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Fact or fiction?
In article
, Billy wrote: In article , "Dan L." wrote: In article , Billy wrote: In article , The Cook wrote: I seem to remember that wood as it decomposes uses up the nitrogen in the soil. Not really good for the garden. Old wives tale or true? In terms of both its physical and chemical properties, wood is an exceptionally difficult substrate to degrade. One of the principal reasons is that wood contains very low levels of nitrogen, which is needed to produce the enzymes that degrade the main structural polmers of wood - cellulose (about 40-50% of the dry weight of wood), hemicelluloses (25-40%) and lignin (20-35%). The lignin component also presents a barrier to wood decay because lignin is a complex aromatic polymer that encrusts the cell walls, preventing access of enzymes to the more easily degradable cellulose and hemicelluloses. In addition to these points, wood often contains potentially fungitoxic compounds, which are deposited in the heartwood. In broad-leaved trees the toxic compounds are usually tannins, well know for their ability to cross-link proteins, making animal skins resistant to decay. In contrast, conifers contain a range of phenolic compounds such as terpenes, stilbenes, flavonoids and tropolones. The most toxic of the tropolones are the thujaplicins which act as uncouplers of oxidative phosphorylation; they are particularly abundant in cedarwood, making this a naturally decay-resistant wood for high-quality garden furnishings, etc. http://www.biology.ed.ac.uk/research...iology/woodrot s.htm When the nitrogen is no longer needed for enzymes or fungal growth, it is released back into the soil environment for use by other microbes, and plants. So I have a follow up question to that very interesting question! Is it Ok to BURY freshly cut wood, logs and chips, under the vegetable garden soil? Your opinions do count. Lots of great advice here. I have this book, "Gaia's Garden, Second Edition: A Guide To Home-Scale Permaculture by Toby Hemenway" ISBN-10: 1603580298. On page 84, "Woody Ways to build soil" Its called "Hugelkultur". That freshly cut wood can be instantly used in vegetable gardens. The buried slowly rotting wood feeds the plants and improves the soil. One link about this: http://hubpages.com/hub/Hugelkultur-...-in-Composting I am not sure if this is sound advice or not. I've found a few glitches in Gaia's Garden, like using a circular sprinkler to water a keyhole bed containing tomatoes, to name one. For The book is interesting. I like the garden design ideas. Garden techniques I am not so sure. I am not sure if Amazon.com is a curse or blessing More in common than shoes immediate use, it sounds as if the web site is advocating adding green material (fall leaves, grass clippings) to the wood (log, limbs, twigs) which will contain some nitrogen. They also advocate manure in place of the green material. The book talks of using grass as well, but also suggest straw, and sod (from sod I know nothing). Brown materials won't contain nitrogen, but according to Gaia's Garden the hugelkulture releases heat and moisture which encourages growth. If I were doing this, I would use manure with the wood and, at a minimum, the equivalent of 18 lbs of chicken manure/ 100 sq. ft.. Manure Chicken Diary cow Horse Steer Rabbit Sheep N 1.1 .257 .70 .70 2.4 .70 P .80 .15 .30 .30 1.4 .30 K .50 .25 .60 .40 .60 .90 As I mentioned to "The Cook" earlier,"In terms of both its physical and chemical properties, wood is an exceptionally difficult substrate to degrade. One of the principal reasons is that wood contains very low levels of nitrogen, which is needed to produce the enzymes that degrade the main structural polmers of wood - cellulose (about 40-50% of the dry weight of wood), hemicelluloses (25-40%) and lignin (20-35%)." http://www.biology.ed.ac.uk/research...Biology/woodro ts.htm Here we have contradictory statements for Hugelkultur (green and brown amendments). We are told that composting wood is good for heat and humidity. We know that fungi need nitrogen to break down the wood. I would stay away from adding more brown material to the wood. Sounds like this could be a good way to jump start a garden in cold Michigan. I would just need a row cover on those late frost dates. Chemistry and Biology was not on my candy store list. A weakness on my part. I have lots of grass and chicken poop mixed in with the straw. Hen House thing. So adding Manure with straw to the wood might be a mixed blessing. Otherwise, it sounds OK for potatoes, berries, and melons, but squash require high inputs of nitrogen. If growing squash, I would add organic fish emulsion twice a month, until flowering (then no further nitrogen), to insure nitrogen levels are sufficient. I only plant ONE squash plant and thats it, all that is needed. -- Enjoy Life... Dan Garden in Zone 5 South East Michigan. |
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