Types of organic fertilizers and their use. What organic fertilizers include - types and characteristics

Gardeners in Russia and neighboring countries grow cabbage with pleasure and quite successfully. But the “set”, as a rule, is limited to varieties of white cabbage of different ripening periods, broccoli and cauliflower. Meanwhile, we already have popular types of cabbage that ripen earlier and bring less hassle when growing. In this article, we bring to your attention 5 types of cabbage that you may not have heard of yet, but which are definitely worth growing.

The long-awaited April does not always bring pleasant surprises with the weather. But sooner or later, all work in the ornamental garden will start in April. From simple household chores and clearing plant debris, cutting dry clumps and mulching the soil to planting new flower beds, you will have to take care of a lot. Planting comes to the fore in April. It is better to plant bushes, trees, and vines this month. But don’t forget about caring for seedlings.

Among the variety of tomato varieties, as a rule, only two groups are distinguished: indeterminate and determinate. But the tomato world is divided into more diverse “clans”, knowing about which is not only interesting, but also useful. Tomatoes are divided according to the method of cultivation, according to ripening time, according to leaf shape, according to fruit shape, according to size, according to color... Today I would like to talk about the varieties that form the most colorful group under the beautiful name “Bi-Colour”.

Enchanting April with its delicate blossoms and the first dazzling greenery is a very capricious and changeable month. Sometimes it unpleasantly surprises with its winter atmosphere, and sometimes it pleases with unexpected warmth. In April, work begins on the beds, and a full season begins in the greenhouse. Sowing and planting in open ground should not interfere with caring for seedlings, because the quality of the harvest depends on its quality. The lunar calendar is especially favorable for beneficial plants at the beginning of the month.

Spring sanitary pruning allows you to form a beautiful crown and stimulates the formation of a high yield. Trees easily tolerate it, recovery occurs very quickly, wounds heal well. The main goal is to form the crown and remove branches that are broken and dried out during the winter. Winter pruning is especially necessary in the first four years after planting, when skeletal branches are formed. The optimal time for spring pruning is from the beginning of winter to the beginning of spring.

Extreme sensitivity to low temperatures makes zinnias annual plants, which are usually grown through seedlings. But there is nothing complicated about sowing and growing young zinnias. They are hardy and low-maintenance plants that are easy to grow from seed. And if you also collect your own seeds, you will get one of the most “economical” summer seeds in your collection. Bright baskets of inflorescences color the garden with a special cheerful canvas.

The domestic market offers a wide range of cucumber hybrid seeds. Which varieties to choose to get maximum yield? We have identified the best hybrids, according to Agrosuccess seed buyers. They were “Merengue”, “Zozulya”, “Masha” and “Director”. In this article we will tell you about their advantages. Since absolutely all cucumber hybrids have no disadvantages: they do not turn yellow, have many ovaries, the fruits are not large, and are resistant to diseases.

Eggplants - tall, erect plants with wide, dark green leaves and large fruits - create a special mood in the garden beds. And in the kitchen they are a popular product for a wide variety of dishes: eggplants are fried, stewed and canned. Of course, growing a decent harvest in the middle zone and further north is not an easy task. But subject to agrotechnical cultivation rules, it is quite accessible even to beginners. Especially if you grow eggplants in a greenhouse.

Lenten charlotte with apples and cinnamon on vegetable cream is a simple pie that is suitable for fasting people; this pastry can also be included in a vegetarian menu. There are situations when dairy products need to be replaced with vegetable ones, then vegetable cream prepared on the basis of vegetable fats comes to the aid of housewives. The taste of cream goes well with apples and cinnamon, baking powder makes the dough fluffy and airy, the pie turns out simply delicious.

When buying a blooming orchid, lovers of exotic plants ask themselves the question: will it bloom just as well at home and should they expect it to bloom again? Everything will be - and grow, and bloom, and delight for many years, but under one condition. As with any indoor plants, for an orchid you must initially try to create conditions acceptable for growth and development. Sufficient lighting, humidity and air temperature, special substrate - the main points.

