Hi there Robert !
C:N of 30:1 is a good starting point for
composting - you can't miss at that because once
you have achieved 20:1 you don't need to work at
it any longer. It is said to be 'stabilised'.
Some countries have a higher C:N for stabilisation
- some states of the USA are actually as high as
24 and I've even heard of 28 which is
ridiculous. Compost is all about the OM and
bacterial population. The higher the C:N ratio,
the higher the bacterial count. When you apply
the compost to soil, you are adding the bacteria
and the compost is their food. This is the most
efficient way to get N into the soil. The
bacteria eat their heads off, pro-create (by cell
division, so they miss all the fun) and as they
run out of food they die off. Some just die of
old age. As they die they degrade rapidly into
their main constituents, carbon (as CO2) and
Nitrogen as N. The N is converted into NO3
(nitrate, in which form it can be absorbed by
plants) by nitrifying bacteria in the soil. Some
of the CO2 is dissolved in the moisture of the
soil to form carbonic acid, pH around 6.5 or so,
which helps to regulate the soil pH. The rest
percolates up through the surface where some is
trapped by the stomata on the underside of plant
leaves and if there is NO3 present (and we know
there is) photosynthesis occurs and the plant grows.
The food of soil benevolent bacteria is carbon so
that the more C in the soil, the higher the
population of bacteria and to maintain this
population they will sequester as much of the
available N as they can. Therefore, restricted
plant growth.
David.
On 09/12/2013 8:49 PM, Robert Deutsch wrote:
Dear DJM, I have never heard of
Hugelkultureither, but a Google search did turn
up a number of hits. Looks interesting, but I
have always heard that uncomposted woody
material put into the soil without adequate
nitrogenous materials will actually draw
nitrogen out of the surrounding soil as the
little microbes need both C and N to thrive. A
balance of 20:1 to 30:1 is recommended for
successful composting.
I just remembered the radio show I heard on rock
dust recommend igneous rock dust (ie Basalt or
Granite).
*From:*Gasification
[mailto:[email protected]]
*On Behalf Of *David Murphy
*Sent:* Monday, December 09, 2013 2:43 PM
*To:* Discussion of biomass pyrolysis and
gasification
*Subject:* Re: [Gasification] Biochar et al.
Robert, I haven't got any thoughts on
Hugelkultur I'm sorry to say. Actually, never
heard of it before !
Clay won't get you any mileage. You want
basalt dust. The fines are an unwanted
by-product fromn a quarry. You want it as
fine as possible, like talc actually and what
buy from a quarry will have some of this, but
only a small percentage. The bulk will be
maybe 2 - 3mm, pretty small and it will work,
but the smaller the better. Bacteria are
surface feeders and the smaller the particle,
the greater the surface area and therefore the
higher the pupulation of bacteria you can
support. To get a good result from rock dust,
you should use it with compost.
DJM.
On 09/12/2013 4:22 PM, Robert Deutsch wrote:
Rock dust is a by-product of rock crushing
plants, I think granite is preferred dust
for Ag use (could be wrong on that point).
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