Compost is created from the decomposition and
recombination of various forms of plant and animal life,
such as leaves, grass, wood, garbage, natural-9ber
clothes, hair, and bones. These materials are organic
matter. Organic matter is only a small fraction of the
total material that makes up the soil—generally between
1% and 8% by weight. Yet organic matter is absolutely
essential to the sustenance of soil life and fertility.
Organic matter refers to dead plant and animal residues
of all kinds and in all stages of breakdown or decay.
Inseparable from these decaying dead residues are the
living microorganisms that decompose, or digest, them.
Microscopic life-forms (bacteria and fungi) in the soil
produce the recombining process, which creates the
warmth in the compost pile. Most of the decomposition
involves the formation of carbon dioxide and water as
the organic material is broken down. You can monitor
the temperature of your compost pile with a compost
thermometer. You can also do this by inserting a 1 by 1-
inch piece of wood into the pile, removing it
periodically and feeling the warmth with your hand. You
can judge whether the latest measurement is hotter or
cooler than before.
As the available energy is consumed, microbial activity
slows down, their numbers diminish—and the pile cools.
Most of the remaining organic matter is in the form of
humus compounds. Humus includes the living and dead
bodies of microbial life. As humus is formed, nitrogen
brent
(Brent)
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