Noble lush greenery, unpretentiousness, and the ability to purify the air from dust and pathogens make nephrolepis one of the most popular indoor ferns. There are many types of nephrolepis, but any of them can become a real decoration for a room, and it doesn’t matter whether it’s an apartment, a country house or an office. But only healthy, well-groomed plants can decorate a room, so creating suitable conditions and proper care is the main task of flower growers.

Correct herring under a fur coat - layers in turn, the order of which determines the taste of the dish. It is important not only to put fish and vegetables in a certain sequence. Product preparation is also of great importance. Never cook vegetables for this appetizer the day before; overnight in the refrigerator they will lose some of their flavor and become bland. Cook the vegetables 2-3 hours in advance and cool them to room temperature. You can also bake carrots, beets and potatoes in the oven in foil.

Experienced gardeners always have crystalline iron sulfate, or ferrous sulfate, in their garden medicine cabinet. Like many other chemicals, it has properties that protect horticultural crops from numerous diseases and insect pests. In this article we will talk about the features of using iron sulfate to treat garden plants against diseases and pests and about other options for its use on the site.

Many people cannot imagine their diet without ripe, delicious tomatoes. Moreover, the variety of varieties allows you to choose the one that suits your taste the most. There are varieties that are called salad varieties, that is, they are best consumed fresh. These include the Honey tomato, whose name speaks for itself. In 2007, the Honey variety was included in the State Register of the Russian Federation. “Agrosuccess” offers seeds from the best breeders in the world that have undergone additional testing

Retaining walls are the main tool for working with complex terrain on a site. With their help, they not only create terraces or play with planes and alignment, but also emphasize the beauty of the rock garden landscape, the change in height, the style of the garden, and its character. Retaining walls allow play with raised and lowered areas and hidden areas. Modern dry or more solid walls help turn the disadvantages of the garden into its main advantages.

Organic fertilizers necessary for every vegetable and green crop. After all, they not only serve as an important source of nutrients, but also provide plants with carbon dioxide and create optimal conditions for the development of roots and the vital activity of beneficial soil fauna. But are all types of organics equally effective and safe to use? Let's try to figure it out together.

According to modern calculations, during the summer season, vegetable plants absorb approximately 200 g/sq.m. from the soil. humus. To make up for such colossal losses, at least 500 grams of dry organic matter must be returned to the beds.

So it makes no sense to try to restore soil fertility with just one application. And not only because organic fertilizers contain all the main macro- and microelements in ideally balanced proportions for plants, mostly in the form of alkaline compounds (let me remind you that organics, unlike minerals, do not have the property of acidifying the soil ).

Vermicompost

The process of decomposition of organic matter is accompanied by the release of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, which is essentially one of the main nutrients of plants and is vital for them to carry out full photosynthesis. And most importantly, it is as a result of the processing of organic matter by microorganisms that the soil is enriched with humus and other biologically active substances, restoring its structure and promoting the normal development of cultivated plants.

However, it is important to know that different types of organic fertilizers are not equal in their effectiveness. The following varieties of organic matter are considered to be the safest from an environmental and phytosanitary point of view: benign compost on a straw bedding, well-rotted compost, green mass of lupine, rye, vetch-oat and vetch-pea mixture.

At the same time, failure to comply with the rules for using the fertilizers listed above can turn them from a friend of soil fertility into its enemy.

For example, fresh manure is contraindicated for all vegetable and green crops, with the possible exception of cucumbers. Firstly, it may contain plant-pathogenic microbes, helminth eggs, infectious agents, residual products of antibiotics, vaccines, etc.; secondly, seeds of perennial weeds are always present in manure; thirdly, it happens that the content of highly toxic heavy metals in such organic matter is tens of times higher than the maximum permissible standards. In addition, manure fertilizer has a high concentration of nitrogen compounds, so the use of fresh manure can cause fattening or burns of plants.

In this regard, fresh manure of appropriate quality is applied to vegetables only a year before planting. It is quite acceptable to add well-decomposed manure to the garden soil in the fall and mature compost in the spring.

Ready-made store-bought vermicomposts and biocomposts enriched with mineral nutrients, including microelements, are practically devoid of all the main disadvantages of “natural” organic fertilizers. Although, it must be said, purchasing them for a standard garden of six acres can hit the budget hard.

