The Art of Composting Making compost is a natural process. Our job is to monitor it and speed up natures process. It takes 10 weeks to process green waste into compost . For the last 15 years, Shorts Agriculture has been making compost at Planners Farm. And it’s not just any old compost, its high quality organic, PAS 100 and Compost Quality Protocol (CQP) compliant, compost. So if Carlsberg made compost, it would be this product! Making PAS 100 compost is not straight forward. We have to pass rigorous tests from external agencies to check that what we’re selling is what we’re producing i.e. PAS 100 accredited.
Here’s ten weeks’ of the composting process simplified into a 7 step process.
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Green waste arrives at Planners farm from many different sources. Customers tipping green waste pay us a gate fee which is charged per tonne of green waste delivered. The cleaner and fresher the green waste the better it is for our process.
The green waste is inspected to ensure it is fit for purpose. If it is accepted, it will be laid out across the floor and any litter or contaminants are removed before the material is shredded. Once the green waste is shredded, it is placed in to windrows . Each windrow will hold around 200 tonnes. It is given a “Batch number” This is so it can be followed through the process start to finish. We monitor each windrow daily for Oxygen, Carbon Dioxide, temperature and moisture. This is necessary to manage the bacteria in the windrow which are responsible for making the compost. We manage the bacteria to optimise the process. We use a computerised system called “SLC COMPOST MANAGER” to measure Oxygen, Carbon Dioxide, temperature and moisture within the windrow. This tells us how active the bacteria are and gives us necessary information such as the best time to turn the windrows, add water or leave the windrow alone. Temperatures within the windrow should get to 65 centigrade within the first week of composting. It needs to stay above this but not above 80 centigrade for 7 days and receive 2 turns during this period. This sanitises the windrow and kills off weed seeds, Ecoli and salmonella. Once the windrow is sanitised it goes into stabilisation. During this period, the windrow is monitored every few days and is turned 4 times. At the end of the 10 week period as long as it has reached all its necessary parameters the windrow is screened to produce a 20mm product . This product needs to be stored for 3 weeks to mature before we can sell it as a PAS 100 product.
AND VOILA, WE HAVE COMPOST.
The end products we sell: 10mm compost – This compost is ideal for general landscape works, it can also be used as a mulch around trees /shrubs and in borders or as a top dressing on lawns. It’s excellent in flower borders, vegetable plots or raised beds. Simply dig it into your soil to improve structure, moisture holding ability, worm activity and root growth.
20mm compost – Its primary use is in Agriculture as a fertilizer and it can be delivered to local farms in bulk with a tractor and trailer. It can also be used in the garden as a rough mulch around trees, shrubs and on borders. It’s also very good at conditioning heavy clay soil when dug in and will increase worm activity and improve organic matter in the soil.
Divot mix Mainly used for polo pitches or playing fields as a top dressing. It creates a good playing surface and encourages root growth as well as feeding the grass with slow release fertiliser.
It is made from washed sand blended together with our 10mm PAS accredited soil conditioner. There are two basic blends;70% and 30% 10mm soil conditioner or, 50% and 50% soil conditioner.
Soil 20mm screened soil, blended with our 10mm soil conditioner to make a soil suitable for topping up flower beds, raised beds, vegetable plots and laying turf. Only a small amount of this material is kept in stock.
Wood We also sell 1 tonne bags of wood. Ideal for wood burning stoves.
Gavin Bartlett, our Compost Manager deals with all enquiries. 01344 620 316 | gavin.bartlett@shorts-agricultural.co.uk