Any gardener or gardener knows that without compost, sometimes without hands. But few people know that you can make compost even in a city apartment - moreover, without stink and with minimal difficulties. I want to share some of the methods that I use myself or that my friends use.
EM bucket
The easiest way is to put food waste (primarily vegetable waste) in an EM bucket. This abbreviation itself means "effective microorganisms). The principle of operation of the EM bucket is simple:
- Put food waste in a container with a mesh bottom.
- Humidify abundantly.
- We add an EM biopreparation there - a concentrate of live bacteria or spores that decompose organic matter.
- Microbes decompose garbage into compost, and liquid accumulates below (for this, all EM buckets are equipped with a mesh bottom).
- The compost is added in layers until the container is full.
- After 30-40 days, we have a ready-made fertilizer - or a semi-finished product for feeding vermiculture (more on that later).
Ready-made buckets can be ordered online or made independently. Out of curiosity, I made a design for myself from two ordinary plastic buckets:
- I made holes in the bottom of one bucket with a 3 mm drill.
- I firmly inserted one bucket into another (the handles had to be removed) and sealed the joint.
- I drilled a hole in the side of the lower bucket and inserted a faucet into it to drain the liquid (the faucet, so as not to mess around, was borrowed from a wine bag).
- I picked up a lid that would fit snugly on the upper bucket (here I had to carry most of all - I had to immediately take not a bucket, but a container from under a water-based emulsion or another similar one).
The design turned out to be crooked, but it works. During the winter, sometimes it is possible to prepare up to 100 liters (by volume) of finished compost. It is obtained from any plant residues (except citrus fruits - it is better not to throw their skins), paper, cardboard, leftovers (again: it’s better not to throw bones, and in general with meat and fish leftovers, not everything simply). The main thing is to grind it well and buy a good EM preparation.
By the way, the liquid that accumulates in the EM container is very good for cleaning clogged pipes: there are a lot of bacteria that quickly eat up the fatty plug. Well, it also helps me a lot when in the spring I lay a large compost heap: with the help of this concentrate, the compost matures much earlier.
Vermicomposter
This is a device for processing waste with the help of worms. Worms (usually these are Californian red ones, they are more effective than ordinary rain worms) devour the remains of food, releasing vermicompost at the exit, which is even more valuable than compost.
You can buy a composter, but it costs from 8 thousand rubles and more. So I tried to do it myself:
- I took three containers made of opaque plastic (worms love the dark). I had three ready-made ones, I don’t remember where three identical plastic boxes came from on the farm. I drilled more holes in the upper one so that the vermicompost fell down, on average I made several holes to drain the liquid down. Well, I did nothing with the bottom container.
- I inserted the containers one into one so that there were no gaps between them.
- The top one also covered with a lid to reduce the smell. There is no need to seal here: worms need oxygen. In addition, in the vermicomposter, processing is carried out by worms, and not by microorganisms, unpleasant odors are emitted little. But I made a cover just in case.
- I filled the upper container with a third of the small paper waste and sprayed it well with water. After that, he placed there the worms that he had bought in advance.
- A little later, letting the worms come to their senses after transportation, I added finely chopped vegetable debris to them (in my case, this there were potato sprouts and finely chopped withered potatoes: sinful, I forgot the bag with it in the kitchen cabinet - but it sprouted).
- For two or three days, the "worm" did not touch. Then, noticing that 2/3 of the substrate was in the middle box in the form of humus, he added new food to the worms and moistened it again.
After making sure that the composter works, I gave it to a friend: the worms need a temperature of 18-20 degrees, but I don’t have a warm loggia, there’s nowhere to keep it. So he still works for him: from time to time the composter is disassembled, biohumus is sent to its destination, the liquid is used to feed indoor flowers.
Conclusion
The EM bucket will fit perfectly even in a small kitchen. If it is done correctly, it does not smell, and it brings a lot of benefits. A vermicomposter is a little more capricious and larger, but it gives a more effective fertilizer at the output. So, not forgetting about the usual compost heap, I also use them. Have you tried these home fertilizer devices? If yes, then share your experience: it will be interesting for me and other readers.
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#compost#do it yourself#home composter