GardenBanter.co.uk - View Single Post - why not one name for all-- stolon, rhizomes, runners; strawberries

Sean Houtman · 09-06-2008, 04:02 AM posted to sci.bio.botany,sci.chem

wrote in news:ddfe6177-75d8-4a6b-9783-
:

I doubt Malcolm's numbers because I suspect that he does not include
the fact that
the decomposition of clippings probably has to go through the
digestive process of
bacteria to gain that 2 - 4% nitrogen. So I suspect Malcolm is
overlooking the fact that
he replaces a horse intestine with bacteria intestine. And I would
call the bacteria in
this case part of the Animal Kingdom.

Malcolm got his numbers from studies of the contstituents of grass and
animal manure. These studies use chemistry to extract the elements that are
contained in the substance studied. There are no bacteria involved in these
measurements, in fact, most of the nitrogen that is in the horse droppings
is contained within bacteria. These bacteria must die in order for plants
to be able to use the nitrogen they contain. That isn't a real problem
though, horse intestinal bacteria don't survive well in soil. Soil bacteria
will break down the grass clippings, using the nitrogen for their own
purposes, and then at some point, will die, and release their nitrogen to
the system that includes plants, to take it up and make protein out of.
Horses might eat the grass, but like most animals, they need protein, which
they extract from the grass in their intestines, which is why there is less
nitrogen in their droppings than in the food they eat.

Sean

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