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market-farming - Re: [Market-farming] wood chips

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  • From: Mike Rock <mikerock AT mhtc.net>
  • To: Market Farming <market-farming AT lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [Market-farming] wood chips
  • Date: Mon, 15 Feb 2010 19:30:16 -0600

Richard,
I guess I missed making my point. I do not like fresh chips on anything but walkways and only a layer that will certainly decompose over the course of the growing season and following winter.

Also, NO treated wood, poles or chemical laced wood.

It took many years for the huge piles to decompose to brown/black fuzzy wet material laced with mycorrhiza. THAT was the point. It is these guys that are the WHOLE point. If you look at a tree in the woods that has been down a while, pull the bark back and you will see zillions of these white threads intertwined with the decomposing cambium layer and bark. These are the little guys that when in forest soil provide the perfect environment for material transfer from the soil to the living plants. They grow into the root hairs, but in a non-symbiotic way. The pioneers of the 'organic' method saw this relationship and revived dead agricultural soils by providing compost that contained these mycorrhiza, contributed by decaying tree material, manure and other bulk organic materials like grasses and weeds (herbs).

If you read Turner (Fertility Farming and Fertility Pastures) you will see where he notes that the forests and hedgerows and roadside lands greened up sooner than the chemically abused or just farmed out fields. He observed, noted and studied these soils. Sir Albert Howard, a pioneer in organic methods was his friend and mentor and provided further insight into the inclusion of deep rooting herbs (weeds by another name. Weeds are just plants we haven't figured out what to do with yet) to bring up elements via the solution of minerals laying below the reach of 'crop' plants. By mowing these now mineralized plant tops and letting them lay and decompose on the surface of a soil activated by mycorrhizal associations they were able to simulate natures own system of mass transfer to bring all the sustenance to the seeds and plants growing in and upon the land. The decomposition of the roots provided similar enrichment to the topsoil under the surface.

That was my point. I hope this was stimulating, in a good way.

Mike :)

Who also noted that small quantities of walnut (containing the growth inhibitor Juglone) does not interfere with plant growth after being decomposed in the compost.





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