Among the most popular universal fertilizers of organic origin are the following brands:

• Universale is an organo-mineral fertilizer in granules, which contains humic compounds, macro- and microelements.
• Pixa supercompost is essentially manure and litter disinfected using biothermal technology.
• Vermicompost "Flora" is an organic fertilizer based on purified chicken manure.
• “Giant” for potatoes and “Giant” for vegetable crops are a series of granular fertilizers, the production of which uses a variety of food waste and waste products.

These and similar fertilizers are used strictly in accordance with the dosages recommended by the manufacturer. To obtain a pronounced effect, it is often enough to add from 5 to 10 kilograms of store-bought bio- or vermi-compost per hundred square meters of garden area during the autumn digging of the plot. However, it is more economical and rational to add it in rows of 25-50 grams (about half a glass) per linear meter or directly into the hole at 10-15 grams (about a tablespoon).

Other common ones - straw and are also not without drawbacks. Peat is no less than 75% organic, but contains very few beneficial microorganisms (almost sterile) and has acidifying properties. Straw and sawdust contain a lot of organic matter in dry form, but they are deprived of nitrogen. So, when large volumes of these fertilizers are incorporated into the soil without parallel application of nitrogen fertilizing, plants may experience acute nitrogen starvation.

The advantage of organic fertilizers is their naturalness compared to mineral ones. The microelements they contain are in a very organic form and are completely absorbed by plants. Perhaps, when using only organic matter, the harvest will not be as rich as if mineral fertilizers were used, but their quality will be much higher.

What are organic fertilizers? These can be decomposition products of both animal and plant origin. Many of them are poorly transportable and suitable only for areas located in relative proximity. Most contain a large amount of moisture in their composition, but all of them are record holders for the content of nitrogen, potassium and phosphorus.

Organic fertilizers: their types and characteristics

Most common types of organic fertilizers:

• humus;
• bird droppings;
• sawdust;
• peat;
• compost;
• cow, horse manure, etc.;
• bone flour;
• silt from reservoirs;
• household waste;
• straw;
• green manure crops;
• wood ash.

Let's look at each of them in more detail.

Perhaps this the most popular and widespread organic fertilizer in agriculture. It consists of animal excrement mixed with straw or hay. Manure is rich in minerals such as potassium, phosphorus and nitrogen. The most popular manure is cow manure due to its availability and price, but manure from other animals - sheep and horses - is not always available.

Fresh cow manure can only be used after it has stood for three months.. Use it diluted with water. Thanks to manure, the soil can be saturated with microelements so that no other organic fertilizers are required for three years. In addition, the thermal properties and air permeability of the soil are noticeably improved.

There are several types of cow manure:

• rotted - used for mulching the soil or added directly when planting seedlings directly into the holes;
• slurry - the liquid part of manure containing a large amount of nitrogen. It should be used after diluting it with water;
• mullein or liquid manure. The most effective, as it is extremely quickly absorbed and does not contain weed seeds;
• fresh manure. Used mainly for composting or preparing mullein. If there is a need to add it to the beds, you should wait about three months. Due to the possible content of bacteria, helminths and weed seeds in fresh manure, it is not recommended to use it immediately.

Horse manure is effective, but unfortunately rarely used. After its use, increased plant growth and high productivity are noticed. This fertilizer acts on the soil for quite a long time - up to five years. It exists in the following forms: liquid, granules, fresh and rotted. There is also horse humus.

Compost

There are several types. Depending on the source of origin, there are: leaf, grass, prefabricated and peat manure compost. It is made by mixing leaves, grass, manure, and non-chemical waste. Everything is mixed in specially dug compost pits. Waste is stacked in layers; thin paper, bird droppings, and any weeds from the site can be placed as a layer. After the waste has been placed, it is watered with water or the Baikal preparation.

If the goal is to make only herbal compost, you will need leaves, thin branches and weeds that are placed at the bottom of the compost bin. Soil and manure will be poured on top. The entire composition is watered and covered with film. The compost pit should remain in this form for a year and only by the next season will the fertilizer be ready.

