Ingredients for Homemade Fertilizer

Eggshells

• Eggshells contain calcium carbonate, nitrogen and a small amount of phosphoric acid. Plant growth removes significant amounts of calcium from the soil and crushed eggshells help replenish it. Calcium in homemade compost fertilizer stimulates root growth and promotes thick, firm plant stems and calcium from eggshells helps plants absorb nitrogen, the nutrient needed in the largest amount for plant growth. Crush the eggshells before adding to the compost pile as this helps them decay faster.

Lawn Grass Clippings

• Grass clippings contain 4 percent nitrogen, 2 percent potassium and 1 percent phosphorus, according to University of Missouri Extension horticulturist Chris Starbuck. Nitrogen in grass clippings, vegetable peelings, fruit and other green ingredients produces heat in the compost pile, starting the decay process. Water and oxygen also stimulate the heat process. Homemade fertilizer ingredients in a compost pile include both green plant materials and brown plant materials.

Dry Leaves

• Fertilizer compost is created from a combination of nitrogen-rich materials and carbon-rich materials such as dry leaves. This should be the bottom layer of a new compost pile. For the compost to process correctly, carbon materials are needed in a ratio of 25 to 30 parts to 1 part nitrogen materials. Other carbon-rich brown materials include dry straw, old paper and newspaper, wood ashes, pine needles and sawdust.

Coffee Grounds

• Coffee grounds are another nitrogen-rich ingredient for homemade fertilizer. The grounds provide nitrogen for the bacteria and fungi that are the first wave of decomposers in a compost process. They change the chemical composition of coffee grounds and other ingredients to prepare the way for worms and other insects to continue breaking down the materials. These small organisms need water and oxygen to do their work of creating homemade fertilizer.