Compost & Mulches

"Pre-Compost"

"Pre-Compost"isn't a new product but we've seldom sold it as is. Pre-compost is the exact same stuff that our compost is made from but we never put any labor into it. The labor we did not put into it is:

1. Water it pretty wet throughout 2. Build it into windrows about 8 ft. high x 15 ft wide and about 150 ft. long and 3. Turn those rows 6 to 8 times over the next 4-6 months as it "cooks" down eventually turning it dark brown - almost black.

The cost at that point would be generally $40.00 to $50.00 per yard. With pre-comp., you could cut your compost cost by more than 1/2. Here's how:

1. Put somewhere between 1" and 3" spread evenly over your area. 2. Rototiller it into the soil from 4" to 8" deep depending on what you're doing, like a lawn or flower bed, etc. 3. Spread Nitrogen (N) over the whole area heavier than normal and keep the area moist over the next few months.

What happens over the next several months is this:

The Nitrogen (N), moisture, the Pre-Compost and billions and billions of microbes convert the Pre-Comp and soil mixed into a tremendous softer, highly organic, nutrient rich soil for your lawn, flower beds or garden area. This works especially well for new lawns as you can do this process in early spring or Summer and then in early fall plant seed or sod the area into a real primed area for an excellent lawn well composted. All for 1/2 the cost. It just takes time.

Contact Beaver Lakes and ask how this can get you a pretty-much totally weed-free lawn, all part of this process. Imagine a lawn with no weeds from the day you plant it. Good Luck & God Bless!

Herbicides & Pesticide

In today’s world, Herbicides and Pesticides are being used more and more in ever increasing amounts and for more uses than ever before. That said, Herbicides especially, are showing up in hay, manures (such as cow, horse, sheep, etc.), and compost in more instances than ever before. Unless you first test the hay, manure, or compost before you put it into your gardens or raised beds you are risking the possibility of herbicide contamination, which could persist in some cases for up to 3 years.

Generally, 1 to 2 years except in extreme cases. The best way to test for it is a bio-assay – which is a fancy name for “Grow Test”.

Here’s how – Take one or more tomatoes from seed and plant them in 10 gallon or larger pots with the intent to grow them for 5 to 6 weeks or until they are well over a foot tall. Generally, if a tomato gets 14-16” tall and shows no leaf curling or distorted new growth, then all is well and it’s safe to plan all your stuff. (Since this process takes 5 to 6 weeks, start early like mid March or sooner!)

The only way to not have to do “Grow Test” is to use certified Organic Compost in your soil or soil mixer. It’s a little more money if you want the peace of mind and it saves you 6 weeks of “Grow Test”. We here at Beaver Lakes Nursery sell our compost after it’s in its second year of composting as most literature says most, if not all, herbicides are destroyed by the composting process after 2 years and also by the action (ingestion) of millions or billions of soil microbes, which literally feed on the compost as well as the herbicide chemical and when the herbicide passes through all these microbes, it is rendered no longer the chemical molecule it once was and the problem is eventually solved – Go microbes!

Moral of the story is, be careful before putting hay, manures and compost into your garden by doing “Grow Test” or by certified organic compost (which we have) into your grow mix.

To our Beaver Lakes customers:

In 1997, we began a small compost operation which continues to this day. We collected: grass clippings, tree trimmings, hay, leaves, etc. And had them ground up, made windrows, added water and then mixed and turned the windrows (aeration) many times over the winter months until the compost became stable. This worked very well (for 23 years) from 1997 until 2021, when we and a few of our customers noticed ours and their plants growing but not flourishing. We came to the conclusion that there was some herbicide contamination in the compost, so we stopped selling our own compost in mid-May of 2021. We began buying compost from the Mesa County Composting Facility called Mesa Magic in May. We sold about 1,000 yards of their compost throughout 2021 and had no herbicide issues. We are still buying compost from them this year.

Mesa County has been making Mesa Magic Compost for 20 years. According to them, they have never had any herbicide issues in their compost and that’s great news, but they could have an herbicide issue one of these years just like we did after 24 years of making compost. The chances are slim that they could have any issues because they are very thorough in their procedures, but there is still a chance. For that reason, Beaver Lakes Nursery offers a “Certified Organic” compost called Nutri-Mulch, which is a very good product but more expensive than a non-certified product. We cannot and do not guarantee Mesa Magic to be herbicide-free as it is not an organic product. Mesa Magic has a great reputation and has been making compost for 20 years with no issues. So you have a choice, Mesa Magic not certified organic or Nutri-Mulch which is certified organic. Thank you for reading this! God Bless.

Compost & Decorative Mulches