The Indore Composting Method

The Indore Composting method was based on ancient agricultural practices in India but was developed and written about by the late great, Sir Albert Howard in his 1940 epic 'An Agricultural Testament'.  At the time he was working as an agricultural advisor to the Indian government and so he studied alot of aspects of what was then a very low intensive system of farming in India.  But the thing that really fascinated him and to which he devoted most of the writing was the local composting method in Indore.  His scientific experiments showed quite clearly that the compost they made was special and resulted in higher plant productivity than either fertilizer or raw manure.




With the Indore method, a compost heap is built up in 6 inch layers, like a sandwich.  The first layer is made up of green plant matter such as grass clippings or crops. The next layer is a layer of manure, and then its capped off with a thin layer of topsoil. This layering system is  repeated until the pile reaches a height of about 1.5 meters (5 feet) and the heap is doused with water if neccessary to kept it moist.
This technique has been adapted and applied widely and much of the basics of home composting which will still preach today are based on the fundamental tenets of layering & mixing and using a combination of Nitrogen rich materials and Carbon based materials. 


On of the key things with the Indore Composting Method is that the pile needs to be turned over to fire up the microbes and ensure it heats up.  This is done atleast twice in the traditional method using a spade or fork.  Of course in India, the climatic conditions in particular speeds up the composting process, but this technique can still be applied in any country because the microbes themselves create heat anyway.