North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

[Douglas Woodard <dwoodard@becon.org>]

It is known that poplar (trembling aspen in particular I think) extracts 
minerals (e.g. calcium) from the subsoil and deposits them in the 
topsoil in its leaves. They are then available for other plants. One 
hopes that the ecosystem functions or is managed in such a way as to 
slow as much as possible the escape of the minerals in water to the sea.

I may have a reference on this and will try to find it.

My suggestion that box elder/Manitoba maple/Acer negundo may act 
similarly is sheer speculation on my part.

I recall reading in a book by a lady who had been born in 
pre-revolutionary Russia, that the peasants on her father's estate knew 
how to restore fertility to a field by a long rotation (20 or 30 years I 
believe) in trees.

Doug Woodard
St. Catharines, Ontario, Canada


Jon Place wrote:
> Doug, you referred to the "nutrient pump role" of poplar and box elder.  
> Could you speak more about this?  Do these trees cycle nutrients into 
> the soil for other plants?
>
> Thanks, Jon