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Subject: Healthy soil and sustainable growing

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  • From: "henry walden" <henrywalden@lycos.com>
  • To: "Healthy soil and sustainable growing" <livingontheland@lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [Livingontheland] Biochar questions
  • Date: Mon, 23 Nov 2009 23:31:01 -0500 (EST)


Once again thank you all for a tremendously interesting thread. I move to
this issue more intuitively than scientifically, sort of over the thumb:
once a year about 2 inches of old horse manure turned in and every second or
third year about the same of composted wood chips. Basically I feel that the
first year the chips go in they are just lightening and aerating the soil,
the second year they are more or less weakened and working, and by the third
year they're pretty much gone. I also feel that this approach requires as
diverse of a compost amendment as can be obtained, this will invariably lead
to better production; however, I do not wish to alter the original
composition too rapidly or dramatically by what might be considered a more
adaquate fertilization. Life has time.



Ed aka henrywalden





---------[ Received Mail Content ]----------
Subject : Re: [Livingontheland] Biochar questions
Date : Fri, 13 Nov 2009 07:22:37 -0500
>From : Harvey Ussery <harvey@themodernhomestead.us>
To : Healthy soil and sustainable growing <livingontheland@lists.ibiblio.org>

>
> The question was "Which would be better for the soil, biochar or
> >chippings?" If done properly, the BioChar is much better and longer
> >lasting. How else can we deal with the sticks and brush that even the
> >goats won't eat? ~Don
> False choice. Wood chips don't belong in the soil anyway; unlike cellulose,
> lignin takes too long to break down and robs nitrogen from growing plants.
> Wood chips make great mulch, and mulch pays for itself in weed control,
> yield, soil improvement, and irrigation costs. ~Paul
> If you have a place to pile it up over the next few months, a third
> option is Hugelkultur. ~yarrow

Thanks to all for an interesting discussion. I agree with Paul--mulching
with wood chips is something I do to the maximum extent I can--lotta
benefits. However, I chip-mulch only when I can get big loads dumped by
the power line clearing crews: I am *not* going to bring yet one more
power machine onto my place to do something I hope can be done with
natural processes (and patience) instead. That is, when it comes to my
*own* "sticks and brush that even the goats won't eat," I'm looking for
an alternative to chipping with a purchased machine, hauling to the
landfill, or burning.

So I'm interested in the Hugelkultur option myself. I have assembled a
hugelkulture bed, out of sight behind my poultry house (doesn't matter
how long it takes to break down), using all those "sticks and branches"
I generate here. I dump on "pony poop" from neighbor's horse operation,
residues from crops and weeding, etc.

The twist is that I'm going to put chickens on the resulting mass from
time to time. They help speed up the processing of less lignous
materials along the lines of "The Lazy Gardener's Compost Heap"
http://themodernhomestead.us/article/Composter+Chickens.html
--it will be interesting to see if they help speed the breakdown of the
heavy stuff in a hugelkultur bed, and what complications there are re
"harvesting" the resulting compost.

I'll report on progress, but of course, could be quite awhile!

~Harvey

PS: Should add there is one application where I combine Paul's wood
chips with Yarrow's hugelkultur: When I prune the fruit trees, I lay the
prunings down on my permanent paths through the forest garden, then
cover with a heavy wood chip mulch. No need to chip or burn. Great
fungal activity.

--
Harvey in northern Virginia
www.themodernhomestead.us

A person dependent on somebody else for everything from potatoes to opinions
may declare that he is a free man, and his government may issue a certificate
granting him his freedom, but he will not be free. He is that variety of
specialist known as a consumer, which means that he is the abject dependent
of producers. How can he be free if he can do nothing for himself? What is
the First Amendment to him whose mouth is stuck to the tit of the "affluent
society"? ~Wendell Berry

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