What is Bettaland Compost?

Bettaland products are made from the decomposition of plant and vegetable matter, processed under carefully controlled conditions. These conditions are defined by the British Standards Institute Publicly Available Specification (BSI PAS 100 (2005)) and provides verification that Bettaland compost is of a safe and consistently high quality.

Bettaland compost is also registered as an Annex 2 product with the Soil Association thus allowing the product to be used in organic systems.

Our product is peat free and 100% recycled.

Typical Analysis for Bettaland Compost

Horticultureal parameters	Reported as (units of measure)	Bettaland Compost
pH	pH units (1:5 water extract)	7 - 8
Bulk density	g / l of fresh weight	700 - 800
Electrical conductivity	uS/cm (1:5 water extract)	2100 - 2400
Moisture content	% m/m of fresh weight	30 - 32
Organic matter content	% dry weight basis	20 - 25
BSI PAS 100 parameters	BSI PAS 100 limits	PASS

The Benefits of Bettaland Compost

Organic matter is essential for maintaining soil quality. Under modern land management techniques soil fertility is in decline, this can be improved by adding compost. The many benefits of compost include:

Feature	Benefit
Build and maintain soil structure	Improve plant survival, establishment and growth
Provide essential nutrients	Reduce labour and cost of fertiliser application
Reduce the need for fertilisers	Major cost benefits
Improve water holding capacity	Reduce cost and labour required for irrigation
Increase microbial activity	Suppress plant disease
Reduce compaction	Reduce labour costs involved in cultivation
Reduce nutrient leaching	Helps improve the environment and soil health
Improve cation exchange capacity	Improve fertility

New Benefits For Farmers / Agriculture

The new PAS100 Quality Protocol is a huge help in storage, spreading and exemptions for agriculture. We can now sell Agricomp+ as a product.

Benefits Include:

• Can be stored on farm
• Can be spread all year
• Doesn't require an exemption license to apply it
• and more...

Compared with recent fertilizer prices (Feb 2008) our Agricomp+ can be shown to have over £8 worth of fertilizer available for your plants per ton! Please ask us for a typical analysis.

When to use Bettaland Compost

Bettaland compost contains significant quantities of plant nutrients and acts as a slow release fertilizer, sustaining plant growth over long periods.

Spring application - amending the soil with compost in spring will create an ideal soil structure and provide a burst of nutrients for strong early growth. Application as a mulch helps suppress weeds throughout the growing season and will continue to improve fertility and water holding capacity.

Summer application - compost added during summer can help suppress weeds and some plant diseases, as well as continuing to help fertility and water holding capacity.

Autumn application - Unlike chemical fertilizers, Bettaland compost reduces the leaching of nutrients from the soil. This is both good for the local environment and soil health and means that Bettaland compost can also be used in the autumn as the risk of leaching is minimized.

How to use Bettaland Compost

Arable land:

Up to approximately 40 tonnes of compost per hectare may be applied to soils on an annual basis. Bettaland compost benefits all soils: it is beneficial to both heavy clay soils and light soils, by increasing the organic matter content that is essential for soil structure, water holding capacity and soil health.

Root crops and vegetables:

Valuable root crops and vegetables are often grown on land with 'light' soil that is responsive to the organic matter and the nutrients contained in the compost. Up to 40 tonnes per hectare of compost can be applied to these soils on an annual basis.

Grassland:

Compost can be added to establish grass and during tiller growth if the particle size is under 15mm.
Please check with Bettaland with reference to grazing and application rates.

Fruit crops:

The rows of established fruit crops, whether top fruit or soft fruit, can be mulched with up to 75mm. Nutrients will be washed down into the soil to feed the crop and the mulch will help suppress weeds.