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13.6: Summary

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    25198
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    Composting helps us use organic waste materials to benefit the soil and increase plant growth. It helps reduce problems with local excesses and deficiencies of carbon and nutrients by making them safe and transportable. Composting organic residues before applying them to soil is a tried and true practice that can, if done correctly, eliminate plant disease organisms, weed seeds and many (but not all) potentially noxious or undesirable chemicals. Compost provides extra waterholding capacity to a soil, provides a slow release of N and may help to suppress a number of plant disease organisms as well as enhance the plant’s ability to fight off diseases. Critical to good composting is to have 1) a good balance of carbon (brown-dry) and nitrogen (green or colorful-wet), 2) good aeration, 3) moist conditions and 4) a mass of 4–5 cubic feet to reach and maintain high temperatures. It is also best to turn the pile or windrow to ensure that all the organic materials have been exposed to the high temperatures.

    tree growth without compost
    tree growth with compost
    Figure 13.6. Three years of tree growth without (left) and with (right) compost application. Photos by Urban Horticulture Institute, Cornell University.

    This page titled 13.6: Summary is shared under a CC BY-NC 4.0 license and was authored, remixed, and/or curated by Fred Magdoff & Harold van Es (Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education (SARE) program) via source content that was edited to the style and standards of the LibreTexts platform.