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DISEASED PLANTS IN THE COMPOST - IS IT POSSIBLE?

Is it possible to throw diseased tops into the compost? Articles on horticulture recommend that the remains of diseased plants not be put in compost, but burned or taken out of the site. Both of these are problematic. Burning is regulated, and export to ravines and onydjKH pollutes nature. Should there be a way out?

I. Sinko, a beginner summer resident

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This recommendation is optional. For many years we have been composting all plant residues, regardless of their damage by both pests and diseases.

In such a green mass there are a lot of nutrients that make compost the best fertilizer. After all, all summer we fed our vegetables, and most of the nutrients remained in the tops. Using compost, we provide the plants with everything they need.

Leaf, even sick, is also biofuel. If the temperature inside the compost heap rises above 60 °, fungi, viruses, and bacteria will die over the summer. However, the same will happen in cold compost, however, then weed seeds will remain, but this is not too big a problem.

We prepare high-quality compost in a greenhouse like this. From one bed in the fall, we completely extract all the soil to the bottom, which we loosen to improve drainage. We put weeds, cut grass, tops, fallen leaves into the vacant place for the whole next season - everything that quickly decomposes.

Grind only thick stalks of eggplant, peppers and cabbage stalks. The rest goes in full. We fill the groove to the top, compacting each new layer well. Over the winter, the mass will settle. In the spring, we pour the earth on top, which was previously taken out of the garden. It turns out two layers.

We plant any plants in the upper one in order to get an early harvest, and below we continue preparing the compost for the new season - overheating and heating. It turns out the cycle of compost. We do the same in greenhouses for peppers and eggplants.

By the way, our winters are severe, so there is no need for autumn disinfection of greenhouses.

There is also a traditional compost heap on the site, where we put waste all season long. We usually transfer the upper, unburned layers to a greenhouse in the fall, and fertilize trees, shrubs, perennial flowers with the lower ones obtained during the summer, and add them to the beds. When plants have enough nutrition, they get sick much less.

COMPOST WITH YOUR HANDS - USEFUL TIPS

So that there are no stagnation and acidification in the compost heap, the bookmark must begin with draining materials - old dry branches, corn stalks and sunflowers.

Biological preparations based on beneficial microorganisms (trichoderma), fermented preparations (bokashi) or biohumus are a valuable addition to compost, accelerating its maturation. They need to be added to the water when spilling the compost heap.

The finished compost heap must be mulched. Fallen leaves, hay, straw, sawdust will do.

Reference by topic: Compost pit - what is possible and what is not possible?