A compost pit, or composter, is an important object in a rural garden. Organic waste - grass clippings, food scraps, sawdust - serve as an indispensable raw material for the production of home fertilizer - compost. Now it’s time to install a composter on our site.
Structures assembled at a quick fix from boards or plywood sheets, serve for 2-3 years and become unusable. Brick composters are labor-intensive to manufacture and impractical, and
You can’t fold a high wall - it will squeeze it out. I set myself the task of closing the issue for a long time, if not forever.
Over the years of gardening practice, my plans have developed the dimensions of the future composter. This is at least 3-5 m 3 for 6 acres. It is known that an ideal composter should have three sections: one container - a receiving container, which is filled with waste for two or three seasons. The other is the working one, where organic matter decomposes. The third container contains the finished product; compost is selected from it to fertilize the soil.
The place for the composter is the far corner of the site, hidden by the woodshed. A compost pit, or composter, is mentioned in SNiP only in the clause that regulates the distance to the well - 8 m, including to the neighbor's. Otherwise, the standard distance for a composter to a neighboring area is at least 1 m.
Approximate consumption and cost of material for making a composter
|
Name material |
Consumption material |
Price per unit, rub. |
Price, rub. |
|
|
Slate flat |
16 sheets |
8 000 |
||
|
Metal corner 50 x 50 x 4 mm |
32 linear m |
6 400 |
||
|
Strip 50 x 4 mm |
3 linear m |
|||
|
Reinforcement 8 mm |
18.5 linear m |
|||
|
Paint, fittings |
||||
|
TOTAL: |
15 907 |
|||
Do-it-yourself composter - progress of work
1. So, I prepared the site for the future structure and realized that three sections required sizes won't fit. I also didn’t want the design to look like a sarcophagus, and if it wasn’t going to be elegant, then at least let it be proportional.
Taking into account the dimensions of the source materials, I developed a project for a two-section composter 1.35 * 3.5 m. The basis of the design is metal carcass. And instead of three sections there will be two, but each of them is almost one and a half times larger. You can store waste in this volume for 5-6 years. Taking into account the readiness of the compost, the receiving section will also be working. When filled, it becomes used, and the second one goes into filling mode.
And yet there is a conditional third section. This is a narrow niche in the middle in which I store equipment and barrels for liquid fertilizer.
2. Smooth 12-mm slate 270 x 37 cm was used on the walls and partitions between the sections. Experienced gardeners use it to fence their beds. The value of slate is its durability, ideal for composters. Using a grinder with a stone disc, I cut the slate in half without waste. These halves determined the size of the composter sections. As a frame, I used a black steel corner 50 x 50 mm thick, D mm.
3. First, we assemble the frame dry. We drive the supports in with a sledgehammer, and determine the distances between them by installing slate sheets. By placing U of the sheet in height, we get the top edge. We saw off the excess parts of the corner supports and scald the upper perimeter. To prevent the temporarily installed plates from folding inward, I secured them in the middle with reinforcement bars stuck into the ground.
4. To obtain the ideal geometry of the frame, the slate plates are temporarily installed and aligned, as if they were finally installed. To do this, we bring them to the horizon and control the right angles by the equality of the diagonals. We clean the finished frame and coat it with metal paint.
5. The rigidity of the structure is provided by corner jibs made of 50 mm steel strip, welded under the upper corners of the frame.
6. The bottom of the frame is tightened with 8 mm reinforcement so that the supports do not move apart on clay heaving soil. We reinstall the removed sheets. Slate is a fragile material, and fastening to the frame has its own peculiarities.
7-8. We use bolted connections. We drill holes slightly larger than the diameter of the bolt. This is a gap to compensate for thermal expansion of slate sheets or changes in frame geometry. We tighten the bolts lightly on both sides.
9. It’s a good idea if rubber washers are installed under the metal washers. You can cut them yourself, or use gaskets from the faucet, or buy them at hardware store. When drilling slate, place a solid base underneath it.
10. Use a concrete drill and perforation mode. In my arsenal I found a Soviet-era drill with a Pobedit tip and a very sharp sharpening angle. Probably especially for slate, because it goes into oil like oil.
11. We sew the sheets onto the frame from top to bottom to fit them tightly to the neck. And if we miss from below, it’s not scary, you can dig up or add soil.
12. The design of the composter frame provides for a minimum number of elements, which is why long sheets of slate bend in the middle of the partition. It was possible to fix the sheets with bolts and wide washers, connecting the adjacent edges of the sheets. These connections can be tightened even tighter. I refused to paint the slate. Firstly, it looks good anyway, and secondly, any outdoor coating is short-lived.