Manure compost is made as follows: collect a mixture of manure, soil and peat. Naturally, there should be the most manure. The mixture is placed in a hole and watered. Experienced gardeners advise opening the film covering the compost pit throughout the year and using a pitchfork to mix the layers. In this way, you can speed up the maturation of the fertilizer by six months. Compost laid in the fall will be ready by spring.

You can make prefabricated compost. It includes, in addition to manure, peat, leaves, weeds, branches, and also food waste. Under no circumstances should you add plastic products, bags or glass to the pit. Plain paper is acceptable.

Compost pits can be covered with spruce branches. In winter they are perfectly covered with snow. You can determine the readiness of compost by its appearance. It should be dark, well-rotted, crumbly, without large parts.

It is added during the spring digging of beds; it can also be used to mulch the soil very well. Typically, 8-10 kg of compost per square meter is applied.

Peat

Peat is usually used to loosen the soil. Peat is small pieces of bog moss and other plants. It perfectly maintains heat in the soil and promotes water permeability. In terms of its quality, peat differs into lowland, highland and transitional, of which lowland peat is the richest in nitrogen. It also contains quite a lot of phosphorus and potassium.

High-moor peat is not completely decomposed pieces of plants and moss, so it can only be used as mulch. Transitional is an intermediate option between highland and lowland.

Peat is added in an amount of 5-7 kilograms per square meter. It is often used to make compost or simply mixed with other fertilizers.

Humus

Plants really like this organic fertilizer. It is obtained by rotting various plants with animal waste products. Thanks to it, you can well increase the yield in the beds. Humus has proven itself especially well during the germination of seedlings. If humus is used for garden beds, it is recommended to add it in the fall during digging, and thus the soil will be well prepared for planting over the winter. If this fertilizer is used for shrubs or tree seedlings, add the humus directly into the hole and mix it with the soil.

Sawdust

Used more for mulching the soil. Sawdust improves the moisture permeability of the soil well, but it also removes nitrogen from it. Therefore, before adding sawdust to the soil, it is usually mixed with lime or other nitrogen fertilizers. Given their high acidity, it is best to wet the sawdust with urine or simply add it to compost instead of using it separately.

Bird droppings

It is best to use pigeon or chicken droppings as fertilizer. The droppings of geese and ducks are used much less frequently, since their quality is somewhat worse. It is very important to properly preserve bird droppings, otherwise it will quickly lose the minerals that make up its composition, especially nitrogen. Do not use bird droppings in their pure form., otherwise the roots of the plant will simply get burned. It is diluted with water in a ratio of 1:10. Most often they feed flowers and shrubs. You can mix the droppings with straw or sawdust for long-term storage.

Tree bark

Used primarily to create compost. Before this, it should be crushed. Compost with bark can be prepared over the course of a year; it is occasionally moistened and mixed.

Used to reduce soil acidity. It contains all the necessary microelements for the normal development and fruiting of crops.

Green manure

These are plants that are sown either before planting cultivated crops or after planting to restore the soil. It is especially effective to use this method to improve soil on sandstones. Green manure plants: sunflower, mustard, legumes, oats, vetch and olive radish. However, other early maturing plants are also suitable. Thanks to this sowing, the condition of the soil improves. It is not only saturated with minerals: potassium, calcium and magnesium, but is also freed from bacteria and root rot. For example, plants such as mustard and radish rid the soil of late blight and nematodes.

At the same time, legumes are very rich in nitrogen, but poor in potassium and phosphorus.

The biggest advantage of this fertilizer over other organic matter is its rapid decomposition.

The method of action is as follows: grown plants are simply plowed up along with the soil and remain there as humus until spring.

IL

Unfortunately, this fertilizer did not gain popularity, but in vain. Bottom sludge contains a lot of valuable substances necessary for the full growth and development of plants. It is mainly mined in the shallows of reservoirs. Sludge is used both in its pure form to improve acidic soil and in composts.

Household waste

This refers to food waste and paper. Glass, plastic, polyethylene and other chemical products should not be included in household waste. Before using household waste as organic fertilizer, it is important to subject it to the process of decay. To do this, use a compost pit with the addition of manure, where they should decompose and grind.

