"Loki" wrote in message ...
il Mon, 19 Apr 2004 20:45:39 -0400, Fred Theilig ha scritto:

Grass clippings will remove a lot of the nitrogen from the soil to
help it break down. Sounds like if it's in bags you may be making
silage...


Are you sure of that? My understanding (and experience) is that grass
clippings will add nitrogen to
the soil. I used fresh clippings on tomatoes many years ago and I had
giant plants with few fruit.
Also, they matted down a lot and I had trouble with blossom end rot.

To break down they need the nitrogen, but once it's broken down I
guess it's back.

It's a matter of balancing the scales. If the decomposing material
contains enough nitrogen, it uses it for breaking down into compost.
If it doesn't have enough, it will pull nitrogen from a convient
source(soil, other material, fertilizer, etc.). End product compost
will be nitrogen neutral or positive depending on how much was
available during the process.

Blossom end rot seems to be due to an inconsistency of moisture.

Blossom end rot is caused by a lack of calcium. It can be added back
to the soil or by spraying. But you're on the right track - lots of
moisture can flush the calcium from the soil resulting in blossom end
rot.

Bob