13. Now our composter is ready. The second year confirms my calculations. Its walls turned out to be rigid and perfectly hold a large volume of working material. The height of the structure does not interfere with loading waste and collecting compost. Within a year, the admissions section was almost full. Then the grass mass gradually settles - and further loading of food waste in winter does not change the level of fullness. The second section is still empty. Wait and see.
DIY composter - photo
DIY compost bin: reviews, opinions and tips
In compost boots
Grass appeared on earth much earlier than man. Over millions of years, it has changed and adapted to the climate and all sorts of elements so that it survived in conditions natural selection, lives happily to this day. And we are offered seeds grown in test tubes by cloning and greenhouse conditions, plant next to these powerful savages. Question: what will happen to them? It seems to me that the majority will not survive, but they are oh so expensive! Therefore, I believe that we must first prepare the ground, which is what I do.
I put together a box and grow compost using the accelerated method.
In a box measuring 1 × 2.5 × 1 m, consisting of two compartments, I put branches at the very bottom (after cutting branches from trees), then I compact the grass with a layer of 20-30 cm, add two bags of manure (I have horse manure), two bags of sawdust, then one bag each chicken manure, again with manure, I fill the remaining space with grass on top. I water it all generously, but not quickly. and for 2 hours, so that it gets thoroughly wet. I add EM preparations according to the instructions and cover with film in two or three layers.
Less than a month passed, the mass settled and sank below the sides. Having put on my boots, I compacted it again and added a bag of everything listed above, and one bag of chicken manure per two compartments. And again he covered it with heaped grass. Using a pointed stick or crowbar, I make holes through 30-40 cm, not reaching 1/3 of the bottom, water them again with the same solution and close them.
If you have bad land on your plot where nothing wants to grow, start enriching it. The easiest way to bring black soil is, but it’s not always possible to get it, especially in urban areas. Adding chemicals in abundance is also unprofitable: in the end, you yourself will consume it. There is only one thing left: to make nutritious soil yourself. Or rather, learn to cook useful compost. It is only ignorant people who are afraid of compost pits, because they think that they emit a stench that spoils the air in the entire area. In fact, compost does not smell if it is laid correctly and bacteria are kept active. Let’s find out how in more detail.
So, the first step is to select a convenient place on the site for a compost pit. As a rule, it is assigned an area in the backyard of the garden, behind outbuildings, where the appearance of a pile of waste will not spoil the overall landscape. The only caveat: during heavy rains, look where the water flows. It should not run towards the well (if there is one), otherwise rotting waste products may get there, which will affect the quality and taste of the water.
There are two options for arrangement: you can dig a deep hole and put raw materials for compost in it, or knock down a wide box from wooden planks with a removable wall for ease of use.
Pit creation technology
A deep hole is more convenient because all the plant material will be hidden in the ground and will not hurt the eye, but the compost takes longer to prepare in it, and it is more difficult to mix it. If, however, only this option suits you, arrange the pit correctly, because oxygen and ventilation are necessary for the normal decomposition of organic matter. But the dense earthen walls and bottom will not let any air through. Therefore, the hole is dug as follows:
- They take out soil no more than a meter deep, three meters long and one and a half meters wide.
- They retreat 20 cm from the walls of the pit on each side and knock down a wooden box, digging 4 posts in the corners and nailing planks to them.
- There is a distance of about 5 cm between the boards so that all layers of compost are ventilated.
- Divide the hole into two equal parts using a wooden board to fill only one half.
- The bottom is covered with thick tree branches, bark, spruce branches and straw (whatever you find). This will be a drainage excess moisture and helping the compost to aerate from below. The height of the drainage layer is 10-15 cm.
Plant waste is stored in one part of the compost pit, but during the season it is transferred several times from one half to the other to saturate the pile with oxygen.
The hole can be made halfway in the ground, rather than completely buried, then it will be easier for you to stir up the contents and air access will improve
The second option for storing compost is in a box made of unpainted wood (or a factory-made one made of plastic). By appearance it is absolutely identical to ordinary boxes, only several times larger. When creating the frame, do not forget to leave gaps between the planks and make one side removable to make it easier to lay and mix the raw materials. Alternatively, you can hang the door.
The plastic composter has perforated doors on each side at the bottom, through which the contents are ventilated, but you will have to moisten the waste yourself
Since such structures are usually made to last for many years, the floor can be concreted and drainage laid on top (the same as in the pit). Some owners put wooden or plastic shields on the bottom. True, over time the tree will become unusable, but nothing lasts forever.
Now all that remains is to fill the prepared place with the right raw materials, which will rot in quality compost.
Two compost bins located side by side are convenient because you can transfer waste for ventilation from one to the other without littering the nearby area
Features of proper waste disposal
In order for your pile to successfully rot and turn into nutritious soil for the new season, you need to throw only plant waste into the compost: leaves, mown grass, remains of root crops and fruits, turf, weeds, finely chopped branches of trees and shrubs.