Straw

Used in compost pits as an additive to the main fertilizer. The magnesium, fluorine, cobalt and phosphorus contained in straw perfectly enriches the composition of any compost. Straw is also actively used for mulching the soil.

Herbal infusions

Another category of safe and effective organic fertilizers. Herbal infusions are prepared from the following herbs: nettle, comfrey, yarrow, horsetail and chamomile.

Nettle infusion

This fertilizer is notable for the fact that in addition to containing microelements such as iron and nitrogen, nettle infusion perfectly tones the earth. It is prepared simply and very quickly, unlike other organic fertilizers. Nettles are harvested before seeds begin to form. The plant is used together with the roots. To prepare the infusion, use a container made of wood, glass or plastic; iron containers are not recommended.

As soon as the infusion changes color from green to brown, it is ready for use. Dilute it in a ratio of 1:5 and water the plant at the root. You can also spray it, but then it should be diluted 1:10.

The only plants that do not tolerate this fertilizer are legumes, onions and garlic.

Comfrey infusion

An infusion similar to nettle is made from comfrey. The peculiarity of this weed is that it contains a lot of potassium, and this microelement, as you know, is very necessary for potatoes. In addition to the infusion, it is recommended to add chopped comfrey to the hole when planting root crops.

Infusion of polyherbs

For this infusion, the following herbs are used: chamomile, yarrow, horsetail and shepherd's purse. Each of these plants has its own benefits. Thus, horsetail contains silicon, shepherd's purse contains nitrogen, and daisies contain sulfur.

Onion peel

This refers to the brown onion skins collected in winter. This old popular remedy will not only enrich the soil with microelements, but also protect the roots from some pests.

How to apply fertilizers

Despite their organic origin, these fertilizers may contain nitrates and some bacteria. In moderate quantities they will only bring benefits; in case of an overdose, the result will be different.

Usually organic matter is added at the rate of four kilograms per square meter. If the soil is poor or clayey, the rate is increased. It is best to apply fertilizer while digging. Allowed during summer feeding, such as bird droppings.

The farmer decides how often to feed the plants.

You can determine the condition of the soil and how much it needs fertilizing and mulching in the following way. They squeeze a lump of earth, and when they straighten their palm, they look at the condition of the lump. If it is dense, then the soil is clayey and requires loosening. You can also notice the condition of the soil while digging the beds. Good soil should not form clumps.

But the fact that the soil has increased acidity can be recognized by the whitish border along the edge of the beds.

And also feeding will depend on the type of plants. For example, potatoes require organic fertilizers once at the time of planting, and strawberries are fed by watering during their flowering period. Garlic is also fed when planting, and tomatoes, bell peppers and eggplants can be fed all summer and spring.

How much fertilizer should you apply?

The amount of fertilizer applied is influenced by factors such as the age of the plant, the time of year, and the type of plant. As a rule, young plants are not fed at first. When planting, enough organic and other fertilizers were applied, this is considered quite sufficient.

Earthen mixtures sold in stores are designed to last for six months provided the soil is good. If the soil is poor and clayey, they begin to feed after four months.

There are some rules for good feeding:

• act on the principle - better a little than a lot. It is advisable to underfeed plants rather than overfeed them;
• You cannot apply fertilizer when the substrate is dry, otherwise the roots will simply get burned;
• When feeding, dilute the concentrate as much as possible. It is better for it to be as less concentrated as possible. Otherwise, the plant will get burned;
• by the beginning of autumn, the plant should receive minimal feeding, and in September they stop fertilizing the beds altogether;
• You cannot fertilize a sick plant or one that is in a dormant period.

Thus, each organic fertilizer has its own purpose. Organic fertilizers are often readily available and require no investment. That is why they are valuable both for the summer resident and for the experienced farmer.

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Organic fertilizers have been known since the earliest periods of agricultural history.

Three thousand years ago, Chinese and Japanese farmers used organic fertilizers. In the countries of Western and Eastern Europe in the 14th-15th centuries AD, manure began to be used.

