Making commercial compost involves an intensive process of blending, turning, heating, and cooking to break down raw materials to create compost; and be utilised as a great resource in your growing environments.
It’s a common misconception that compost is just soil with additives to help build organic matter. But the truth is, there is a science behind the process of making quality compost in bulk.
The materials used to make commercial compost are a particular combination of the following.
- Animal byproduct
- Manures
- Bark fines
- Green waste
- Sawdust
- Fungi
Compost needs the perfect combination of nitrogen, carbon, and oxygen to create the microbe activity necessary for it to be created. Once the ingredients for the particular commercial compost are blended together, the raw materials are turned and heated to a certain temperature to cook them for the desired outcome.
Here are the steps Azwood takes when creating commercial compost at our very own compost production yard.
- Recovery & collection: residues and raw materials are collected from mills and forests around New Zealand.
- Screening: separating the decorative grades of bark and fibre and all the raw materials into bark fines media with an in-house grinder.
- Blending & windrowing: the blending process includes adding composting additives to bark fines media depending on the compost being created.
- Composting: the intensive process of aging involves turning the mounds approximately 5-7 times. This allows the mixture to heat to the desired temperatures and cook each time they’re turned.
- Final screening: a final screen is initiated to remove any oversized particles to get the required size specification and prepare for dispatch.
- Dispatch: delivery to growers, landscapers, and garden centres around the top of the south to happy customers.
See Azwood® range of commercial compost.