Humus in compost is good for garden soil

Compost is gardeners’ black gold. The more humus in compost, the better it is for garden soil and your plants. What is less appreciated is humus’s long-term benefit to the environment.

What is humus?

Humus is the name for a group of substances produced in the end stages of composting. The amount of humus is low in freshly made compost but rises significantly if it is allowed to rest and mature.

Rested compost becomes a dark, long-lasting organic matter known to gardeners as humus-rich mature compost. It works like a sponge, holding onto nutrients and water in the soil, and releasing them to plants. A buildup of humus helps make your soil more fertile and resistant to drought.

Protect the environment with humus

Humus has a high (60%) carbon content. It doesn’t break down easily and release its carbon as carbon dioxide to the atmosphere, so humus can effectively lock up its carbon for a long time in soil. This means humus has another role besides enriching soil - you can use humus to bury carbon and help protect the environment!

Homemade compost rich in humus

Kitchen waste is highly nutritious and its nutritional richness can be reused for your plants.

However, reusing kitchen waste at home is challenging especially with traditional compost bins. With a groundbreaking bin design, Bioverter now makes it easy to handle kitchen scraps as your main waste and produce homemade compost rich in humus.