In the modern world, 3 billion tons of various organic fertilizers are used annually.

Types of organic fertilizers

Organic fertilizers are fertilizing organic substances of animal, plant, plant-animal and industrial-household origin of varying degrees of decomposition. Organic fertilizers contain large amounts of moisture and a wide range of different nutrients, some in small quantities, which is why they are classified as complete fertilizers. Organic fertilizers, as a rule, are poorly transportable; they are used locally or close to production and are called local fertilizers.

Organic fertilizers include manure (litter, non-litter, slurry), peat, bird droppings, sapropel, composts, household waste, industrial waste (lignin), wastewater residues, green fertilizers, etc.

Manure has a complex multilateral effect on the soil and is a source of ash and. Manure in any form replenishes the supply of mobile nutrients in the soil, improves the circulation of various nutrients in the soil-plant system.

Bird droppings are fast-acting organic. There are:

• litter, formed when poultry are kept on deep, permanent litter;
• litterless droppings, formed during cage keeping of poultry;
• dry droppings- a bulk fertilizer substance formed during the thermal drying of bedding-free liquid manure.

The chemical composition of droppings depends on the type of bird, type of feeding and keeping of the bird.

Bird droppings are used as pre-sowing fertilizer (see). Effective in various crops. It is recommended to use bird droppings when growing plants indoors.

In the year of application, on average, up to 50%, 20% and 70% are absorbed from the litter. The degree of use of nutrients depends on the dose, the granulometric composition of the soil and the biological characteristics of the plants.

In plant growing, peat is used in the preparation of peat humus pots and cubes, as a substrate for greenhouses and as a mulching material.

Sapropel is an organic fertilizer, bottom sediments of freshwater reservoirs. Natural color - from pink to dark brown. When exposed to air, the natural color disappears. The chemical composition of the substance varies even within the same body of water. Sapropel is used on various types of soil as a base and fertilizer.

Hydrolysis (technical) lignin

Hydrolysis lignin is the main waste of the hydrolysis industry. It contains few nutrients, has an acidic reaction and is very poor in microflora, has high moisture capacity and absorption capacity. When it is composted with other organic fertilizers (liquid manure, liquid bird droppings, slurry), fertilizers enriched with basic nutrients with good physical and mechanical properties and high biological activity are obtained. Nitrogen losses are minimal.

Tree bark and sawdust

Wood bark and sawdust can be used as organic fertilizer after composting with manure, slurry and other nitrogen-containing substances (photo). Such composts must meet the following requirements: organic matter content per dry weight of at least 80% with a humidity of no more than 60%, the proportion of humic substances is 10-15% of the total amount of organic matter, pH is at least 5.5, C: N ratio - no more than 30, percentage of content per dry weight - 3.0, - 0.1, - 0.1.

The ratio of composted materials and manure is 1: 1, 2: 1 or 3: 2. Phosphate rock and potassium chloride can be added to the compost.

Household waste (city waste)

Household waste is human waste. On average, one resident of Russia accounts for 0.15-0.25 tons of solid household waste per year.

The main share of municipal solid waste in cities is paper and organic components. The composition of garbage varies with the seasons. Biological waste is characterized by a high degree of biological contamination, can be dangerous from an epidemiological point of view and requires disinfection.

Solid household waste (city garbage) is comparable in nutrient content and fertilizing qualities to litter manure. The rate of mineralization of household waste depends on the presence of food waste in it. If there is a large amount of it, the garbage decomposes quickly and can be used as fertilizer, bypassing composting. When non-food waste predominates (paper, rags, etc.), it decomposes slowly and is used after composting.

Urban waste contains on average, based on dry weight, 0.6-0.7%, - 0.5-0.6%, - 0.6-0.8%.

Urban waste is used as pre-sowing fertilizer, for basic tillage, and in protected greenhouses.

