A close look at the nutrition of Jeffries Organic Compost

Horticulture

There’s no denying that Jeffries Organic Compost is a useful soil amendment. Among its many benefits, it improves aggregate formation, porosity, water-holding capacity, humus formation and beneficial microbial growth. Jeffries Organic Compost has excellent soil contact with a high surface area (97% with a particle size under 5mm). It is protected against pathogens, with continual testing for salmonella and coliforms, and there are no viable plant propagules (weed or seed germination). It is certified to Australian Standards AS4454-2012 and is a very clean product, made possible by using industry best-practice near-infra red / x-ray and air-classified machine sorting.

These qualities alone make Jeffries Organic Compost an attractive purchase but did you know that Jeffries Organic Compost also has a lot more nutritional value embedded within it than people often give it credit for. Jeffries Organic Compost contains many kilograms (units) of essential nutrition for plants and it presents all these nutrients in a high surface area, easily accessible, bio-available form.

In other words, soil that is regularly amended with Jeffries Organic Compost often requires less fertiliser compared to soil that has not yet benefited from the addition of compost. Therefore, taking into account these extra nutrients, using compost to replace at least part of, or supplement synthetic fertilizer application regimes can save you money.

The table below shows the typical analysis of nutrients you are getting when you purchase Jeffries Organic Compost so you can reduce your usual fertiliser source appropriately once the additional nutritional value from the compost is known.

TYPICAL KILOGRAMS (UNITS) OF BIO-AVAILABLE ORGANICALLY DERIVED ELEMENTAL NUTRITION IN JEFFRIES ORGANIC COMPOST (JOC)

The usefulness of the fertiliser contained in compost is also different to that in synthetic fertilisers. Most NPKS and trace synthetic fertilisers are water-soluble and move through the soil quickly – possibly into the water table and quite commonly chemically locked up by other elements in the soil. That same volume of NPKS and trace elements held within compost is in a superior form because it does not move away so freely. It remains bio-available and in-situ for the plant and is longer-lasting when used. Fertiliser nutrition is subject to many potential failures and inefficiencies when applied to the soil. Fertiliser nutrition when presented to the soil in the form of compost, is not.

Benefits of Jeffries Organic Compost in open field horticulture

As mentioned above, Jeffries Organic Compost is a very useful soil amendment to improve fertility, promote water functions, maintain beneficial soil biology, balance any excessive salts, metals, or other problems in the soil. What’s not usually known is how much direct nutritional support Jeffries Organic Compost provides in all-of-season crop production. Let’s take open field horticulture as an example. As per the typical application chart above; when applied at 40m3 per hectare in the horticultural field setting – growing all sorts of open field fruits, herbs, and vegetables; Jeffries Organic Compost contributes enormously all season to the yield and health of the crop in the following ways.

Reducing nutrient loss or leaching of added fertilisers

Applied per hectare, 7 tonnes of clean organic carbon is a seriously useful volume to help stop the nutrient loss or leaching of added fertilisers. Water-soluble synthetic fertilisers used throughout the growing season are prone to loss, leaching and volatilization – but not when bonded with organic carbon. Many tonnes of Jeffries Organic Compost organic carbon and organic matter per hectare can create an absorbing mat to stop these valuable additions from just travelling straight through to the water table. Jeffries Organic Compost also performs a useful water-filtration service, buffering root systems against excessive salts and over-active soil electrical conductivity.

Over $1,000 worth of equivalent NPKS nutrition

The NPKS contribution of Jeffries Organic Compost in open-field horticultural use is also very impressive, 294N, 52P, 156K, 68S.

294N alone equates to over 600kg of urea – however it is important to note that Jeffries Organic Compost releases nitrogen completely different to urea. Urea is a very concentrated, very small nitrogen molecule, highly water soluble and fast to move through the soil. Most of the Jeffries Organic Compost nitrogen will be the opposite, bonded with carbon, very slow to release and will go through an organically stabilizing cycle of mineralization first. See left hand side of diagram below – Jeffries Organic Compost nitrogen is not subject to some of the fast-occurring, synthetic nitrogen processes leading to fertiliser loss. See right hand side of diagram.

Another comparative example of the NPKS offer in JOC would be 280kg of DAP (di-ammonium phosphate); plus, 380kg of SOP (sulfate of potash) added per hectare – but all in a more bio-available form. When considering the total volume of NPKS nutrition, Traces, Minerals and Micro-Nutrients held within the JOC, there is arguably $1,000 worth of direct fertiliser-based benefit.

Other kilogram NPKS comparisons in 40m3 of Jeffries Organic Compost would be a slow-release version of calcium nitrate (190kg) including the boron; and 100kgs of MKP (mono-potassium phosphate) both of which are quite potent but very water soluble and highly prone to leaching.

Readily available calcium and magnesium

Jeffries Organic Compost also provides 523kg of calcium, 79kg of magnesium, 68kg sulphur in a readily available organic form, extremely useful to healthy plant growth than the several tonnes per hectare that would be required if using soil amendments like lime, dolomite, or gypsum.

Impressive trace element contribution

Trace elements are also an impressive contribution when using Jeffries Organic Compost. Zinc, copper, and manganese are well understood, with several kilos of each provided in Jeffries Organic Compost. But the lesser-known story regarding iron, silicon, boron, cobalt, and molybdenum make for unusually positive results in soils and crop performance. Unusual because these elements are essential for best crop performance, yet there is little focus on them until exhausted from the soil and crop deficiencies begin to show. Iron and silicon are excellent contributors to plant health function and stress resistance, like a regular tonic. Boron, cobalt, and molybdenum all have very useful and key roles to play – small amounts required but very handy for better yield outcomes, nonetheless. Jeffries Organic Compost supplies these other micro-nutrients in volumes that will contribute all season and takes care of crop micro-nutrient needs.

Important to note

It is important to note that compost is often spread uniformly across the field but can then be blended, mounded, and concentrated towards the planting zone where it will have the greatest cumulative effect on crops all season. There will always be a volume of compost that remains in the soil profile unused directly by crops but that fraction is still contributing in season to the general health, fertility and better performance of the soil profile. High volumes of quality compost are known to suppress pathogenic microbes and root-invasive fungi and nematodes. There are several on-going seasonal benefits to having a well composted soil surrounding a crop.

In summary, Jeffries Organic Compost is the best way an intensive cropping farmer can underpin robust, healthy, and successful crop production. In so many ways – physically, chemically, and biologically, we find Jeffries Organic Compost keeps contributing all season for the strongest outcomes. And it doesn’t end there. Residual benefits from Jeffries Organic Compost remain for the next season too!