Compost

WHAT IS COMPOST ?

Compost is basically a combination of vegetation and manures, upon which microbes and other organisms feed to convert into Humic and Furvic acids.

Organic matter improves all soils. If the soil has too much clay the organic matter increases the porosity of the soil, so that it drains better, allowing more oxygen, and preventing water logging. The water is absorbed into the soil, and does not run off, preventing soil erosion. If the soil is too sandy soils organic matter retains water in the soil, and stops the soil drying out, keeping the roots moist, and cutting down on watering. So organic matter makes all soils better!

Fresh organic matter decomposes too quickly for plant roots, and burns them.
If it is not mixed into the soil it can prevent good drainage of water, harming the plants.
It can take too much nitrogen from the soil to break it down, causing temporary shortage in the plants.
It is difficult to plough and cultivate.
If it decomposes without oxygen it can give out harmful soil pathogens, as they are anaerobic.

Most animal manure is good organic matter. It can be obtained easily; it is cheap; it contains plenty of nitrogen; it has good draining qualities for clay soil. Most animal manure is low in phosphorus, but manure grows soil microbes which release phosphorus and potash from the soil by changing the chemical salts.

Fresh manure can burn plants, because it gets hot as it decomposes, and is too acid for the plants. Fresh manure will take four weeks to cool off. It must be near the soil surface so that the microbes can breathe oxygen and work quickly. Rotten manure is poor because it has lost most of the nitrates and potash as they are washed out by rain and broken down by too much air. Manure that decomposes under cover, without rain, wind or sunshine does not go rotten, and is very valuable. It can be applied straight to the soil just before planting, without burning the plants. It still has all the nutrients of the fresh manure. It makes the soil loose and soft for the plants to grow well. Chicken manure is dangerous to use by itself, even when decomposed, as it is too strong for the roots of plants.

Green manure is produced from plants. It is the cheapest way of adding organic matter to the soil. All that is required is to grow the green manure crop, and usually as it begins to flower, you plough it into the soil. Legumes such as peas and soyabeans make good green manure but they must be planted thickly so that they stop weeds growing up. They can be left after ploughing in for two weeks and then the crop can be planted in the soil. Green manure is the quickest way of getting organic matter into the soil.

Making compost is a method of combining green organic matter and animal manure to get the best advantage from both of them. It is much better than animal manure or green manure because the animal manure apart from all the nutrients that it has, allows a lot of microbes to grow and turn the green manure and any dry vegetation that you have into humic and fulvic acid which gives the food for the microbes in the soil once the compost has been applied. It is the microbes in the soil that convert the minerals into natural fertiliser for the plants to grow on.

So the best method of farming with nature is to help her by giving the best food to the millions of microbes in the soil. This food is aerobic compost. Nature makes compost all the time by breaking down all the plants that die and fall on the soil. The soil is then in balance to grow wild grass, bushes and trees. Human beings need to produce more food for themselves, such as vegetables and fruit. So we have to enrich the natural soil because the crops we grow to eat need this enriched soil. By adding compost every year we can increase the production of food by a huge amount. It will take at least four years of composting to get to maximum production, but after that the amount of compost per annum can be cut from 100 cubic meters per hectare to 40 cubic meters per year to keep the soil producing at maximum levels.

Sir Albert Howard is the modern father of compost making. Compost has been made by man for thousands of years to improve the soil. He invented his method 100 years ago, and we have only changed his method to suit individual cultures and countries around the World. Africa has a hotter climate than England, where he lived, so our compost is made more quickly, and the microbes eat it more quickly, so that we need more compost in the soil. In England they start with 30 cubic meters a hectare per annum. After many years we have found that we need 100 cubic meters per year. In Mozambique, which is hotter than South Africa, we needed 150 cubic meters for the same results.

The microbes in the heap of compost need a lot of air to breathe and multiply. As the compost heap gets very hot, the air in the compost rises and comes out of the top. Therefore we have to get as much air into the bottom of the compost heap as we can. So the first layer that we put on the ground has to be of coarse material, at least 20 cm thick. The best material for this is old mealie stalks, mealie cobs, dry khaki bush and dry reeds from the rivers or dams. Sticks and branches can also be used if they are freely available such as next to a gum plantation or a pine plantation where old branches can be picked up easily. This is the most important layer in the whole compost heap, and if it is made properly it can be used to make compost for up to three years before it all goes rotten and soft.

