Benefits of Composting Enriches soil, helping retain moisture and suppress plant diseases and pests. Reduces the need for chemical fertilizers. Encourages the production of beneficial bacteria and fungi that break down organic matter to create humus, a rich nutrient-filled material.

Organic waste in landfills generates, methane, a potent greenhouse gas. By composting wasted food and other organics, methane emissions are significantly reduced. Compost reduces and in some cases eliminates the need for chemical fertilizers. Compost promotes higher yields of agricultural crops.

Here are five benefits of composting:

• Adds nutrients to the soil. Compost is humus—nutrient-rich soil.
• Introduces valuable organisms to the soil. Microorganisms, such as bacteria, fungi, and protozoa, decompose organic material.
• Recycles kitchen and yard waste.
• Reduces landfill waste.
• Good for the environment!

However, few of us are aware of the benefits of composting. Many people who don?t compost incinerate their yard waste. Burning yard waste can release the harmful chemicals found in fertilizers, weed killers and bug sprays into the air. Many of the chemicals can lead to health problems such as asthma.

The Economic Benefits of Composting From $205 billion a year in 2010 to a projected $375 billion by 2025, global costs of waste disposal are increasing. Composting has been shown to decrease landfill costs on a local level.

Vermicompost is an excellent option for the busy, small-space gardener. By getting worms to do most of the work for you, this is one of the most hands-off compost methods around. Red Wiggler worms are the most popular choice for worm composting: they are extremely efficient waste-eaters!

Top 10 Composting Pros & Cons – Summary List

Yard waste compost is especially beneficial to heavy clay soil or any soil that contains very little organic matter. Yard waste compost is a great source of organic matter, but it’s lean on nutrients. Don’t forget the fertilizer when you prepare planting space with this type of compost.

How to Compost

1. Start your compost pile on bare earth.
2. Lay twigs or straw first, a few inches deep.
3. Add compost materials in layers, alternating moist and dry.
4. Add manure, green manure (clover, buckwheat, wheatgrass, grass clippings) or any nitrogen source.
5. Keep compost moist.

Depending on the size of your compost pile, what you put in it, and how you tend to it, this process can take three months to two years. With a Compost Aerator, it’s easier to add air to the pile. Aeration gives oxygen-hungry microbes what they need to break down materials faster.

Shredded sticks and other dried material like wood chips and corn stalks will help your compost develop quickly by aiding aeration but may not decompose completely themselves. Don’t wait for them to finish. Use a screen to separate compost that’s crumbly and ready for the garden from these other materials.

1. 5 Easy Steps to Fast Compost.
2. Shred and chop. Shred or chop materials as finely as you can before mixing them into the pile.
3. Mix dry browns and wet greens. The two basic types of ingredients for making compost are those rich in carbon and those rich in nitrogen.
4. Strive for size.
5. Add water as needed.
6. Keep things moving.

Urine is good for ‘starting’ a compost pile, and if your compost is short on nitrogen it will help it go faster. Otherwise, I think it will just wash away. Urine is high in soluble nitrogen, like chemical fertilizers, and if you put too much in any one spot can pollute ground water and other things.

So long as the worms have food they usually thrive inside the compost pile. ​Red wigglers can also be put in a closed compost bin such as a composting tumbler, or a specially designed wormery. ​Don’t put earthworms in a closed compost tumbler.

Do You Need A Compost Starter?

• What Are Good Compost Starters? There are four things that I always rely on for every fresh compost pile I start.
• Nitrogen.
• Oxygen.
• Microorganisms.
• Shredders.
• Lime.
• Wood Ash.
• Keep Rotating The Compost.

Urine, too, is a great compost stimulator. Obviously, the stiff shot of nitrogen and a bit of moisture both help, and the uric acid (urea) is also very beneficial. Uric acid levels are said to be the highest in the morning, so that’s the best time to rain down on the compost pile.

40 to 60 percent

The composter contents should be moist like a wrung-out sponge. If the contents are too dry, it will take overly long to compost; and if too wet, the contents may begin to smell. If the pile does not decrease in size or generate heat, composting may need a boost. If the pile is dry, add water – mixing thoroughly.

In most cases, a compost pile does not need a cover. A cover can limit airflow and water, interfering with the composting process. You should definitely cover finished compost. Otherwise, if it’s exposed to the elements, the compost will break down further and lose nutrients as they leach into the surrounding soil.