Wednesday, January 19, 2011

My Maiden attempt to make compost at home- the results have arrived

Plants need to be taken care of like kids - they need to be given good feed and water. Watering alone is not really sufficient to keep them growing. Plants need minerals and nutrients. While buying readymade "nutrient" packs from the store is one option, most often, they mostly chemicals which do more harm than good.
A better alternative is to make compost at home. I read about it on the Internet and started to do home composting about three months back. And finally, the results have arrived.

A description of the output first... Its a nice, good-to-smell black powder and it appears so nice and good, considering what went into making it. I am just adding this to the soil with a little prayer on my lips, seeking bountiful fruits, flowers and vegetables in my garden.

Coming to the input and process...Just kept piling up vegetable and fruit peels, fallen leaves, and anything organic, into a big bucket with a few holes in it for air circulation. Placed this bucket in the terrace to ensure it gets adequate sun light and added little water once in a while to encourage the decomposition. And lo, (of course, its a very slow process, but you have to do nothing except stirring the contents once every few days), the output is ready.

I did come across some fancy websites and products (like www.dailydump.org/) but I wanted to try it out with stuff I had at home. The result is amazing. 
  Some tips:
a. If the mixture is not stirred occasionally, the layers at the top will not decompose
b. Ensure a right mix of sunlight and water so that the mixture doesn't get too wet and soggy

8 comments:

  1. nice description given to take care of the plants to grow well.

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  2. nice info about caring plants thanks for sharing

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  3. It is a good idea to compost in a bucket.

    I have been using pots on the Terrace for composting. The results are not 100 percent, but the plants are fine with the mixture.

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  4. Hi, Can you post some more details about the actual process or you could point me to your reference material.

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  5. i tried it a couple of times but i could not successful because of monkeys!!!!!!!!!!!! the smell of the veggies attract them and they topple the big bucket (in which i keep these to rot) out of curiosity!!!!! end result ...no compost and loooooooot of mess

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  6. I started with a small setup and succeeded. I sometimes buy it from a proprietor at Rs.15/kg. If you want contact Mr. Deepak at 8447715225.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Use our latest kitchen food waste decomposer for reducing your kitchen food wastes and also generate enough compost for your garden kitchen. Install one today. Works like a fridge absolutely nil maintenance consumes less power. More details can be had from http://adityarecycling.webs.com/kitchen-waste-decomposer

    ReplyDelete

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