Learn Compost Accelerator Recipe | How to guides, tips and tricks (2025)

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Compost Accelerator Recipe. Compost is a gardener's best friend. Spread around the bases of plants or incorporated into the soil, compost enriches the ground and helps to promote the growth and development of healthy plant tissue. Gardeners who recycle can easily create their own compost by layering kitchen scraps with garden waste and waiting for...

Compost is a gardener's best friend. Spread around the bases of plants or incorporated into the soil, compost enriches the ground and helps to promote the growth and development of healthy plant tissue. Gardeners who recycle can easily create their own compost by layering kitchen scraps with garden waste and waiting for all that organic material to decompose. Naturally, this can take a while. To increase the rate of decomposition, microbes need a boost. Moisture, nitrogen and carbon can all work together to speed things along. A homemade accelerator can easily be created and added to the compost heap.

Things You'll Need

5 gallon bucket

1 can beer

1 can cola

1/2 cup household ammonia

2 to 3 shovels full of garden soil

Garden rake

Pour one gallon of warm water into a five-gallon bucket. The most active participants in the compost pile tend to be microorganisms such as bacteria and fungi---both of which tend the thrive in dark, moist conditions. Often a compost heap is too dry, which slows the rate of decomposition.

Add one can of flat, warm beer to the water. For the best results, avoid light beer, but feel free to buy the least expensive can in the store. Once home, open the can and let it sit out on the counter for 24 hours. This should remove most of the fizz. The yeast in the beer encourages the growth of both bacteria and fungi.

Pour one can of cola into the bucket. Any brand will do as long as it is not sugar free. The sugar in the soda will provide the microbes with a ready source of carbon.

Mix in ? cup of household ammonia. In addition to being nitrogen-rich, ammonia will reduce the amount of acid present in the compost.

Stir well, until all of the ingredients are thoroughly blended and then pour the solution slowly over the compost heap. Follow the liquid accelerator with two to three shovels full of garden soil as this is a good source of additional microbes.

Toss the compost lightly with a rake or shovel to evenly distribute the accelerator and the new soil throughout the pile. This will help to avoid the development of "hot spots".

Tips & Warnings

Accelerator can be added to the compost pile once a week.

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Learn Compost Accelerator Recipe | How to guides, tips and tricks (2025)

FAQs

How to make your own compost accelerator? ›

Just mix a worn piece of cardboard or any carbon source material and coffee grounds in a compost pile. With this, the balance between Nitrogen and Carbon will bring essential organisms into existence.

What is the best natural compost accelerator? ›

"Natural" Activators

Suitable greens will have a high nitrogen value and be 'easy' for the composting microbes to breakdown. The “natural” activators include: Green Plants, e.g. comfrey, clover, grass clippings, nettles, or alfalfa.

What is the trick to make a good compost in short time? ›

Make a larger pile

The way your organic waste turns into nutrient-rich fertiliser for your plants is with heat. That's why if you want to speed up the composting process, you want to make sure that your pile is large enough. The larger the heap, the quicker it'll heat up because of the larger area.

What turns into compost the fastest? ›

As you're relying on microbes to break down the waste, focusing on adding materials that are easier to digest will result in a faster process. For example, waste like grass clippings and shredded paper compost faster than wood because wood is high in lignin. Pro tip: Don't add meat, dairy, or oils to your pile.

What liquid speeds up composting? ›

Keep your compost at a “wrung sponge” consistency at all times to accelerate your compost, by adding water if it feels a little dryer than that, or on the contrary, by adding dry waste such as shredded paper, cardboard or compostable kitchen towels if it feels wetter.

Does urine speed up composting? ›

Anyone who has been gardening for a while knows that peeing in the compost is the thing to do. Uric acid speeds up the compost process and gets you to the end product faster. Even the National Trust in England provides “pee bales” in strategic places in public gardens and parks that the male horticulture staff can use.

How do you make powerful compost? ›

Put the right stuff in. Good things to compost include vegetable peelings, fruit waste, teabags, plant prunings and grass cuttings. These are fast to break down and provide important nitrogen as well as moisture. It's also good to include things such as cardboard egg boxes, scrunched up paper and fallen leaves.

What is the perfect compost mixture? ›

The easy ratio to follow is 1 to 1, 50% green compost and 50% brown compost. Some people say you need more green than brown, some say you need more brown than green, but we and many other composters use half and half without issue. Watching this ratio can help keep Bacteria and Fungi happy.

What should never be added to the compost system? ›

DON'T add meat scraps, bones, grease, whole eggs, or dairy products to the compost pile because they decompose slowly, cause odors, and can attract rodents. DON'T add pet feces or spent cat liter to the compost pile. DON'T add diseased plant material or weeds that have gone to seed.

What is added to compost to get better results? ›

Turn your compost pile regularly to promote aeration and encourage the release of nitrogen back into the compost. Add nitrogen-rich materials, such as well-rotted manure or a nitrogen-rich organic fertiliser, to the compost pile to replenish nitrogen levels.

What is the best accelerant for composting? ›

Effective Compost Accelerators
  • Grass Clippings and Waste. Grass clippings decompose rapidly, providing ample fuel for microbial activity and heat generation within the compost. ...
  • Feathers. ...
  • Compost Inoculant. ...
  • Coffee Grounds.
Sep 5, 2023

What foods compost quickly? ›

Compost bin ingredients
  • Fruit peels, scraps and pits. Even avocado pits break down quickly!
  • Vegetable peels and scraps. After I make vegetable broth out of vegetable scraps, the strained bits go on the pile. ...
  • Grains, breads and pasta. ...
  • Hair. ...
  • Tea leaves and coffee grounds. ...
  • Eggshells. ...
  • Plant trimmings. ...
  • Grass cuttings.
Apr 1, 2022

What chemicals are in compost accelerator? ›

Ammonium sulfamate is used as a compost accelerator. It is especially effective in breaking down the tougher and woodier weeds and vegetation put onto the compost heap. Accelerates the break down and rotting of tree stumps.

What is an example of a compost activator? ›

Any plant high in nitrogen will help activate a compost heap with a high carbon level. Examples include nettles, comfrey, and legumes such as peas and beans. One option is to plant green manure such as field beans, which can extract nitrogen from the air.

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