WHAT WILL HAPPEN IF YOU LEFT THE COMPOST TOO LONG? 

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Some years ago, I remember my compost was done and all set for my spring planting, however, I was involved with a project from work that took up all my time. This led to a lack of time to set up my garden for spring. My compost was all backed up and waited for a couple of months. Finally, I had the time during fall to utilize it. During this time all I did was place it on top of the pile of compost. It took me years of experiments and I finally learnt; if you leave compost for too long you can still use it. But you must know that a certain amount of the potency of the compost is exposed to certain elements. Compost has certain microorganisms living in it that tend to make the compost finer.

Let’s learn certain vital details about compost; 

Compost that is store-bought vs homemade compost

It is important we understand what sort of compost we are discussing. Meaning have you bought the compost from a store and not used it, or have you made it at home and not used it. Let’s understand the difference; 

What will happen if you left the Compost that is store-bought for too long? 

You have bought it from the store, if well composted, I’m confident nothing will happen to it. But you have to make sure it was not open or well-sealed and stored. It should not be exposed to water or the sun. If it is completely matured then you have nothing to worry about.

What will happen if you left the Homemade compost for too long?  

As I mentioned earlier that there was a time when my compose was ready and I was busy with another project. So, what happened is when I went back to my compost, I seen it had gotten finer. I utilized it for my garden and it produced an amazing crop. 

There are certain things that you may want to consider especially if you plan to leave your homemade compost a tad longer; 

  • If the homemade compost you have at hand is not completely finished then, it will continue to decompose especially if it still has very quiet ingredients 
  • Suppose your compost is completely done, but you have stored it in a place that exposes it to certain elements it will lose its potency
  • Suppose your compost is completely done and you have stored it in a place kept away from certain elements, it would have increased potency in comparison to earlier 
  • In certain cases, if the compost is left on the soil for a very long time, it will eventually become a part of it. Therefore, you would find it extremely difficult to differentiate between the soil and the compost. If such a thing happens then you can go ahead and plant any soil there, it would thrive. 

There are a couple of things that you must remember while composting. Your compose requires four important elements they include; 

  1. Water 
  2. Air 
  3. Nitrogen 
  4. Carbon 

If the compose does not receive these four elements, it would simply be stagnant, creating nothing. 

So, if you have made your own compost or store-purchased, don’t stress about using it on time. As long as you’re storing them in the right way you can utilize the compost, whenever you’re ready to. That’s all for this article and I do hope you have received more clarity. Hope to see you guys soon!

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