Putting waste into a compost pit own garden, you thereby solve the problem of removing plant waste and get fresh, high-quality soil
To make the composition of the compost even more nutritious, put in it everything that you didn’t eat yourself: leftover soups, coffee grounds, tea leaves, yesterday’s salad, etc. In a word, place another container in the house next to the trash can for vegetable waste, and you'll be surprised how quickly it fills up. Old ones are suitable for composting carton boxes, newspapers (black and white), worn-out items made from natural materials (cotton, wool).
Unwanted Ingredients
Now let’s focus on waste that is harmful, from the point of view of experienced gardeners. It is strictly forbidden to put the remains of animal products into the compost: dead birds and animals, old lard, fats, intestines, spoiled milk, sour cream, etc. All this, when decomposed, begins to emit an unpleasant odor and will be attracted to the heap harmful insects, neighbor's dogs, cats and crows. In addition, putrefactive processes in animal remains proceed more slowly than in plant remains, and your compost will not have time to ripen by the next season.
But the summer residents still haven’t decided on the sea inhabitants. Some do not add them, so as not to attract animals to the pile, but others are happy to throw into the compost everything that remains when cleaning the fish (heads, scales, entrails), citing the fact that they contain phosphorus, valuable for plants. You just need to bury such waste deeper in the pile so that cats don’t smell the smell.
Indeed, fish supplements are useful. Therefore, we advise everyone who is sorry to throw away a valuable product: do not put them in compost, but bury them directly under the trees, in the circles around the trunk. Just dig a deeper hole. This way you will feed the garden and will not attract stray animals.
If you build a compost bin with an opening roof, then feel free to put fish waste inside, because animals will not fit into such a container
You cannot put plastic, glass, metal objects, rubber, water from washing, etc. They are harmful to the soil. All paper products with a laminated base or with colored designs will not be useful either. There is too much paint and chemicals in it.
An undesirable ingredient in compost is tomato and potato tops. In the fall, it is completely infected with late blight, and the spores of this disease will be transmitted with the compost to healthy plants.
Weeds that have begun or completed their flowering period should not be added to the compost. For example, if a dandelion has managed to form a flower, the seeds will still ripen, even if it is picked and placed in a pile. Therefore, try to mow the weeds before the flower buds appear.
If there is nowhere to put the nightshade tops and large weeds that have already become seeded, lay them out on a solid base (concrete, linoleum) near the compost pit and let them dry. Then throw all the vegetation into an iron barrel and set it on fire. Everything will burn, along with diseases and seeds. Useful ash will remain. Add it to your compost pile.
How to compost waste?
In order for waste to decompose quickly, moisture, oxygen and accelerators of putrefactive processes are needed. You provide moisture yourself by watering the pile abundantly during periods when it is hot outside. Oxygen will penetrate into the compost more actively if you arrange the layers of raw materials correctly. So, dry waste ( potato peelings, straw, hay, fallen leaves, husks, etc.) should be alternated with green ones (tops, fresh grass, rotting vegetables and fruits), soft with hard ones to avoid excessive compaction. It is very important that the compost is prepared from brown and green components, added in equal parts. Fresh waste is the main source of nitrogen needed by all plants. Brown (i.e. dry) act as a layer that prevents the compost from sticking together. They are considered a kind of fiber that makes the soil airier and lighter.
Try to put green and brown waste in equal proportions, as too much green will cause compaction, and too much dry material will suck the nitrogen out of the compost.
If you need compost for next spring, add decomposition accelerators to it. These can be concentrates purchased at a garden store that need to be diluted warm water and activate the work of beneficial bacteria contained in the drug.
Fresh manure (horse or cow) is an excellent accelerator. They find a couple of flat cakes in the field, place them in a bucket of water and let them brew for two days. Then ready solution pour into compost and mix the contents of the pile. If you don’t have this stuff near your dacha, finely chop dandelion leaves, nettles, legumes, add a bucket of warm water and place in the sun. After 4 days the mixture will begin to ferment. Then pour it into the compost.
To avoid nitrogen leaching, the top of the compost heap is covered. non-woven material or black film. When closed, rotting occurs faster, and a sign of this will be the active release of heat. The temperature inside the compost should be at least 60 degrees.
It is extremely undesirable to cover a wooden box with film from top to bottom, because by doing so you will block the path of oxygen, and the quality of the finished compost will be much worse
During the season, the pile is shoveled 3-4 times to ensure uniform rotting of all layers. By spring, plant waste will turn into rich, loose soil with the smell of earth, which can be applied under trees, mulched for strawberries, or mixed with garden soil to improve its composition.
