(Rodger Whitlock) wrote in message ...
On 1 Sep 2003 12:53:26 -0700, Mike Lyle wrote:

"Franz Heymann" wrote in message ...
"Rusty Hinge" wrote:

and will in time take nitrogen from the soil.

Which is eventually returned to the soil with some small interest.

I'm heading for out of my depth he but surely cellulose is a
polysaccharide? Where's the nitrogen in that? And I thought lignins
were derivatives of cellulose... Isn't that why we have to add
nitrogen to get it to rot down, and why wood products rob soils of
nitrogen?

You've got me worried now.

Decomposition of organic wastes involves *bacteria* as well as
fungi, to say nothing of macroscopic critters. Don't get the idea
that it's all fungi and nothing else.

The bacteria take up nitrogen as they multiply, but when they die
-- as they eventually do -- their dear sweet little dead bodies
release that nitrogen back to the general environment.

Reminder: cells have lots of proteins in them, not just sugars!
Indeed, proteins are the fundamental structures of cells.
Remember that genes encode *protein* sequences.

(Yes, I feel my feet on the bottom again!) Remember we're speculating
on the composting of *wood*, not the usual compost material. Not many
proteins until it's turned into bugs. And in the intensive garden
environment our nitrogen account is still in the red when we
accelerate the decomposition of woody material (as opposed to green
stuff) to fit into our time-scales. We have to pay for that
acceleration with money: worth it for some people, but not for others.

Franz asks where else but the soils can the last whack of nitrogen,
from the decomposition of the final relay of decomposers, go to? I'd
just emphasize that we've lost a lot to the environment along the way:
as far as my knowledge goes, much more than we return to the
flower-bed. So I'd say, to follow the interest metaphor, that we're in
"negative equity" or "overdraft".

In the wild the processes are much slower: who hasn't stepped on a
moss-covered log in the woods to have it entertainingly collapse
underfoot? That log may have been there for a human generation.

Just to be clear, I'll say it again: a garden isn't "natural", and we
have to pay for speed. For my part, I'd use the tree as fuel, not as a
mulch, whether composted or not. (I've got heaps of woody material in
corners of my place for wild-life; that's a different matter, and not
everybody has room for it.)

Mike.