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  • From: Dieter Brand <diebrand@yahoo.com>
  • To: Healthy soil and sustainable growing <livingontheland@lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [Livingontheland] Mark/Mulch (Pumpkin Lady)
  • Date: Thu, 6 Nov 2008 12:40:51 -0800 (PST)

> I have questions about mulch? It's so windy here until the end of June,
> that anything other than wood chips will just blow away. Can I use wood
> chips for mulch? If so, what will that do when I plow them under each year
 
I agree with Morgan, except for dry leafs, mulch blowing away is seldom a problem. Especially tall grass and weeds (which I use in the spring) get all tangled and stay put pretty well.  In the summer, when annuals have too many seeds, I use coarsely shredded branches (leftover from making firewood for the winter).  One thing this does is that it changes your soil from a microbe-dominated environment to a fungi-dominated environment within two to three years.  I have mushrooms growing all over the garden now.  Wonder what it will do to my vegetables.  If you plough under wood chips before they have completely broken down you may get a problem with N-sequestration and reduced growth for a season to two.

> Did you try making briquettes out of the hay/grass clippings?
 
Amrita, what's the advantage of this procedure?  When you compact your grass clippings etc. you exclude air, which means that you get anaerobic decomposition instead of aerobic decomposition.  Decomposition of organic matter under anaerobic conditions is generally considered undesirable since it takes longer and can produce foul smell and anaerobic microbes that may even be toxic to plants.
 
Dieter Brand
Portugal
 
 


--- On Thu, 11/6/08, Amrita Chaudhury <seheli@yahoo.com> wrote:

From: Amrita Chaudhury <seheli@yahoo.com>
Subject: Re: [Livingontheland] Mark/Mulch (Pumpkin Lady)
To: livingontheland@lists.ibiblio.org
Date: Thursday, November 6, 2008, 6:23 AM



Sorry, this was originally under a topic I wasn't following
so it just sat around until now.

mark/mcoldiron wrote:

>
> I have questions about mulch? It's so windy here until the end of June,
> that anything other than wood chips will just blow away. Can I use wood
> chips for mulch? If so, what will that do when I plow them under each year?

Mark, I live in a pretty windy part of Texas, and you'd be
surprised how well grass and hay will stay on the ground
even in 50mph wind. Just water it well when you put it down.
Test a spot if you don't think it will work. I think you'll
be surprised. I started with shredded paper and was really
shocked at how well it stayed down once I soaked it.

You can use wood chips for mulch, but they won't necessarily
break down and give you a lot of nutrients - and they cost
money. Grass clippings don't.

As for what you do with them when you plow...you don't
actually have to plow every year if you use beds small
enough to reach into, but if you absolutely must, why not
rake them over to one side? Then you can spread them back
out and not have to buy more.

Morgan

Did you try making briquettes out of the hay/grass clippings? We figured out a primitive way of doing it and its been working very well for us - Take a strong plastic or metal tray (the ones we use are about 8 inches deep), fill with the hay and grass clippings and tamp down with your feet. Put in additional hay till the tamped down height is flush with the tray. Turn the tray over and hold it down with something heavy (like a stone or brick) for half a day. We sometimes water the hay before turning over if the grass is too strong. It sounds like lot of work when I write it down, but with 10 such trays, we easily make 20 brickets a day. They weather very well. I hope it works for you too...

Amrita, from India.
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