In summer cottages and garden plots, the problem of disposing of organic waste often arises - leaves, weeds, peelings, sawdust and other things. Unlike inorganic waste (glass, plastic, etc.), all this can be used to produce clean, environmentally friendly fertilizer - compost. It is obtained as a result of the biological process of decomposition under the influence of the vital activity of microorganisms. Adding compost to any soil improves its quality characteristics. Clay soils acquire a lighter, crumbly structure, and sandy ones retain moisture better. Let's look at how you can make a compost pit and prepare compost correctly.
The following organic wastes are suitable for raw materials, which are divided into two large groups.
Brown waste
These include those that release carbon.
Green waste
Waste that releases nitrogen is considered green.
- berries, vegetables and fruits unsuitable for food and processing;
- drunken tea and coffee cake;
- stubs and cleaning;
- scraps of wool;
- leftover soups, cereals;
- eggshell;
- waste products of herbivores.
When adding a large amount of freshly cut grass, the compost preparation time will increase significantly. To speed up the process, lightly cover small layers of grass with soil.
What should you not put?
Not all organic matter is suitable for fertilization.
The following cannot be placed in a compost bin:
- fresh pet excrement;
- loach, wheatgrass;
- bones;
- leaves and other parts of plants affected by diseases, especially powdery mildew;
- plants treated with any chemicals;
- weeds whose seeds have ripened;
- inorganic non-degradable waste (rubber, metal, glass, synthetic materials);
- tops of potatoes and tomatoes;
- fats, meat, dairy products;
- fresh and boiled eggs (except shells).
Potato and tomato tops, even healthy-looking ones, can be carriers of late blight. Subsequently, such fertilizer can infect all plants. In addition, this raw material takes a very long time to dispose of; the process will take about 5 years.
Anything that is not suitable for a compost pit should be thrown into a cesspool or removed from the site as garbage.
Requirements for placement
A place on the site is chosen, as a rule, out of sight and one that you don’t mind - where nothing grows due to dense shade or infertility of the soil, somewhere behind outbuildings, if there are any, in the backyard.
There are other important points.
- You need to understand that rotting raw materials will not emit the most pleasant smell, so you should think about moving away from the resting place and about the neighbors. It would be good to know the compass rose so as not to place the pile on the leeward side.
- Consideration should be given to ensuring free access to the pit, since raw materials will be added and taken constantly throughout the season.
- It is advisable to choose a site on a flat surface, and not in a hole, you can slight slope to avoid stagnation of water, which interferes with the flow of oxygen, and therefore extends the process over time.
- The compost heap, although called a pit, must be higher than the ground level. In this case, it will warm up better, it will be more convenient to loosen, water and generally maintain it. Optimal parameters are 50 cm deep, 1 m of fence above the ground. Higher walls will make it difficult to loosen and use compost.
- Avoid proximity to a source of drinking water (must be more than 25 m).
- The place should be in the shade or partial shade - sunlight slows down and dries out raw materials.
- Do not place the structure under trees, they may get sick and die. Neighborhood with conifers and other evergreen crops is especially not recommended. Best neighbors there will be alder and birch.
Do not cover the bottom of the pit with film, slate or other material that does not allow moisture to pass through! It must penetrate from the soil unhindered (depthing will facilitate this), otherwise everything will dry out. The bottom should remain earthen.
Design features
The ideal dimensions of a structure are usually indicated by the parameters 1.5m x 2m, but ultimately they are determined based on the amount of raw materials that can be accumulated in 2 years. This is how long the process of preparing the finished substrate will take. Therefore, the ideal pit should be twice as large and two-section, designed to last two cycles. The first compartment will contain ready-made waste, the other will contain fresh waste over the next two years.
It is important to know that a small pit will not warm up well as a result of rotting, and this temperature may not be enough to kill all pathogenic microflora and harmful spores. Experts determine desired temperature at 60C and the above-mentioned optimal sizes.
The structure must have a removable lid on top.
Design options
You can arrange a compost pit in different ways; let’s look at several common options.
Regular pit
The simplest construction that does not require additional costs and materials. A shallow hole is made, no more than half a meter deep, into which everything is folded according to the usual principle. The contents are covered with black polyethylene on top. To make it easier to remove for adding waste or using, it is rolled on both sides onto a long handle, which also serves as a load. After each new laying, it is recommended to cover the waste with grass.
The option is simple, but it is difficult to call it effective and convenient. There will be difficulties with mixing, and such a pile will not be able to warm up sufficiently, which means that it will take a longer time for it to rot.
Two-section composter
The material for production can be boards, old slate, metal sheets, corrugated sheets, walls from plastic containers, bricks, etc. Optimal sizes depending on the size of the plot - 1.5-2 m wide and 2-3 m long. Make a deepening of 0.5-0.8 m. To secure the structure in the corners (stepping back the required distance from the hole), pipe sections or large-diameter metal rods that can withstand the weight are dug in compost heap. Wooden pillars they are not suitable for this purpose, since the process of decay will invariably affect them, and the structure will not last long due to the load.
