All these materials are 'soft' and 'easy' for microbes (bacteria) to digest. They have high nitrogen-to-carbon ratio (towards 10:1) and are hence goodC/N balancers where you havea lot of carbon-rich materials like straw,woody stalks or wood. It contains microbial feed which gives microbes a boost of immediately available nutrients. This microbe food speeds up the process of decomposition. The one exception is when you are trying to create a biochar super compost - which requires the addition of a biochar and or compost humification agent (e.g. SoilFixer's CHA). The only other activity on the list that gets close to helping increase the speed of composting is increasing the surface area of the waste to be composted. To reduce the particle size - i.e. shred, shred, and more shredding.

The science behind how and why biochar works is constantly developing (e.g. new information on DIET (direct interspecies electron transfer) is speeding the process by0-30%). This is a new term introduced by SoilFixer. During composting, compounds known as humus (or colloidal humus) are formed. These compounds are the real active items in compost (read here). Typically compost contains less than 1-5% of these valuable compounds. A humification agent increases the amount of colloidal humus in your final compost typically to 15-30%. Garotta is harmless to children, pets and wildlife and its fast acting nature can help you produce your very own natural garden compost. To start your compost pile, you’ll need 2 parts brown material and 1 part green materials (as show on the image in this article) When you buy composters from B&Q, you’ll be helping to reduce your carbon footprint by cutting down on the amount of rubbish that your house sends to landfill. You can use both kitchen and garden waste in your composter, so if you often have grass cuttings or fallen leaves, you can use them to benefit the rest of your garden.But here is the catch - unless your waste has no nitrogen (or not enough) then adding more will not change things. Most compost waste simply does not need extra nitrogen. Avid readers of our blog will note that the compost Humification is 80% biochar combined with trace minerals. To accelerate means to increase the speed (rate), so they should increase the speed of composting (ie reduce the time it takes to make good quality compost. We can define a compost accelerator as a product that increases the speed (rate) of decomposition. We do not believe commercial compost accelerators accelerate the rate of garden composting to any meaningful degree. (We explain why and the detail below). The only meaningful way to accelerate(increase the rate) of decompositionis to increase the heap temperature. Regular compost heaps can take up to 12 months to produce any usable compost. Compost Accelerator speeds up the process by naturally increasing the compost heap to give you quality compost in as little as 3 weeks. You can use this 'rough rule thumb': take the length of time your composting takes at ambient temperature in months (e.g. 36, 18, 12, six months) and convert to days (so 36, 18, 12, six days) for how long it will take for hot composting. If your current compost takes 18 months (cold system) it will take approx 18 days at 60C (hot).

You will often see urine (pee) listed as a compost activator. We are highly dubious of the real value of adding pee to compost. Urine has a tiny amount of urea, which in turn has tiny amounts of nitrogen. If you are hot composting - the addition of +99% water (which takes heat to remove it as steam) is negative. In a cold composting system, if the heap is very dry urine is OK. If the heap is damp, it compounds aeration issues. Our expertise says those seeing really positive impact probably have compost bins that were too dry and the water is improving the process. Never add cooked food of any kind as this can attract vermin. Shred or cut waste into smaller pieces where possible, especially woody stems. If heat (temperature) is the secret tofast composting, what benefit do all the compostingactivators on sale really have? The SoilFixer humification agent is a mixture of biochar,micronized oxides (tiny bits of trace minerals), and composting microbes (from SF60/compost).

Composters are a great way to reduce food waste while simultaneously benefitting your garden. They are both compact and mess-free as they keep any materials that you add to them inside the composter until the compost is ready to use. Adding organic matter to your soil helps to improve its health and structure by letting it retain additional nutrients and moisture. Using compost in your garden also means that you’re less likely to need to add fertilisers and pesticides to your soil and plants. Biochar can be mixed with finished compost as a means of activating the biochar. Biochar can also be added to the compost mix to co-compost biochar and waste. This creates activated compost-biochar such as SF40 and SF60. Compost can take a long time to create from your home organic waste. If you do not add much to your compost pile or bin then you can be in for a long wait of many months. However, there are some companies that have made 'compost accelerators' which speed this process up. We explore some below. Envii Compost Accelerator

It also contains a source of Chitin which provides plant health benefits when using your new compost. This is a new term introduced by SoilFixer. During composting, compounds known as humus (or colloidal humus) are formed. These compounds are the real active items in compost (read here). Typically compost contains less than 1-5% of these valuable compounds. A humification agentincreases the amount of colloidal humus in your final compost typically to 15-30%. By keeping the compost heap at a higher temperature Compost Accelerator helps to break down waste in to smaller pieces, whilst retaining all of the nutrients needed to help plants grow.

Using the above definitions of 'activator' and 'inoculator', the SoilFixer Compost Humification Agent (CHA) is both an activator and inoculator. We are not aware of any other compost additive that acts to increase humification. It also helps to reduce compost odours, lower nitrous oxide and methane (potent climate change gases). Repeat steps 4 and 5 each time a layer is added. Your compost will be ready to use when dark, brown and crumbly. The time is takes varies from a few weeks, to several months. This is dependent on the weather, air temperature and the materials you use. Don’t be despondent if it’s not happening straight away, patience is a virtue here. Unless you are a commercial composter, it is unlikely you going not going to notice the 10% reduction in days. However, the difference between the time at 10C and 60C is huge - 14 vs 486! Unfortunately the delivery company will be unable to remove items from the pallet or take the pallet away with them and delivery will be made to the kerbside. We only use natural ingredients in Compost Accelerator which makes it 100% organic. This can give you the reassurance that it will help produce healthy, organic compost that can contribute to the growth of organic plants.

Garotta is made from materials selected to help improve the structure of home-produced garden compost, maintain a neutral pH and speed up the process of decomposition. It provides food to promote bacterial growth which in turn encourages the temperature in the compost heap to rise, kill off weed seeds and hasten the conversion of garden and kitchen waste into a rich compost ideal for enriching garden soil. To activate means to start, to get a reaction going. A compost activator should therefore help get things started. There are several types of activators and we go through each below. The Q10 law of natural science (named after Arrhenius) states: for every 10ºC increase in (composting) temperature, the speed of reaction (rate of decay) doubles. Hot composting at 60ºC is x32 times faster than cold composting at ambient 10C. Hot composting can (and does) deliver compost in 30 days, cold composting delivers compost in 12-18 months).We are often asked why is my compost not breaking down? It has been 18 months and I still don't have any compost - how do I get my compost faster? Compost Accelerator can help increase the temperature of compost piles above 80°C to ensure that any harmful pathogens or diseases are killed off and your compost is sterilised. Garotta Compost Maker If your heap is too wet the chances are it has too much water or nitrogen. Turn the pile regularly to aerate & keep the temperature under control. Add some brown materials like shredded cardboard, newspaper or small twigs to balance it out. Too Dry? It’s best not to add fresh food waste to the pile like meat, fish or diary. Not only do they make the pile smell bad, but it can also invite unwanted pests to your garden. Too Slow? Used correctly biochar can have a tremendous positive impact on soil health and plant growth. In recent years, adding biochar to compost has become the recommended way to "activate" biochar and help ensure success. Think of raw biochar as a dry sponge. To activate it, (i.e. charge the biochar with water and plant nutrients), it needs to soak in the compost. When you add the SoilFixer humification agent, not only do you increase colloidal humus, and improve composting, as biochar is 80% of the CHA (SoilFixer humification agent) mix, you are activating and adding biochar to your soil. Using CHA you make a DIY version of SF60 - our Biochar Super Compost.