Hi Jim.

You asked Billy re' Composted Pine Bark Soil Conditioner,
I'd worry a bit about the "composted" part in our hot,
humid climate, Billy. Doesn't it dissolve at the end of
the first year?

I know fresh wood chips draw nitrogen from the soil (bad for
plant growth)
and assumed freshly-stripped bark (not necessarily the
exfoliating outer
layers) would also draw nitrogen from the soil. The composted
bark I've
seen bagged is still pretty fresh (maybe too fresh) when sold
at the
building supply stores in central Virginia. I imagine
"composted" is
marketed like aged fine wine, but not closely regulated.

Is "composted" a notion of weathered or a legally proscribed
bandwidth of
organic decomposition between "freshly harvested" and "dust."


Generally, "composted" means partially rotted. I'd be concerned
that in our humid, hot climates, "partially rotted" would quickly
become "totally rotted" -- i.e., fine-particle humus that would
clog up the pores of our soil.

The pine bark nuggets I get have very little (virtually no) wood
in them. I spread it out to dry in the sun before I grind it
(and sort out anything that doesn't belong there in the process),
then keep the ground-up bark in a very dry location through the
winter. I've seen no indication that it robs N from the soil,
but have no way to measure whether it does or doesn't. As it
decomposes, though, it should _put_ some N back.

A warning: At least around here, most of the commercial "shredded
bark" mulches (pine and especially bald cypress!!!) have a very
high percentage (30% ?? More for BC) of wood in them. This
amount could easily rob nitrogen from our nutrient-poor bonsai
soils. I don't know what our regular addition of fertilizer N
would do to offset it, if anything, but it seems silly to put
something that steals N in your soil, then add more N to replace
it. (Kinda like what we do with lawns -- add N, then mow the
resulting growth caused by the N. Abject silliness!)

Our local stores are also selling a finely ground-up rubber mulch
(old tires, I suppose). I may have to try some of this virtually
indestructible stuff. It supposedly is environmentally benign,
and has had all the toxic junk tires pick up from the roads (and
in their manufacture) removed. It's a rather neutral gray color.
It certainly would add nothing, nutriently speaking, to the soil.
;-)

Jim Lewis - - Tallahassee, FL - The phrase
'sustainable growth' is an oxymoron. - Stephen Viederman

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