Image: Wikimedia Commons

compost

Rich, moist soil composted from food scraps

EntityQ212254

Subclass of: organic matter
, gardening item
, material

Overview

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia · Read full article · Text CC BY-SA 4.0

Compost is a mixture of ingredients used as plant fertilizer and to improve soil's physical, chemical, and biological properties. It is commonly prepared by decomposing plant and food waste, recycling organic materials, and manure. The resulting mixture is rich in plant nutrients and beneficial organisms, such as bacteria, protozoa, nematodes, and fungi. Compost improves soil fertility in gardens, landscaping, horticulture, urban agriculture, and organic farming, reducing dependency on commercial chemical fertilizers. The benefits of compost include providing nutrients to crops as fertilizer, acting as a soil conditioner, increasing the humus or humic acid contents of the soil, and introducing beneficial microbes that help to suppress pathogens in the soil and reduce soil-borne diseases.

Overview

All data

51 statements · 18% with external sources · numbers in brackets are citations

Has use: mulch
fertilizer
soil conditioner
land improvement
Fabrication method: composting
PH value: 8.4
Different from: manure

On other databases

39 identifiers linking compost across the web's reference databases

Data quality

statements

18%

externally sourced

Source last edited October 2, 2026. AIDB refreshes this page daily.

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AIDB. (2026). compost (Q212254). Retrieved from https://aidb.si/e/compost-Q212254