Most people are familiar with home-made composting information with food wastes and household wastes as the main materials. Rotten vegetables, fruits, grass and leaves are common ingredients of compost which can be fully fermented and then be used for home-gardening purpose. Of course, farmers are likely to compost poultry manure and agricultural waste (like straw, rice husk) together to make a large amounts of organic fertilizer for farming-agricultural purpose. They are mixed together with certain moisture level and turned regularly for air flow to the heap. In general, under natural condition, it takes several weeks or even months before they are considered suitable to be used as fertilizer or soil amendments. This is the kind of method we know that has long been practiced since centuries ago.
However, hydraulic compost turner, one kind of composting equipment, can shorten the fermentation time to 7-10 days, so this compost turning machine is quite popular with middle and large-size organic fertilizer plants, and large composting sites in countries like India, Canada, America and Australia.
As for the whole fermentation period/time, it depends on several parameters such as local temperature, raw materials and bio agent.
1. With the help of compost turner, Compostable materials will be fermented very fast if your local temperature is high.
2. If the main raw materials are animal manure, or green waste, the whole period will be shorter than using rice husk as raw materials.
3. During the whole composting process, bio agent will fasten the fermentation procedure.
Quality of fertilizer is at a completely different level from traditional compost because of its rich nutrient and organic matter content. The essential ingredient to this one-week composting technology is the use of enzymes which break down the wastes at an accelerated rate. However, the use of enzymes alone is not enough to make this process possible. A properly controlled space and Compost Turners are required for wastes to be decomposed. The enzymes following with water is mixed evenly with all these organic wastes when turning and lifting. This is why these compost turner are widely used in large organic fertilizer plants and bio fertilizer plants. But as for home compost, the enzymes should be complied with suitable moisture, temperature and air follow speed etc.
To many, the backyard composting method seems to be economical, but it takes time, space and creates pathogen issues. Fertilizer born by pathogens, if used for plants and crops, can be transferred to them and once it happens, there is a risk of a serious outbreak.
To prevents this it should heat up the wastes at 60-65°C – a temperature where even the most notorious pathogens are killed. Because the process takes place under controlled environment, there is no compromise on the quality of fertilizer due to external factors such as weather conditions or mixing efficiency. Moreover, the otherwise occurrence of nutrient loss to the atmosphere is prevented. As a result, the organic fertilizer can retain not only high nutrient level but also organic matter level of more than 70%.
So what happens if the organic matter is high? One of the main benefits is that it can retain nutrients and water, thus promoting the growth of plants while requiring lesser amount of water. It also encourages the microbial activity which then improves the soil fertility. This is particularly important for soils that have been degraded with over application of chemical fertilizers, fungicides and pesticides. While chemical fertilizers cause nutrient leachate (especially nitrates) through soil into groundwater and surrounding water bodies – imposing environmental pollution, organic fertilizer does not create such problem.
