Make, buy and use

the essentials in brief

• Compost accelerator you can make it yourself with yeast and sugar or from plant manure.
• Settlement of additional Compost worms accelerates humus formation.
• Good compost accelerators available on the market are powders and are composed of living microorganisms and natural ingredients.

Which compost accelerators are there? - Overview

There is a large selection of compost accelerators

When the compost decomposes in slow motion, impatient hobby gardeners can push the process forward. You can do this with a compost accelerator. They are liquid or powdered agents that add new microorganisms and encourage existing microorganisms to become more active. The conversion process then kicks in, so that instead of 12 months you only have to wait 6 to 8 weeks for ripe, nutritious garden compost. You can make a quick composter yourself or buy it. The following table gives an overview:

These resources accomplish their beneficial function in the existing and newly created compost. If you fill a raised bed with compost, each layer benefits from a serving of rotting accelerator. The aim is to offer hard-working soil organisms and compost bacteria an ideal living environment. Where there is enough food and cozy warmth, the compost helpers work like crazy, multiply explosively and produce nutritious ones humus in record time.

Make your own compost accelerator - home remedy recipe

A super compost accelerator can be made from sugar, yeast and water

The home remedies for a DIY compost accelerator are on the kitchen shelf. Water provides the necessary moisture. Sugar serves as an energy supplier for the hot rots. Fresh yeast contains fungi that turn to the decomposition of organic matter. The following recipe has proven itself excellently in practice. How to make a compost accelerator yourself:

Ingredients and accessories

• 0.5 kg sugar or 200-250 ml sugar syrup (molasses)
• 8 l warm, collected Rainwater or stale tap water
• 1 cube of fresh yeast (alternatively in sachets of dry yeast)
• Wooden stick or wooden spoon
• bucket
• Watering can
• optional: compost thermometer

use

Pour the warm water into the bucket, crumble the yeast cube and stir vigorously. As you stir, the yeast dissolves and oxygen is supplied. Now add sugar or molasses and stir again until everything has dissolved. Now the solution should sit for an hour. Stir the finished DIY compost accelerator vigorously one last time before pouring the liquid into the watering can. Water the compost heap and mix the material. In the following 2 to 3 days the temperature rises and the heat fermentation takes the desired course. You can monitor the process with a compost thermometer in order to intervene in a regulating manner at temperatures below 15 ° and above 80 ° Celsius.

Digression

Sugar-water speeds up horse manure rotting

Settle compost worms - this is how it works

Compost worms can be bought in specialist shops or ordered online

Compost worms are the main players in the compost heap. The special subspecies of the well-known earthworm mostly finds its way to garden compost on its own. Does the immigration of beneficial insects in the compost heap or raised bed leave something to be desired? Then you can increase the population. For this purpose, worm farms offer live compost worms. How to use farmed compost worms as compost accelerators:

1. Order compost worms (per m³ of compost, corresponds to 450 l, at least 1000 worms)
2. Delivery includes 1.5 kg of worm humus per 1000 copies
3. Spread on the compost on the day of arrival

Please give serious sellers the preference, the live compost worms only from Monday Deliver by Thursday in a sufficient amount of worm humus for an animal-friendly Transport. In the summer, worm farms testify to their competence, which send compost worms together with reusable cool packs.

Plant manure as a compost accelerator - Instructions

Plant manure is not only available to the hobby gardener as an organic liquid fertilizer. Nettle, comfrey or valerian leaves serve as a great compost accelerator for free after the fermentation process. The following instructions explain how to correctly prepare and properly use plant manure:

Ingredients and accessories

• Vat or rain barrel
• 10 l of rainwater
• 1 kg leaves of non-flowering nettles, comfrey or valerian plants
• Wooden stir bar
• Rabbit wire

Manufacture and application

Nettle manure is a great compost accelerator

Set up the planter in a remote, partially shaded corner of the garden. Throw in the collected leaves and pour the rainwater over the green. To prevent curious children or pets from falling into the manure, cover the bin with rabbit wire. Stir the liquid every day for the next two to three weeks. The fermentation process is complete when the formation of bubbles has come to a standstill. Remove the fermented leaves with a sieve or a ladle.

