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nafex - [NAFEX] Orgasnic matter in soil

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  • From: "Jim Fruth" <jfruth@tds.net>
  • To: "NAFEX" <nafex@lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: [NAFEX] Orgasnic matter in soil
  • Date: Fri, 14 Dec 2007 07:44:52 -0600

Mark said, "I've heard too much N will decrease fruit quality and inhibit fruit bud formation for the following season. This is the first I've heard high organic matter can lower fruit quality. Would yard waste or high soil organic matter generally equate to high nitrogen?"

What is in the upper level of a soil doesn't necessarily reflect what is in the root zone. When I kill a fruit tree, I don't merely chop it down, rather I dig it out so the stump is gone too. Yes, I do have up to 14" of rich black dirt at the surface but, of the trees I've dug out, few had many roots near the surface. Sure I fertilize every year but very little of the little bit spread at the surface gets leached down to the root zone.
In my sandy soil, most of the nutrients were tied up in the biomass. So when I removed the forest to plant an orchard, the nutrients also left the premises. When pioneers first came to this area of Minnesota, they marveled at the forest thinking that land that could grow such magnificent trees must be able to grow good crops. The nutrients were tied up in the trees and most of them abandoned their farms after a few years.

Jim Fruth
Brambleberry Farm
Pequot Lakes, MN 56472
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  • [NAFEX] Orgasnic matter in soil, Jim Fruth, 12/14/2007

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