Install the walls, not forgetting about ventilation holes. A partition is installed in the middle, dividing the structure into two equal-sized compartments. Ready humus will be stored in one of them, and “young” waste will be stored in the second. It is better to make the lid hinged, on hinges, so that it does not move and tightly covers the contents.
Reference segments metal pipes it is advisable to treat with anti-corrosion bio protective composition, and all wooden parts - protective impregnation, and then cover with two layers of acrylic paint.
The bottom, as already mentioned, cannot be covered with waterproof material, but straw, sawdust or tree bark are perfect for this - they will provide the necessary air exchange and allow excess moisture to escape quietly.
If desired, you can make three sections. In the first there will be a ready-made substrate, in the second there will be a fully laid ripening one, and the third will be intended for laying new raw materials.
Single section composter
More simple and sufficient compact version. You will have to pick up the finished product from below, for which purpose in one of the walls (or even better - from different sides) you need to make a hole from which the ripe fertilizer will be selected. There should be a distance of at least 30-40 cm between the wall of the box and the ground. In this case, there is no need to mix the substrate.
Concrete box
A structure that will be completed literally once and for all. Neat and reliable. To do this, you need to dig a trench of the required perimeter with a depth of 70-80 cm and make formwork. Pour concrete into it, remove the formwork and remove the soil from the box to the required depth. Can be used as a lid wooden shield or film pressed with a metal mesh.
Ready made plastic container
The modern market offers ready-made composter structures made of plastic. They have different size(within 400 -1000l), the necessary ventilation holes (make sure of this!) and a lid.
Their cost depends on the size, design and region and usually ranges from 2 to 10 thousand rubles.
Do not make compost pits that are too large; their contents will overheat, which is also undesirable, since this will lead to the death of the necessary microorganisms.
How to properly fill a compost bin?
Before laying the raw materials, clear the bottom of the pit from the turf and dig it well to a depth of 30 cm. This will provide conditions for the active life of worms and the penetration of beneficial microorganisms, which will provide indispensable assistance in the waste processing process. In addition, excess water will drain well into the loose soil.
We begin laying, alternating layers of wet and dry, brown and green raw materials. Their optimal ratio should be approximately the following: 3 parts brown waste to 1 part green waste, and there should be 5 times more wet raw materials than dry ones. Anything large should be broken or chopped.
Moisten (not too much) and close with a lid.
The raw materials should not be compacted too much, but excessive looseness is also undesirable. Everything should be in moderation, especially humidity.
Storing compost is not everything. Proper further actions will help speed up the decay process and make the fertilizer more nutritious. Please adhere to the following guidelines.
The following additives help speed up cooking.
- Rotted horse manure.
- Some types of plants (valerian, chamomile, dandelions, yarrow).
- Specially produced activating preparations, for example, Baikal EM-1, Compostin and Compostar.
- Stale (dried) bird droppings.
- Legume stems.
- Bone and dolomite meal.
- Superphosphate and complex mineral fertilizers.
As the contents rot, the temperature inside rises, and may even rise from the heap. light steam. This is normal and indicates that everything is going well.
Spare no effort and time for this simple structure. This will solve the problem of recycling a considerable part of organic waste, and will give the most valuable fertilizer, in the quality and environmental friendliness of which you will be absolutely sure.
Compost bin. How to make a compost box with your own hands: drawings, photos, videos, options for making a composter.
This homemade product will be of interest primarily to summer residents and owners of garden plots, because we will talk about soil fertilizers, in particular compost.
Compost is a product of the decomposition of organic substances under the influence of microorganisms; in fact, compost is the best organic fertilizer.
To obtain high-quality compost, when constructing compost bin with your own hands you need to follow simple rules:
The main condition for compost maturation is the flow of oxygen into the compost heap; oxygen is necessary for the life of microorganisms, therefore, when making a compost box, you need to provide side ventilation holes in the structure.
Another advantage of using a box is that precipitation fertilizers will not be washed into the soil, all valuable substances will remain in the box, and you will get truly complete compost. Therefore, it is advisable to equip the box with a lid.
Compost matures faster in the lower part of the compost heap, so you need to think about access to the bottom layer in the box and equip the box with a door or removable boards.
To ripen the compost best place Place the compost bin in a shady area at the edge of your garden or garden.
Compost bin drawings.
Let's look at a few drawings for making a wooden compost bin.
Single section compost bin.
Multi-section compost bin.
You can build a box from old boards, timber, you can use boards from wooden pallets, you can use any wood that is on the farm.