Sewage sludge (SWS)

Sewage sludge accumulates in large cities at treatment plants in the amount of 1.5 to 1% of the volume of all treated water (photo) . The WWS humidity is high - 92-95%. Before use as a fertilizer, WWS is subjected to a variety of processing methods, namely:

Along with nutrients, WWS may contain heavy metals, petroleum products, and detergents. Constant monitoring of the composition of WWS is necessary, since their use sharply increases the risk of contamination of agricultural products and the environment with hazardous substances. All other things being equal, it is safer to use WWS on heavy, more humus-rich soils than on light, low-humus soils.

WWS is recommended for fertilizing parks, tree nurseries, lawns, and bast crops. For other crops, WWS is used only with the permission of sanitary and epidemiological stations under the control of the agricultural chemical service. WWS is not used for vegetable crops.

Composts

Compost (from the Latin compositus - “composite”) is an organic fertilizer. It is a decomposed mixture of manure with peat, soil, plant residues, phosphate rock, formed under the influence of microorganisms.

High-quality compost is a homogeneous, dark, crumbly mass with a moisture content of no more than 75%, with a reaction close to neutral, and nutrients in a form easily accessible to plants. (photo)

To prepare composts, various combinations of organic substances are used (manure, bird droppings, sewage sludge, industrial and household waste containing organic matter). Mineral components can be added to the compost mixture: phosphate rock, potash fertilizers, etc.

Composts have good physical and mechanical properties. They are free-flowing, easily transportable, and do not stick to the working parts of agricultural machines and implements.

Composting requires a positive ambient temperature. Optimal humidity conditions and high degree of aeration at the beginning of the process. To accelerate the decomposition of organic matter and reduce the loss of ammonia nitrogen and increase the concentration of nutrients, phosphate rock is added to the compost, and in case of high acidity, lime.

Properly prepared composts have the same fertilizing properties as manure.

Depending on the components, composts are divided into:

• peat manure;
• peat litter;
• peat-liquid;
• peat fecal;
• manure-olignin;
• composts from household waste and prefabricated ones.

Vermicompost (vermicompost)

Vermicompost (vermicompost) is a product of processing manure and various organic wastes by the red Californian worm Eusenia foetieda (photo) .

Vermicompost contains macro- and microelements, is biologically active, contains hormones that regulate plant growth (auxin, gibberellin), important enzymes: catalases, phosphatases, etc. During processing, the number of viruses and salmonella decreases. The red Californian worm can withstand temperatures from 4 to 28 ºC. The preferred acidity of the habitat is 6.5-7.5. The lifespan of a worm is 800-900 days. They reproduce by cocoons; on average, 3.5 individuals hatch from each cocoon.

A normal individual produces up to 200 offspring per year. Worms feed on all organic matter, consisting of 20% cellulose. Some organic substances require preliminary preparation. Thus, cattle manure must first undergo a fermentation process for 6-7 months to achieve the desired pH level; pork manure needs 10-12 months for this. At least 25% sawdust (by weight) is added to bedding-free manure. Every year, the number of worms can increase 4-10 times.

The product produced by worms is a balanced granular organic fertilizer containing (on an absolutely dry basis) 30% humus, 0.8-3.0% nitrogen, 0.8-5% phosphorus, 1.2% potassium, 2-5% calcium.

Verlicompost is used as a base and fertilizer. Recommended as highly effective for closed ground.

Green fertilizers (green manures)

Green fertilizers are fresh plant matter plowed into the soil to enrich it with organic matter and improve the nutrition of subsequent crops. Plants grown with green fertilizers are green manures; the method of enriching soils with them is green manure.

As green manure, legumes are usually used (lupine, seradella, sweet clover, vetch, china, asiragao, etc.), a little less often, mixtures of legumes with cereals (vegetable-oat mixture) or intermediate non-legume crops (mustard, rapeseed, rapeseed, etc.).

The ability of legumes to symbiotically fix atmospheric nitrogen, which contributes to additional enrichment of soils with nitrogen, makes them valuable green manures.

Green fertilizers have the same multifaceted positive effect on soil fertility as well-prepared bedding manure.

1 ton of wet weight contains different amounts of nutrients. Data on the nutrient content in different types of green manure fertilizers and mixed manure are presented in the table “Average data on the nutrient content in 1 ton of wet weight of legume green manure and 1 ton of densely stored mixed manure.”