It is important to note the correct dilution, because pure plant manure is too concentrated for use as a compost accelerator. As a rule of thumb, you should mix 1 part vegetable manure and 9 parts water. Pour one liter of liquid manure into a 10 liter watering can and fill up to the brim with rainwater. Use this solution to sprinkle an unwilling compost heap with a volume of at least 1 cubic meter.

Compost accelerator - top 5

Hobby gardeners with limited time fall back on ready-to-use commercial products to get their hesitant compost going. Premium quality offers are based on natural ingredients such as nitrogen, potassium, horn meal and trace elements. The main components are dried, living microorganisms and fungi. The following overview lists purchasing sources and prices for five recommended compost accelerators:

• Humofix: from 3 EUR / piece, directly from the Benedictine Abbey of Fulda, on Amazon or Ebay
• Oscorna compost accelerator: from 9.48 EUR / 5 kg on Ebay, Haas, Rubart, Westfalia, Amazon
• Neudorff Radivit: from 16.49 EUR / 5 kg on Amazon, Ebay, in garden centers and hardware stores
• Beckmann Schnellkomposter: from 7.75 EUR / 2.5 kg on Amazon, Rubart, Ebay, in garden centers and hardware stores
• Dehner organic compost accelerator: from 9.90 EUR / 5 kg at Dehner, Amazon, Ebay

Our front runner comes straight from the monastery garden and is out of the ordinary in many ways. Humofix consists of 5 medicinal herbs, oak bark, lactose and honey and is dissolved in water. The compost activator is extremely economical to use. Just one sachet with 1.2 grams of herbal powder accelerates the rotting process in 2 cubic meters of compost.

use

Commercially available compost accelerators of the best quality are made up of natural ingredients. The main components are organic NPK fertilizer, plant matter, fungal substrates, living microorganisms and compost bacteria. As a rule, 1 kilogram of the powder is enough for the conversion process to run at full speed in 2 to 3 cubic meters of compost. How to properly apply the funds:

• use: Sprinkle powder directly on the compost
• distribution: distribute in stages on each 20 cm high layer
• dosage: 25-30 g per m²
• complement: Apply 3-5 cm of sieved garden soil

The effectiveness is optimized if you turn the compost at least once. Good ventilation ensures that the activated microorganisms do not run out of air. Please cover the compost with reed mats or compost fleece to protect against heavy rain.

frequently asked Questions

Which compost accelerators are suitable for cutting lawns?

Lawn should dry out before composting

Before using compost accelerators for lawn clippings, important preparatory work must be observed. Let the clippings wither first. Then mix dry leaves, chopped twigs or soil under the lawn clippings in a ratio of 1: 3. This measure is important for good ventilation and a smooth supply of oxygen to the microorganisms. As a compost accelerator, sprinkle over every 20 centimeter high layer Algae lime and Horn shavings.(€ 32.93 at Amazon *) Alternatively, you can shower the clippings compost with Humofix.

Can you use compost accelerators at any time of the year?

Yes, you can use compost accelerators all year round. It is important to observe frost-free weather conditions for a smooth effect. The decomposition starts to stutter at temperatures below 15 ° Celsius. If the temperatures drop below freezing point, the rotting process comes to a complete standstill, so that the use of compost accelerators is useless.

Do compost worms also help as a compost accelerator in horse manure?

In fact, the earthworm species Eisenia Andrei, Eisenia hortensis and Eisenia fetida have proven to be excellent helpers in transforming horse manure into humus in the shortest possible time. If the compost worms are there in sufficient numbers, even horse stable owners do not stay long on useless horse manure. The valued provider Wurmwelten.de offers 6000 compost worms in worm compost, which enthusiastically dedicate themselves to a 6 cubic meter pile of horse manure and process it into humus.

Tips

With a compost accelerator, autumnal mountains of leaves are transformed into fertile humus by spring. Simply sweep up the tree grates, distribute the turbo composter and secure against the autumn wind with some earth. Please do not forget to pile up one or two piles of leaves untreated as life-saving winter quarters for Hedgehog and other small animals in need of housing.