The composter can be made into 2 - 3 sections, while in one section the fertilizer ripens, in the other you can use ready-made compost.
Making a compost bin.
Let's look at the example of making the simplest composter. The design of the box consists of support pillars that are dug into the ground, the optimal height of the ground part of the pillars is 1.2 m. The pillars can be made from 100 x 100 mm timber or logs.
But the lower part of the supports must be treated with an antiseptic or used motor oil so that the wood does not quickly rot. As an option, you can use the old-fashioned method: part of the pillars that will be in the ground can be charred at the fire; charred wood is more resistant to rotting.
We attach to the supports side walls, we fill the boards with nails or fasten them with self-tapping screws; it is advisable to leave a small gap of 1 - 2 cm between the boards for ventilation.
It is advisable to make the front wall of the box openable, this will greatly simplify the unloading of compost; just open the front door and you can pick up compost with a shovel without much effort. Instead of a door, you can make removable boards, you need to nail them to support pillars guide rails and insert into the grooves of the board.
For the composter, it is advisable to make a lid, attach the lid to the box with canopies, and make a handle. Since wood is susceptible to rotting, the box must be treated with a safe antifungal impregnation and preferably painted.
The DIY compost box is ready, The final stage laying compost. A layer (hay, grass, leaves) is placed at the bottom of the box, then tops and vegetable waste can be placed.
DIY compost bin options.
A compost pit made from organic waste is an integral part of a summer cottage or garden plot. If a person has his own garden, he tries to cultivate fertile soil healthy vegetation and fruits that do not contain nitrates. For this purpose, they use organic fertilizers obtained from compost. The purpose of this article is to tell garden owners how to make a compost pit from inexpensive scrap materials.
Instructions for making a compost pit (box) with your own hands
Making a compost bin with your own hands is not difficult. Its arrangement involves the use of lightweight and inexpensive components. In the example below, a compost bin is created from pallets used in the construction industry for folding Supplies. You can purchase such pallets for a small amount or even get them for free by picking them up after unloading the building materials.
making a compost pit with your own hands. Photo
If you don’t yet know how to create a compost pit with your own hands, the step-by-step instructions below will tell you in detail about this procedure.
First thing select a location, most suitable for arranging a compost heap. This area should be located away from residential buildings and preferably in an area where winds prevail. This will eliminate the possibility of unpleasant odor from compost in the yard.
Follow drawing, provided as an example, to properly create a compost bin. Remember that it must have a presentable appearance, be easy to use, and be easy to dismantle when filled with organic waste.
DIY compost pit manufacturing options. Photo
Disassemble prepared wooden pallets by removing connecting elements(nails). The result of this work will be the production of edged boards.
Take advantage circular saw, to divide all the boards are cut into blanks about 1 m long. It is from these that the compost bin will be created.
To assemble from separate boards one-piece design, in two of them it follows cut out jigsaw rectangular holes. The photos and videos included with the instructions will help the craftsman figure out how to make cuts in the remaining boards in order to accurately connect them to the two cross beams.
DIY compost pit step by step with photos
Installation all boards (except the front ones) are carried out vertically, and they are fastened to assembly adhesive. The first (front) board is arranged at a slight angle to the entire structure, and without the use of an adhesive solution. Compliance with this condition is necessary to facilitate disassembly of the structure. The design of a compost bin of the described type allows you to easily move it to another place and disassemble it after filling it with organic waste and plant debris.
To make a compost bin made from wooden pallets stable, when installing it in the designated area, you should: level out lower boards of the finished box using a level.
As you can see, very little effort needs to be put into creating a compost pit from waste materials construction industry. The finished compost bin looks decent and makes it possible to recycle all unnecessary vegetation from your own garden plot. Gradually compacting in such a container, and being under the influence of moisture and putrefactive bacteria, the vegetation turns into organic fertilizer High Quality, ideal for feeding garden vegetation.
How to make a compost pit. Video
Making your own compost bin
Question related to the disposal of plant waste on personal plot, worries most gardeners. It is not worth taking them outside the garden, because when the right approach organics can be great fertilizer. It is better to put unnecessary vegetation, as noted above, in a compost pit, which should be voluminous. We suggest considering the option of building a compost pit with your own hands, step-by-step instructions for which will help even a beginner in this matter carry out the procedure.
As an example, let's take the design compost bin consisting of three sections.
Set 8 wooden columns, having previously treated the lower part of each of them (the one that will be located underground) with a protective compound. As a protective solution, you can use fuel oil, tar or used machine oil.
If fence is strong and reliable in your garden plot, then its canvas can be used as a support for one of the sides of the compost bin bars (as shown in the photo). Actually, this option makes the task easier, eliminating the need to dig several more holes for the posts.