The heap of compost should be one fence dropper wide and two fence droppers long that is, 1.30 m x 2.60 m. and should be the same size for each layer right to the top of the heap, which when finished should be 1.8 m high. (6 ft. in the old language – as tall as a tall man). It is very important to make sure that each layer is the same size as the layer below, because if the heap gets thinner at the top, too much air comes in at the sides near the top and dries out the heap. After the first layer is neatly made right to the corners the next layer should be 30 cm thick made of dry grass and weeds. On top of this layer comes 15 cm of green material such as weeds like khakhi bush and blackjacks which should be cut when they are flowering, before they make seeds.

Then comes the first layer of manure which should be cow manure or sheep manure and this must be 10 cm thick. When this is levelled a hole 20 cm in diameter must be dug exactly in the middle of the heap and a wooden pole or iron pipe 1.8 m long and at least 15 cm in diameter must be put in this hole to stand straight up. The cow manure can then be packed around it to hold it in position. Each layer built afterwards will be around the pole but care must be taken that the corners of each layer are the same level as the layer at the pole. This is very important as it helps to keep the water in the compost so that the water does not run out of the sides of each layer but goes straight downwards towards the bottom. Each layer must be made as level as possible, the next layer will be a repeat of the first one, namely 30 cm of dry material followed by 15 cm of green material.

The next layer of manure should be of chicken or pigeon manure and if this is not available, then fresh goat or sheep manure can be used which should also be 10 cm thick. Carry on making these layers using any manure available for each layer until the heap is 1.8 m high that is the top of the pole and is still 1.3 x 2.6 m in size on top.

The last layer must be fresh manure, chicken or cow, 10 cm thick. This manure at the top will attract flies to lay their eggs. The eggs hatch into maggots in 1 day. When the compost gets hot the maggots all die, and so good compost will kill off all the flies.

When this layer is level five holes are made along each side evenly spaced at least 30 cm from the edge through the layer of manure and about 30 cm in diameter. When this has all been done, then 50 liters of water must be poured into each hole, that is 500 liters of water althogether. This takes a lot of time but is the most important job in making the compost because that water will slowly run down the whole heap and make it damp so that all the microbes will start to breed very fast and make the heap hot. After this water has been added, the compost heap will sink down about 45 cm because of the weight of the water. This will make the pole stick out at the top and will settle all the layers nicely. So after two days, when the pole is sticking out at the top and the layers have settled, the pole must be pulled straight up and out, leaving a hole right to the bottom of the compost.

This chimney will then allow all the hot moist air to come out of the top of the compost and will suck fresh air into the bottom rough layer giving all the microbes a lot of oxygen to breathe. The heap will get very hot in one day and after that each hole in the top must get one bucket of water every day unless there is plenty of rain. This will keep the whole heap nice and moist without becoming too wet. If you put your hand into the heap halfway up the side and pull out some of the compost from at least 30 cm inside you squeeze it to see that it is nice and damp. If water runs out of your hand then you are putting on too much water so that you must cut down to half a bucket a hole per day until the inside is damp but not wet. If the heap is too wet the oxygen cannot get in from the bottom and the good microbes, which need air to breathe, will die. The bad microbes, called anaerobic microbes because they do not need air to live, will multiply and turn the heap into bad compost which is slimy, poisonous and has a nasty smell. Good compost has a lovely fresh smell and smells like the leaves rotting on the forest floor.

After four weeks you must not water for one week and then you must turn the compost by making a heap next to your original heap where everything in the heap gets mixed together. The course layer at the bottom of the heap is left and used to make a new heap.

This turned heap will be about 1 m high and must be made the same size as the old heap, namely 1.30 m x 2.60 m and it also needs a pole in the middle. You then water this new heap for one week at the same rate of 100 litres per day and of course you pull the pole out after the first day. You will have noticed that the first heap started off very hot and then got gradually colder and colder until after four weeks it was only warm inside. The new heap will also get hot but will cool down in one week. Then leave it for one week with no water and the compost will be ready to be put on the land.

You put it on the land at the rate of 2 x 10 litre buckets level full per sq. metre of soil. Spread it out evenly and dig it into the top layers of the soil with a hoe or a fork. You can then plant your crop immediately. The compost in the soil will keep the soil moist so that you don’t have to water more than twice a week and you can plant as soon as you have finished digging the compost in and watering the soil for the first time.

One handful of good compost has more living microbes in it than all the people in the world. It is these living microbes that make your soil rich by making all the minerals locked in the soil available to the plants’ roots. Make the compost in a place where there is some wind so that the air gets into the compost heap from all sides and the carbon dioxide comes out of the top of the heap because it is hot and rises. If you make your compost in the shade where there is little wind, the compost will take two months longer to be ready.