browns.
Typically, your mix would contain two parts green to one part brown. Greens are high in nitrogen and decompose quickly. Browns are high in carbon and decompose slowly.
Together, these two make the perfect combination for decomposition. The second thing you need is proper aeration. Aeration is how you supply your compost with oxygen by turning or stirring the compost.
The last ingredient is moisture. If your compost is too dry, it will not work, same as it being too moist.
You can test your compost to see if it is on the correct moisture level by squeezing a handful of the compost. If less than a few drops of water fall, you can add water to it. Be careful not to add too much water, or the nutrients can be leached out.
Composting is the better option when compared to chemical fertilizers because it is cheaper, made from natural ingredients, and a good time-saving method.