The next stage in creating the structure is the installation of sectional partitions. To do this, nail several boards to the supports, making sure to leave small slits between them for ventilation. It should also be taken into account that small spaces will be created in two compartments of the drawer. doors, therefore, its front part should be sheathed with boards only up to half the height.
The third compartment is equipped with a large door, and therefore it is worth nailing only one board in the lower, front part of the box.
The next stage of work is installation caps The end sections of sectional partitions, as well as the rear and front walls, are reinforced with crossbars.
DIY compost bin. Photo
The doors are hung, which also serve as lids for the compost bin. It is already clear that there will be one large and two small doors in front.
While creating wooden box for compost, immediately make sure that wood does not become an integral component of organic fertilizers prepared from plant waste. The process of compost maturation involves the gradual decomposition of organic matter, and wood also belongs to the components of natural, organic origin. And therefore, when constructing a three-section compost bin from boards, it is advisable to soak each part well special composition deep penetration. It will protect the tree from moisture, putrefactive processes and harmful insects. Buy now solution for comprehensive protection wooden surfaces is not difficult, but remember that it must be non-toxic. Then the organic fertilizer (compost) will be of high quality.
Once the boards are soaked, the compost bin is ready. painted in a color acceptable to you. It is advisable to choose non-toxic paint. It should be highly resistant to temperature changes and not fade in the sun. Apply it to the box in two layers.
The last stage of creating the structure is to attach the latches and handles. The compost pit made from boards is completely ready for use!
Compost pit. Options for its equipment
Now there are many different technologies building compost pits with your own hands. Every dacha owner or country house With land plot selects the type of construction that is ideally suited to specific local conditions. Here are some of the most common types of equipment for compost pits.
Option 1. It is rarely used, and mainly in cases where ready-made compost is supposed to be used no earlier than after 1.5-2 years. The essence of the work here is to dig a hole in a designated area of the area. It should be similar in shape to a well, but not so deep. The walls of the compost pit must be strengthened so that the soil does not collapse. The peculiarity of a pit prepared in this way is that in it the raw materials for fertilizer will ripen naturally, without human intervention. And therefore it is worth taking care of creating optimal conditions for the preparation of organic fertilizers. The walls of the finished pit begin to be sheathed at a height of 15-25 cm from the bottom, while no material is laid on the bottom itself. This will allow microorganisms and worms to penetrate from the soil into the stacked vegetation residues unhindered.
Advice. Before putting plant matter into the hole, loosen its bottom well, and also equip a ventilation outlet in the form of a pipe. After heavy rains or after abundant watering, cover the pit with compost with plastic wrap. This activates the work of microorganisms, and the decomposition of organic matter will go faster.
If possible, it is better to create a compost pit in this way outside adjoining plot, in a forest belt.
Option 2. In this case, the compost pit is set up right in the garden. Many land owners note that this option is more convenient in the sense that organic fertilizers are unloaded from the pit as needed. The basis of the structure is formwork, and it can be made from any available materials. These can be plastic barrels or a box assembled from separate boards. The presented method also involves providing access to worms and microorganisms into the thickness of organic residues. And therefore, before laying the vegetation, the soil is loosened, and the formwork structure is slightly deepened (about 20-30 cm). The need for natural air circulation in the created box causes the leaving of cracks between the plank structural elements, or the formation of holes in plastic surfaces.
Option 3. Another method of preparing organic fertilizers from plant residues is to create a so-called pile, or compost heap. This technology is considered the simplest, but when using it, hygiene requirements are not observed. On a personal plot, when choosing this method of preparing compost, the optimal area is selected, on which a substrate of gravel, sand or dry grass is immediately made. Plant waste is placed on top of it, and they are waited for it to overheat. Organic fertilizer reaches full readiness in two years or more. The difficulty lies in the fact that the pile has to be stirred periodically, and before the onset of winter, you also have to insulate it so that the microorganisms do not die under the influence of the cold.
So, there are many options for equipping a compost pit, and the difference between them is based both on the materials used and on the size and features of its design. In any case, with the right approach, creating it yourself will not be difficult even for a novice master. 
Slate compost pit
To create a compost pit with your own hands, it requires the presence of durable materials from which you could make the walls of a box in which plant debris will be stored. IN previous sections the possibilities of forming similar structures from boards, construction pallets or plastic barrels. There is another one good way- compost bin made of waste slate. IN household Many zealous dacha owners will probably have these. Slate leaves make an excellent base for the sides of a compost bin. In addition, a compost pit made from such material will be reliable and durable. To create a slate box with your own hands, we recommend doing the work in the following sequence:
Decide on the exact parameters designs. Remember that the hole should be sized so that all the plant waste collected from the site over two seasons (and sometimes even large quantity time). If we take into account that a small pile of vegetation residues (tops, fallen leaves) is approximately 0.25 cubic meters in volume, then a pit for processing them can be made measuring 1m*1m*1m. In this case, there will still be some space left for food waste.
