[permaculture] N-starvation and mulch
Paul Cereghino
paul.cereghino at comcast.net
Sat Oct 27 01:57:56 EDT 2007
>Is it not the case that roughly 25 parts of carbon need 1 part of nitrogen
> for composting to occur
>
I have seen this 25:1 ratio as a recommendation for optimizing the rate
of bacterial decomposition (hot aerobic pile) without loss of surplus N
as ammonia gas (old urine smell). Compost will occur under a range of
conditions just smelly or slowly.
>I thought I had
> observed that a thick layer of very fine carbon rich material like saw dust
> does inhibit plant growth.
>
I don't think I am contradicting Robyn... that the right mulch on the
right soil could soak up available nitrogen from surface soils. I have
also seen thick wet sawdust make soil underneath anaerobic, and ethylene
gas produced from anaerobic decomposition can directly hurt plant
roots. I think we are back in one of those 'it depends' situations.
Paul Cereghino
Olympia, WA
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