Organic manures are natural products used by farmers or gardeners to provide food for crop plants. Basically organic manures are beneficial in the cultivation of crops. They increase the organic matter in the soil which in turn releases the plant food available from the use of crops. Organic manures enable the soil to hold more water and also help to improve the drainage in clay soils. They even provide organic acids that help to dissolve soil nutrients and make them available for plants. Organic manure is being increasingly popular for organic farming.
Method to prepare organic manure
It is very simple to prepare organic manure at home. You can convert your daily dustbins into rich, organic manure and grow flowers, vegetables, or plants with it.
So let us start with the most popular method of preparing organic manure at home-
1. Pot Composting
In this process, three pots are used.
1. First, segregate your household waste into dry and wet in your kitchen. Leftovers of food, fruit peels, and tea bags are wet waste whereas paper, plastic and packaging area dry waste.
2. Secondly, put both these wastes in two different containers in the kitchen. When the wet waste container is full, put its contents into the first compost pot.
3. Then add dry leaves of the same quantity as the waste and semi-composted material, buttermilk or cow dung to start with the decomposition process.
4. Turn the pile around every other day. Keep the pile at the right level of dampness. If it is too wet, add dry leaves and stir and if it is too dry add water and stir.
5. Once it is full, leave the pot open for 30-45 days for the composition to happen. Then move the semi-composted matter into a larger container or bin.
6. After two months the waste will convert into rich compost that can be used or sold as manure.
2. Vermicomposting
It is the worm's droppings created after consuming the organic waste. In this process, earthworms play the main role. These worms need air, water, food, and warmth to living and breed. By adding these worms to containers full of organic waste matter you can produce vermicompost.
1. Collect shredded newspaper, shredded cardboard, coconut fibers, and dry cow dung cakes.
2. Get a large plastic tub and soak these in water, squeeze out the excess water and place these materials at the bottom of the worm bin.
3. Next, buy some earthworms from the soil they live in. Add half-done compost to this and also add kitchen waste to this once in two or three days.
4. Don’t feed it meat, dairy, or fatty food. Limit the use of citrus fruits and Peel in your
Vermicompost Bin
5. Don’t use anything acidic, stick to the fruits and vegetable peel, eggshells, coffee grounds, tea bags, and tea leaves.
3. The Bokashi Method
It uses a select group of microorganisms anaerobically ferment organic waste.
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Add kitchen daily waste to the airtight drum for fermentation.
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You might see maggots the next day around the rim. Then add Bokashi powder.
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Ensure that the drum has a tap that can drain a small amount of the liquid generated from time to time. This liquid will smell like molasses, bran, and vinegar.
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Around the 17th day, there will be some white fungus grown in the drum showing the fermentation. The white mould is a beneficial fungus that helps suppress pathogens. If you have white mould, it means that your fermentation is going well.
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Collect kitchen waste in the Bokashi drum for a month and then let it sit for 18 days.
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Mix some of the drum's contents with semi-done compost and put this mixture in a tub.
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Dig a trench and then put the fermenting wet waste in it and cover it up.
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After three weeks your black compost will be ready.
4. Egg Shells Manure
You can make a slow-release calcium fertilizer by rinsing out the eggshells with water and drying them on a window sill to stop them from growing mold. Once dry, grind the eggshells up in a blender or with a mortar and pestle. Store in a glass jar.
Eggshells contain about 95% calcium carbonate which is the same ingredient as lime, a popular soil amendment used to reduce soil acidity and improve fertility.
However, compost prepared by traditional methods is not well-decomposed and has a poor nutrient content. Well-decomposed compost will reduce weeds and insects.
There are serious insect and weed problems when undecomposed compost is used. The average nitrogen content of the compost prepared by farmers is 0.5%. Using improved methods can increase the nitrogen content of the compost to 1.5%.
Benefits of Compost
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Maintains soil fertility level.
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Increases the nutrient level of the soil or improves the soil's physical condition by improving soil structure and aeration.
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Increases the infiltration capacity of the soil, thus reducing surface runoff.
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Helps to retain plant nutrients and moisture.
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Well-decomposed compost buffers soil reaction and controls soil temperature.
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It also increases soil microbial activity which helps mineralization of applied chemical fertilizers, making them more available to crops.
