If there is a vegetable garden at the summer cottage, then there is also a compost pit on it. For any gardener, she is a real helper. On the one hand, it recycles vegetable and some household waste, and on the other hand, it gives a living fertile land, which is used for planting and caring for crops. It turns out a truly irreplaceable thing. However, not all so simple.
Incorrectly prepared compost can not only become a dead substrate, but also cause a lot of problems. Moreover, making a mistake is not as difficult as it might seem at first glance.
Composting mistakes
It would seem that it could be easier than composting. I dumped all the plant waste into the pit, mixed it and wait for the result. Sooner or later, everything will rot and the nutrient substrate will be ready. However, there are many nuances.
The most common mistake in composting is the wrong choice of raw materials. If you take waste with a different decay period, the substrate will be uneven, and undecomposed debris will fall under the plants. However, this is not so bad. It is much worse if at the end of the season among the raw materials there is tomato tops blackened by phytophthora, cucumber whips with traces of gray and root rot, as well as the remains of cabbage affected by keel. The introduction of compost from such components will inevitably lead to the spread of diseases and the death of crops. Fungal diseases get along well in a nutritious plant environment and continue their development on new plants.
Another popular mistake is to moisten compost raw materials with dishwashing water. This is convenient, since the remnants of food float in a basin of water, but it is harmful for the future substrate. The detergent solution kills the bacteria responsible for converting organic matter into humus. This slows down the composting process. In addition, the chemicals in the water partially remain in the ground and enter the garden along with the fertilizer.
In addition, severe souring of the compost is a typical problem. This is due to insufficient air exchange and prolonged stagnation of moisture. The reason is an illiterately designed pit box and a lack of regular mixing. The latter is especially important when working with homogeneous materials such as fine sawdust or chopped grass from a lawn mower. To solve the problem, it is necessary to drill large holes in the walls of the pit, and alternate plant waste with twigs.
Read also on my website -Can old newspapers be used for compost?
I recently got groups In contact with and Classmates, there I post announcements of new materials every day.