In message , Alison
o.uk writes
We have just had a large beech stump ground to an acceptable level below the
'top' of the soil but it has left behind LOTS of wood shavings. The top of
the tree was chipped so there's already bark mulch everywhere. What I'm
wondering is that if I dig this in to the soil, will it 'rob' the soil
(seems to mention something of this line in the HDRA bible about horse
manure mixed with wood shavings). Your opinions or suggestions are
welcomed.

If I understand these things correctly, the micro-organisms which break
down dead plant matter (and of course wood is a rather durable form of
this) also require nitrogen to do their work. As a result, whilst the
long-term effect of the rotting-down will be beneficial to the soil
there will inevitably be a shorter term reduction in the level of
nitrogen which might result in plants which are growing in the vicinity
suffering a lack of it since nitrogen is one of the elements essential
to plant growth. This is one of the reasons why people use compost heaps
- the rotting down process is enabled to occur in a place apart where
the rotting process doesn't interfere with the needs of growing plants.
Horse manure being rich in nitrogen would be an excellent material to
mix with wood-shavings for reasons of balancing needs - another aspect
of this balancing is that manure and wood shavings have quite different
physical properties and would be more likely to create an open structure
to aid oxygen getting in to the heap. The need for sufficient nitrogen
is another reason why human urine is often suggested as a magic additive
to compost heaps.

--
dave @ stejonda

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