In article ,
Bill who putters wrote:

Interesting read on Till and No till and N.

http://www.sdnotill.com/Newsletters/Relationships.pdf

Real interesting article that you found for us, Bill.

Of course it was put out by the USDA, which means that they are talking
about petrochemical fertilizers, but no matter, still interesting.

"The overall effect of tillage is a soil environment that stimulates
aerobic microbial activity, eventually leading to increased
decomposition rates of plant residue-C and accelerated cycling of soil-N
compared with no-till and native prairie soils."

"Normally, when plant residues with C:N ratios greater than
approximately 20 parts C to one part N are added to the soil available N
is immobilized during the first few weeks of decomposition (Sinha et
al., 1977; Doran and Smith, 1991; Somda et al., 1991; Green and
Blackmer, 1995). Green et al. (1995) observed that incorporation of corn
stover into soil resulted in rapid immobilization of all available
inorganic N during the rapid decomposition period. This occurred because
the microbial population decomposing the plant residue had increased
exponentially in response to the C source and tillage, essentially
needing the N much like cattle require protein in a balanced feed
ration. If N immobilization occurs when a crop needs N for growth and
development, the growth and yield may be reduced."

---

Tilling causes boom and bust cycles for microbes in garden soil as well
as for agribusinesses' great swaths of cropland. Introducing organic
material into the soil must be matched with commensurate amounts of
nitrogen (20:1 ratio) or the microbes will hijack the nitrogen for their
population explosion, leaving little N (nitrogen source like manure) for
the young plants (see last sentence above).

I see this as an affirmation for "lasagna gardening", as mulch applied
to gardens breaks down relatively slowly on the surface, avoiding the
immediate need to apply matching N.

My plan is to add 18.37 lb. chicken manure, 3 lb. rock phosphate, and 11
gal. of wood ash / 100 sq.ft. This will get layered over with newsprint
(check with local bird cage-liner publisher to insure that print is soy
based), and mulch that with alfalfa (lucerne: 2-2-0, its a twofer),
wet, wait at least 2 weeks, and plant.

A good point was brought up in the article, and that is the placing of a
nitrogen source near the seed or plant. Usually I fish emulsion after
planting. This year, I think I'll fish emulsion the hole before I put
the plant in, and the recommended bimonthly addition during the growing
period, but cease for fruit producing plants when they go into flower.

"A starter fertilizer that supplies a form of N readily plant-available
(such as nitrate-N) and is placed two to three inches away from the seed
at the same depth of planting serves well in preventing seedling N
stress. It is important to not place the starter fertilizer too far
from the seed because cool early season soil temperatures limit the
growth of seedling roots. In addition, it is important to not apply too
high a rate of starter fertilizer because of the risk of salt damage to
the seedling."

As we've been saying, chemical fertilizers (chemferts) are bad for the
soil ecology, but as the last sentence above says, it, the chemfert
"salt", can be bad for the plants as well.

First bee of Spring, yesterday evening, a bumble bee.
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...Bee-OnPavement.
jpg

Back to potting,
--
"Fascism should more properly be called corporatism because it is the
merger of state and corporate power." - Benito Mussolini.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Arn3lF5XSUg
http://www.thirdworldtraveler.com/Zinn/HZinn_page.html