{"id":1704,"date":"2018-11-01T19:00:30","date_gmt":"2018-11-01T17:00:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/evs.curbadecultura.ro\/?p=1704"},"modified":"2018-11-02T21:43:04","modified_gmt":"2018-11-02T19:43:04","slug":"science-of-composting-in-simple-terms-compostul-pe-intelesul-tuturor","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/evs.curbadecultura.ro\/index.php\/2018\/11\/01\/science-of-composting-in-simple-terms-compostul-pe-intelesul-tuturor\/","title":{"rendered":"Science of composting in simple terms – Compostul pe \u00een\u021belesul tuturor"},"content":{"rendered":"

Composting<\/h2>\n

Have you ever heard about composting? No\u2026 well let me tell you what it is.
\nIn the simplest terms it\u2019s a cycle of life. Organic matters are naturally decomposed in a process called composting. This process recycles various organic materials or waste products and produces a soil conditioner (the compost).<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Simpler? A tree or a vegetable, maybe a fruit will grow, fall on the ground and most likely by next year same time will turn into dirt – and not just simple dirt, it will be highly nutritious dirt, extremely good for plants to grow. So living things (plants and such) are with time becoming hummus (a really good dirt for plants), and if you gather it pile in order to get hummus, you can call it composting.<\/p>\n

Now to business. Composting is highly recommended in agriculture. Some say that animals are the best fertiliser producers, but they are wrong: it is indeed good, but it contains a lot of acid so you need wait a few weeks or even months before using it as a compost. And not even mentioning the smell.\u00a0So, a better, less smelly way to compost is to start a compost pile. It is easy and if done RIGHT it will not smell at all! Also on the benefits side: in some cases it takes only 2 weeks before getting good and usable compost (awesome right?).<\/p>\n

What do you need for it?<\/h2>\n

Not much: you need space (depending how big is the compost pile).
\nAlso you need food leftovers, as these will be the things you want to get rid of and turning it in green stuff, known as a nutrition for compost.<\/p>\n

Another thing you need is referred to as brown stuff, that means old wood or paper, leaves that have turned to brown or old grass that is already brown. Brown stuff is a building block for composting.<\/p>\n

Lastly it needs some air and water. These are quite important things for compost. Since composting is a chemical reaction between brown and green stuff, if it does not get enough of air it will create a lot of gas (and yes it smells). Also with reaction like this compost piles can become hot and I mean REALLY hot. (Ever heard a compliment \u201cwow you are hotter than a compost pile\u201d? ) There are cases where dry compost piles have thought on fire, since in summer, a good compost pile has steady degrees of 60 C, and if it is not touched in long time it can grow to about 80 degrees C easily.<\/p>\n

Not to scare you, but no – the facts are not from some sort of science fiction movie, they are real.<\/p>\n

OK, lets start with a compost pile.<\/h2>\n

\"\"step 1: find a place in the shade on the middle of the day. In my home I have 1m diameter of fence circle, on the shade of a apple tree.<\/p>\n

step 2: start a kind of sandwich with brown stuff and green stuff. A compost pile is composed from 80% of brown stuff and 20%green stuff. Just imagine a sandwich from this and try to build one \u2026 you but a bit of brown stuff and add 1\/4th of\u00a0green stuff, on top of that again brown stuff, added 1\/4 green stuff and so on. Some tips would be also try to always end with brown stuff so it would not attract animals or flies (also it will prevent it from smelling)<\/p>\n

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Taking care of a compost pile<\/h2>\n

General rule is – if it smells you messed it up. That means it might not have enough of air, or too much of green stuff, meaning not enough of brown stuff to decompose that smelly green stuff.\u00a0Maybe your compost pile is black? That means its overheating and you need to stir it.\u00a0Yes its best to stir your compost pile once a week so it would not over heat and maybe to take that precious nutrition rich dirt that your plants grave for so so so so much.<\/p>\n

Urban compost<\/h2>\n

But wait! What if you live in a city and want to compost at home? There is an soulution. All yo\"\"u need is a bucket, green stuff (some food leftovers), a bit of brown stuff (a old news paper will do), some water and some WORMS. But not any worms: you need a handful of worms from special\u00a0species and you problem is solved (for example red wigglers\u00a0are most popular). These compost worms are awesome, they speed up composting remarkably and as result you can collect worm juice. All that these guys are doing is eating, reproducing and leaving behind their poo, so juice is actually their pee, one of the most powerful organic fertilisers. You have to mix it with water though, 10:1 for not killing the plant itself, as it it very concentrated.<\/p>\n

So, when composting in the city all you need to do is to water the little guys, feed them every once in a while, have a bit of time to time gather the compost and juice, and ooh – make sure that they will not get direct sunlight as this is what kills them.<\/p>\n

Yes and no in a compost pile<\/h2>\n

YES<\/p>\n