After selecting the territory, you will need to do a little deepening in the soil (20-30 cm).
In the corners of the structure and in the central part are installed racks, created from thick tree branches or ordinary metal pipes of small diameter.
Using prepared slate sheets, they are formed walls compost bin.
The compost matures in the pit for two years, and the slate partition, located in the middle of the box, makes it possible to use internal space pits continuously. That is, the result of the work is a two-section slate box, each of the compartments of which is used in turn.
List of requirements for a compost bin
When studying the question of how to make a compost pit from certain materials, you should not forget about the requirements for such structures. First of all, when making a compost bin, you need to take into account that organic matter needs a constant flow of air to ripen. Therefore, on the sides of the structure there must be ventilation holes. So that useful substances from the created organic fertilizer not washed into the ground, it is advisable to cover the compost pit during rain lid. You can use a regular one instead of a lid. plastic film, but in this case it will need to be somehow fixed at the edges to prevent it from being blown away by the wind. It should also be taken into account that the compost ripens faster from below, so the lower part should be easily accessible. In the diagram above you can see how the simplest compost bin works. Note that the boards placed on the side are removable, and the dimensions of the structure can be changed. As an option, you could consider creating a drawer with removable front boards.
There is also a way to create an opening drawer of a simpler design. The loops in it will be made of durable strips of rubber or other elastic material. They are well fixed on the surface of boards nailed together.
An economical option for creating a compost bin would be a product made from wooden pallets, the construction of which does not require special skills or a lot of time.
What can and cannot be thrown into a compost bin?
Having figured out how a compost pit is made from various consumables, you cannot ignore recommendations regarding what waste can be thrown into it and what cannot.
A self-constructed compost pit will fully justify the purpose of its creation if the following types of organic waste are collected in it:
- Fallen tree bark, old leaves and small branches, pine needles, grass roots and small tree roots.
- Rotted manure and bird guano.
- Grass and weed clippings.
- Leftover herbal tea or coffee.
- Peeling vegetables and fruits, missing berries, fruits and vegetables.
- Ash left over from burning wood.
- Wood shavings, straw, sawdust, hay.
- Napkins, cardboard, paper bags and paper itself.
Recommendation. To make a thick layer of grass laid in a compost pit decompose faster, sprinkle fresh, loose soil on top of it. If this is not done, the process of overheating the grass will drag on for a period of six months to a year.
As for those components that cannot be placed in a compost pit, their list includes:
- Potato and tomato tops. Often it is infected with late blight spores, and putting it in compost will subsequently lead to the spread of the disease throughout garden plot, and late blight damage to new seasonal vegetation.
- Products of inorganic origin that will not decompose under the influence of natural factors. These include metal, polyethylene bags, rubber and synthetics, components with a plastic base.
- Vegetation generously fertilized with chemicals.
- The branches are thick and take a long time to rot.
- Seeds weeds, have already passed the maturation stage.
- Feces of animals living in the house. They may contain inclusions in the form of bones or helminth eggs.
How to properly operate a compost bin?
In the previous sections of our article, we found out how to make a compost pit from available components, as well as what can be put in it and what is not advisable to put in the pit. Now it remains to identify those simple requirements that will help to properly operate the compost storage structure throughout the year. Here they are:
- Try to exercise periodically loosening compost with a garden fork. This will ensure a flow of oxygen to the rotting organic matter. Mixing waste will help speed up the decomposition process.
- The compost heap should be used occasionally water. If the weather is dry and hot outside, the number of waterings of ripening compost should be increased. With regular moistening, the contents of the pit will rot better and faster. But dry compost completely stops decomposing.
- If there is such a possibility, then it is advisable to periodically lay it in the thickness of rotting vegetation. Californian worms. They will not only loosen the contents of the compost, but also partially process it.
- It is advisable to place it on top of the waste in the pit. dark plastic film. Thanks to it, a greenhouse effect will arise in the thickness of the raw biomaterial, and as a result, the temperature inside the heap will increase significantly. Vegetation stacked in layers will burn out faster. At the same time, the presence of the film ensures the preservation of a moist environment in the compost and prevents the growth of weeds there. The ripening period for a compost heap covered with film is 3-4 months. If the pit with organic matter is not covered, the process of waste maturation will last for a whole year.
- If possible, it is recommended to add to the compost pit special drugs, accelerating the decomposition procedure of components. Among the most famous such compositions are Baikal EM-1, Sanex EcoCompost, Compostar, Compostin, Embionic.
With proper arrangement of a compost pit and regular maintenance of it, owners of personal plots will be able to obtain high-quality fertilizer that does not contain harmful substances.
DIY compost pit. Video
