The compost produced by Jorobi Natural Fertiliser is a aerobic, fully mature, humified compost. It can be distinguished from other composts in several different ways.

The most important indicator as to the quality of one compost from another is the degree of humification. To understand this point we must firstly describe humus.

This is not easy because every humus molecule is different, a bit like snowflakes, we know it as snow, but every individual flake is different. Humus is basically a long chain of carbon, oxygen, hydrogen and nitrogen atoms all combined in differing ways to form what is called a polymer. The formation of the carbon polymer is what separates differing styles of compost.

There are three distinct phases in compost production; the first stage is the thermophilic phase where the cells of the base material are burst open by microbial action causing a rapid increase in temperature. The increase in temperature is monitored and controlled by regular turning and diligently managing the moisture content. This is the first point of difference between the Jorobi Natural Fertiliser system and other compost manufacturing techniques.

As the temperature dissipates the compost begins a humification phase. This is the second major stage and the most important to understand. During this stage the individual monomers broken down during the thermophilic phase are now reconstructed into a different configuration of molecules. To make true humus that is highly available soil organisms and plants, specialised micro-organisms and clay are added to the compost during this phase. Throughout the three to six week stage the organisms reconstruct the molecules to allow them to come together in the configuration known as humus. The management of the compost during this stage determines how well the end product works in the paddock or garden. The lower the application rate the better the product. Jorobi’s product can be applied at rates as low 500kg/ha and still be effective.

The is the third phase of compost production is the maturation stage. The carbon dioxide and temperature levels are continually monitored during the ten weeks of production and when they measure equal ambient levels the compost can be considered mature. An easy test to measure maturation is to add water to the compost and test for temperature increases. If the temperature remains the same, the compost can be considered mature. If the temperature increases rapidly then the compost is very immature and will contain little or no humus. This a third point of difference between Jorobi’s product and other compost products.