ISHS Acta Horticulturae 172: Composts as Horticultural Substrates
DECOMPOSITION OF VINE-CANES IN HEAP AND EVALUATION OF THE PRODUCED COMPOST |
| Authors: | V.I. Manios, P.E. Tsikalas, O. Verdonck |
| Abstract:
The vineyard growers, in the island of Crete, usually burn vine-canes after pruning, while the greenhouse growers spend a lot of money every year to buy soil amendments and organic substrates for their crops, which mainly are imported at a high cost. The production compost from vine-canes could probably ameliorate this situation significantly. A composting heap was established using 660 kg hammer-milled raw material, mixed with 9.85 kg urea. After about six months composting and five months maturation the produced compost gave good results as substrates for tomato seedlings. Its characteristics were the following: C/N 13.7, pH 8.0, EC 2.5 mmhos (1:25), NO3-N 312.5 mg/100 g dry matter, bulk density 0.53, and solid particle density 1.25. | |
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