When is compost ready?
When compost is ready depends on what materials you used. That also plays an important role temperaturethat prevailed during the so-called hot rotting.
also read
- Put walnut leaves on the compost?
- Fertilizing plants with compost - what should be considered?
- Put thuja on top of the compost
A well-built compost will be ready in about six to nine months. For materials that only rot slowly, such as Thuja, Walnut leaves or the like, the rotting can take significantly longer.
To cut the time, mix the compost regularly and dig it up at least once a year.
The different types of compost
- Young compost (fresh compost)
- Ripe compost
- Compost soil
Fresh compost is very rich in nutrients and must therefore not be given directly to the roots of plants.
Ripe compost is a fertilizer that releases nutrients only slowly and is therefore suitable as a Slow release fertilizer. Over-fertilization is almost impossible with this compost.
This is what compost looks like when it's ripe
- Stable crumbs
- relaxed
- slight smell of forest
- dark brown to black
Thicker components such as nutshells or pieces of branch should be sieved out. They then come back on the compost and can continue to rot there.
The cress test
If you want to check that your compost is really ripe, do the cress test. For this you need three small flower pots, two of which you fill with compost and one with cotton wool or similar material.
Sow cress. If as many cress plants have developed in the compost pots as in the cotton wool pot after seven days, the compost is ripe.
Use mature compost soon
The sooner you use mature compost, the better it is. He grows to Compost soil. The longer you wait to use it, the more the valuable nutrients break down.
You can use compost soil dampen and as Potting soil use. This soil is also ideal as a mulch material.
Tips
For the fertilization in the garden you calculate about three liters Compost per square meter Garden area. But the amount also depends on which plants you use fertilize want.
