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["del stubbs" <pinewoodel@hotmail.com>]

Victoria, your mind is nothing short of amazing!  Thanks to your memory I 
went into the pile of old Pomonas that I'd bought, and there it was by 
Ce'line Carone in summer of 94. And you gave a great synopsis of the article 
as well.  The study was done by Edgar Guay and R.Alban Lapointe for Quebec 
Forestry in '78.
"After more than 15 years of field experiments in forestry and agriculture, 
this group now knows that chipping ramial wood alows a fast soil 
microorganism infection to capture available energy and nutrients into the 
humic complex."

use twigs less than 7 cm. they have a c/n ratio of from 30 to 150 to 1; 
where as stem wood has a ratio of 300 to 600 to 1.

" Soil regeneration starts the first year with the establishment of a 
myceliuym network. In sandy soils , the rich mull can migrate down to 20cm. 
of a mycelium network"

Anyone know what mull is ? or is it a misspelling of mulch?
Thanks again Victoria, Del



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• From: "victoria l. caron" <vicaron@gis.net>
• To: nafex@yahoogroups.com
• Subject: Re: [nafex] aspen for fertilizer
• Date: Tue, 19 Jun 2001 09:44:54 +0000

Del,
You are probably referring to a letter in Pomona back in '93 or so, I will try to remember to check. It was written by Céline Caron (no relation) from Quebec Province. Her remarks were along the line you suggested. The material is referred to as ramial wood chips or cuttings and are harvested from young poplar (aspen), and used as mulch. The value is in the size of the young trees that are chipped having different properties than older wood. There is something about the ratio of young bark to wood and the nutrients and (maybe proteins?) included in this material. This makes it a nutrient mulch which produced superior growth when compared to ordinary mulches.
The article was interesting to me at the time and I've always wanted to try it, especially when my sons started a tree pruning and chipping service. If someone wants to do this, you need a stand of poplar seedlings. These are very quick growing and if parent trees are around a planting can be maintained. An observation worthy of speculation is that poplar seedlings often crop up in burnt areas. This might mean that a liberal application of wood ash could make a poplar planting easier to establish possibly by reducing competition from less tolerant plants.
I will TRY to remember to research the article and dates when I go home tonight. If it's before you were a member, I can copy it and snail mail it.
vic NH zone 3

del stubbs wrote:

Sometime in the misty past I read a study of using small aspen trees  (up to
8'tall), sending them through a chopper and using it for some kind of green
manure mulch. I cant remember if it was plowed under or put around trees as
a nutrient rich mulch.
The idea was to use very young trees while in leaf, that if cut then they
add nutrition to the soil rather than deplete it. The study spoke of
remarkable results on growing trees.
I'm presently clearing some "pople brush" that just fits the description.
And intend to use it somehow.

I believe the study came out of Quebec, any one heard of it?
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