Compost fertilizer is one type of organic fertilizer that is most popular
with organic farmers. Apart from being
widely taught in various trainings to make organic fertilizer, it can also be
said that the ingredients for compost are always available in the environment
around us and are easy to make.
Nowadays, compost fertilizer has become a sought after commodity. Therefore, it is not surprising that compost fertilizer is being sold in several supermarkets.
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Compost Fertilizer is a type of organic fertilizer resulting from the decomposition of various mixtures of organic materials. The use of compost fertilizer is so popular, it is not without reason, because it has a number of advantages.
1. Cost effective
Most of the main ingredients for compost fertilizer are organic waste, so there is rarely any expense in purchasing ingredients for making compost fertilizer.
2. Improve soil mechanics
Soil that has been frequently planted will gradually look sandy, this indicates that the soil is no longer able to store water. As a result, when it rains, water will wash away. As a further impact, the plants that live on it will easily collapse. Compost will fix problems like this, so that the soil's binding capacity will return to good condition
3. Improve the physical and chemical properties of the soil
Another characteristic of land that has been damaged is the physical characteristics of the land itself. Apart from being in the form of grains of sand, there are usually lots of live red ants.
Plants will also see their leaves turn yellow and their life will be stunted Compost fertilizer will be able to improve the condition of the soil like this, the degree of soil acidity will be stabilized again between 4 - 7.
The method of making organic fertilizer through composting is nothing new in the world of modern agriculture. Historical facts show that this practice has been carried out for thousands of years.
History of compost fertilizer
The application of organic materials in agriculture has been practiced since the Stone Age. Some archaeological evidence in the British Isles reveals that Scotland was using compost for small-scale agriculture as early as 12,000 years ago.
Reporting from the website nationalgeographic.grid.id, at that time the farmers' composting practice was carried out directly at the location for planting crops. This means that when cultivating the land, organic materials are embedded directly into the soil.
So it's not like modern composting practices, compost is made in a certain place and then transferred to the land when it is to be used.
Historical traces thought to be related to composting records were found on a set of clay pottery carved during the reign of King Sargon in the Akkadian Dynasty, which lasted around 160 years between 2320 BC and 2120 BC. Akkade was located in Mesopotamia, which is now call Iraq.
The results of geo-archaeological analysis by Erika Guttmann, a lecturer in the Department of Archeology at the University of Reading in England and Scotland, revealed the fact that there is historical evidence of composting practices in the Neolithic, Bronze and Iron Ages
In Scotland Erika revealed that the results of her soil examination showed that the soil contained livestock manure, vegetable remains, ash and other organic material.
Method of making compost fertilizer
Making good compost is not too difficult, there are several methods you can choose to use
1. Bokashi
The bokashi method is a form of technique for making solid organic fertilizer where the ingredients come from animal or plant waste. The main characteristic of this method is that apart from using animal waste and plant waste, it will also use microorganisms such as EM4. The goal is that the process of decomposing organic materials can be faster, around 14 days after composting.
2. Takakura
This second method is a technique for making compost that is very suitable on a household scale, especially for those whose home land is not very large. The ingredients used are still the same as making bokashi fertilizer.
The difference is in the place where the compost is made using a basket lined with paper inside. This basket is called a takakura basket after the name of its inventor, Koji Takakura, from Japan.
3. Windrow Composting
This method is widely used in household waste processing. The main characteristic is that the waste is left in the open air and then anaerobic bacteria are added to it by sprinkling it and then mixing it. The aim of the air flow is to help bacteria so that the decomposition process is faster.
4. Berkeley
The following method uses 2 types of basic ingredients in a ratio of 2 to 1. So the 2 ingredients include materials rich in cellulose and materials rich in nitrogen. There are two parts of the cellulose material, while the nitrogen-rich material is 1 part.
The two organic materials will be arranged in layers and alternately according to the type of material. After 2-3 days the temperature in the pile of material will rise, then immediately turn it over. After the 10th day, the temperature will start to drop and the color of the material will change to dark brown. Two weeks later the fertilizer was ready to be used.
5. Vermicompost
The fifth method is the process of making compost by using earthworms as a means of breaking down organic material. So organic materials along with worms are placed in a wooden or plastic box. If the number of worms used is only a small number, but there is quite a lot of organic material, then the initial step that needs to be done first is worm multiplication. Later, after that, the composting process will begin.
6. Bangalore
This method actually tends to be more natural, where the organic material is in a hole and covered with soil. So the initial stage after the organic material is piled up and covered with soil is then continued with the watering process.
For 8-10 days the composting process will run aerobically, then the watering process will be reduced so that the composting will run semi-aerobically. It takes a maximum of 6-8 months for the compost to be ready for use.
7. Heat and Trench Method
The seventh technique uses a pile of soil, here the first step is to dig the soil 50 – 75 cm deep with a length of 2 meters. The excavated soil is placed around the hole and compacted until it is the same height as the hole dug earlier.
Pile a mixture of organic materials (animal waste, plant waste) in the hole up to the top. So it will be seen that some of the organic material is below the soil surface and the other part is above the soil surface.
8. Save Paneling Costs
This composting method, the basic ingredients consist of food scraps, organic home or market waste. The materials were mixed and stacked lengthwise in a box about 8 meters long, 4 meters wide and 4 meters high, then piled with ash on top, then poured with livestock manure.
Those are the 8 methods of making compost fertilizer, please choose the method that you think is the easiest and the cheapest.
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