Homesfornh.com – Nowadays, the need for healthy food becomes a priority. Many people plant vegetables and fruits to fill the healthy food for a healthy life. They use organic fertilizer such as chicken manure and compost. Compost is an organic fertilizer from organic waste by the composting process. The good quality of the plant comes from the soil and nutrition for the growth. Compost helps you to get healthier soil for your beautiful garden. The organic ingredients stimulate your plant to grow well. As an organic fertilizer, you can make compost. By compiling dried leaves on the yard, straws, wood ashes, chicken manure, and kitchen waste such as eggshells, rotten vegetables, rotten fruits, then mixing it to make a great compost may reduce the cost to buy the synthetic fertilizers.

Benefits of Using Compost for Plants

Using compost gives you many benefits. You can be free from using chemicals that damage the quality of your gardening soil. By using a gardening soil of good quality, you can get a beautiful garden with ornamental plants, vegetables or other plants that are healthy and grow well. For that, here are some of the benefits you will get from using compost.

• Increasing the soil to absorb more minerals
• Make the soil more fertile and enrich with humus
• Increasing the cation capacity
• Mend the soil’s structures
• Contains organic acids (humic acid, fulvic acid, soil’s enzyme)
• As a medium for the beneficial organism to live

By knowing a few things above, you can better understand the function of compost for your plants. That way, you can be more enthusiastic about using compost instead of synthetic fertilizer.

Characteristics of Good Compost

After knowing some of the benefits of using compost, the next topic that we will discuss is some of the characteristics of good compost. Good compost will provide effective functions for your plants to grow better. For that, let’s discuss this topic about a good compost one by one.

• Compost has the same odor as the soil

After the composting process, the organic waste should imitate the smell of fertile soil. The disentangle process creates a natural smell like the soil and it is the sign that the compost is ready.

• Compost has brown color with black combination

Compost will turn into brown color with a hint of black when the composting process ends. Some ingredients make the compost color becomes darker such as dried leaves and straws. The color tone depends on the ingredients.

• If you pour compost in the water, it is not soluble and doesn’t change the water color.

The good compost has a solid structure like the fertile soil. It will not change the watercolor into a brown color because the compost will sink. This way is useful to check the quality of compost.

• Compost doesn’t grow the weeds when you apply it to the soil

Weed is the unnecessary little plants around the plant. This weed will lessen the productivity of the plant and inviting other pests. When you pour the compost on the soil, a good compost shouldn’t stimulate the weeds to grow.

• Compost has a balanced temperature with the environment

Sometimes, the temperature in the composting process is high then you turn the compost to balance the temperature in the materials. When it is ready to use, the temperature is normal to adjust to the environment.

How to Make a Good Compost

After knowing the benefits of compost and the characteristics of good compost, the next topic that we will discuss is an easy way to make it. You can make compost easily from your home. Use organic waste and other materials around your house to make compost. Thus, you can save money to make your plants grow better. For more details, let’s discuss.

• Prepare The Place for Composting

At some composting techniques, you do not need the container for the composting process, but if you prefer to use a container then it’s fine. Put all of the ingredients on the bare earth. Let the beneficial organisms such as worms to help the composting process. Dry it for awhile.

• Arrange The Compost Ingredient

If your ingredient has a big form, chop it into at least 5 centimeters. To filter the water along the composting process. Put the dry material in the lowest layer. Spread the wood ashes in every layer. The dried leaves and straws should be in that position and the moist ingredients on the upper layer.

• Water it Regularly

Watering the pile of compost intends to keep the compost moist. The composting process is better in a moist condition. It helps the beneficial organism to compost the materials. Sprinkle it by using enough water, because you shouldn’t water it over to avoid the soak compost. The soak compost takes the composting process longer.

• Cover it

To maintain the moist compost, you should cover it by using the material that prevents the moisture compost becomes dry. Plastic or wood will retain the temperature in the composting process. Moreover, it keeps the temperature in the pile of material still warm. It helps the beneficial organism in the composting.

• Check it Every Week

Checking the compost regularly makes you know to control the progress of composting. Turn it every week to get the whole compost mixed well. Aerating the compost by turning the compost to get oxygen. After turning the material, cover it again until the compost is ready to use. Repeating this step depends on the amount of compost. If you have lots of materials, it takes longer, even months to get the good compost.

Conclusion

That is our discussion about Easy Ways to Make Your Plants Grow Well Using Compost. Compost has many benefits to the soil. If you apply it to the solid soil, it loosens the soil. The fertile soil stimulates the plant to grow well. Compost enriches the soil with humic acid, fulvic acid, soil’s enzyme. Moreover, compost makes the microorganism grows well and fertile the soil. To create the compost, there are many methods to choose from. Some methods belong to a certain condition of the environment. Before you start to make compost, analyze your environment, especially the soil. Hopefully, this article is useful to you.