If you have been composting at home, you have likely encountered the most frustrating aspect of it: time. It is not a fast process.
You continue mixing, and waiting, and turning, and waiting, and piling, and waiting, on and on.
How can you make compost faster?
You need a compost catalyst, and you can make this easily with supplies found at home! All you will need is sugar, beneficial bacteria (you can get this easily), water, heat, a nitrogen source, and a bucket to mix it in.
Don’t feel worried if you are overwhelmed at this moment. You can easily get bacteria, and you’ll have a homemade compost catalyst in a minute!
How to Make Homemade Compost Catalyst (Option 1)
Instead of splurging on an expensive catalyst, it would be a better idea if you just made your own at home.
It is as hard as it sounds!
You’re going to need to:
- ½ cup of molasses (this is the bacteria’s food)
- ½ cup of ammonia (this gives the bacteria a source of nitrogen)
- A five gallon bucket
- Enough warm water to fill the bucket to two thirds
- A good scoop of mature compost or garden soil (this is where the bacteria will come from)
- A shovel
Step 1
Take your five gallon bucket and fill it two-thirds full of warm water.
If you have a larger compost pile, you can easily scale the quantities up or make multiple batches.
Step 2
Add the scoop of compost, and then add the ammonia and the molasses.
Step 3
Stir it all together, mixing well. This brings the bacteria from the compost into contact with the nitrogen and molasses.
Step 4
Put your barrel in a warm, sunny place, and allow it to sit for up to twenty-four hours.
Do not leave it longer than this, unless you are aerating the barrel using an aquarium bubbler or something similar.
Because the bacteria in the compost will now be feeding on the sugar, warmer temperatures will also trigger them to begin the reproduction process.
They will soon multiply exponentially, which is precisely what you want with a compost catalyst; lots and lots of bacteria in the water.
Step 5
When the catalyst has fully worked, you can simply add it to your compost pile as is or strain off the water and just add in the solids.
Keep in mind, too much water added to compost at once can create problems.
If you add too much water and it sits wet for too long, it will go anaerobic and become sludgy, so if you are going to add wet catalyst, add in plenty of browns to dry it out.
Scrunch up cardboard or newspapers and add them to the heap and then stir it in.
Hopefully, the microbes in the compost catalyst will work their way throughout the compost heap.
The more beneficial bacteria that are in your compost heap, the faster it will “compost” – it is the bacteria that do the composting.
Quick Tip: You may want to set a reminder so that you do not overload your compost heap and leave this mix or its catalyst on the compost for more than twenty-four hours. It is going to go anaerobic and lose some of the good bacteria – and it will smell horrible at that point.
How to Make Homemade Compost Catalyst (Option 2)
If that recipe did not entice you too much, there are options available to explore.
Compost aid does not need to be made in exactly any one way to yield results; therefore, let’s look at another recipe.
You will need:
- A five gallon bucket
- A shovel
- A can or two of soda
- ½ cup of ammonia
- 6 ounces of beer (you may wish to open this and allow it to go flat for twenty-four hours before using it)
- 2 gallons of warm water
Step 1
Pour the beer into the clean five gallon bucket.
Step 2
Add the ammonia because it provides nitrogen in the mixture and also speeds up the process (the bacteria need nitrogen for activation).
Step 3
Next, pour the warm water into the bucket. After the warm water is in the bucket, pour the soda into the bucket.
It is important to have regular soda, and not diet soda, because you need the sugar from the soda to help activate the bacteria.
Step 4
Mix it up really well, and sprinkle the mixture over the compost pile.
It should then soak into the pile, taking the bacteria, the sugar, and the nitrogen with it, and it should charge to start the whole process going.
Step 5
Add cardboard or shredded paper to maintain the moisture balance.
Step 6
Using your shovel or garden fork, mix the compost heap well so that the catalyst is evenly mixed in the heap.
Aeration of the compost and the distribution of the bacteria is taking place because of the mixing.
What Does Compost Catalyst Do And When Should I Use It?
Essentially, the catalyst provides some very active microbes to your compost pile.
This becomes very important if you have an inactive pile or just a new pile that dosen’t have much bacteria yet, because if you don’t have any bacteria your compost pile is going to do very little aside from sit there.
Although your compost bin should eventually fill with bacteria, especially if it is an open air one, you can always speed things along by providing lots of bacteria and food.
In the above recipes, you are getting your bacteria either from compost (recipe one) which will already have bacteria, or you are getting it from the yeast in beer (recipe two).
You are activating it by feeding it with the sugar so that when it starts it is already eating and reproducing very quickly. This should give your compost pile a kick to get it started and speed everything up.
Your Call: A healthy and fully established compost pile shouldn’t need a compost catalyst, so it isn’t necessary, but for a new or unbalanced compost pile it could help get it up and going.
Conclusion
Making compost catalysts is really easy to do yourself at home, and you won’t have to spend money on pricey additives! All you need is a bucket, warm water, some bacteria, and sugar.
The bacteria will activate by feeding on the sugar and multiply, and when you put the bacteria into your compost heap it will set the whole thing in motion!