Terry Coombs wrote:
....
The co-op here finally got some straw in this week and Tuesday 4 bales
followed me home . Yesterday I had a little job to do , but today ... there
are now 3 bakes of straw spread as a weed deterrent mulch around and between
the plants . My biggest problem is the grass , don't know what kind it is
but it sure will take over if I let it . A nice thick layer of straw
smothers it out , makes life much easier for me .

The only concern I have is that I wonder if the decomposing straw has an
effect on the nitrogen in the soil ... and if I need to use a nitrogen
supplement to balance that .

if it isn't mixed in with the soil it should not
need that much as only the soil interface is the
area in contact with the soil that is taking nitrogen
during decomposition. usually rainfall has some
nitrogen in it so i never bother to supplement
nitrogen as the end result after decomposition
returns any nitrogen anyways.

why make it decompose faster? that's like
adding fertilizer to a lawn to make it grow grass
faster so you can mow more often...

the other thing to consider is that the soil
carbon is needed for most places, so adding nitrogen
just burns through the soil carbon faster. the
warmer and wetter the climate the faster it goes.
the better slow carbon is held in the soil longer is
stuff like charcoal or biochar.


songbird