C55 H70 Mg N4 O6

[digitS']

If you recognized that as chlorophyll, you probably know more about chemistry than I do!

What do green plants do with this chlorophyll? Photosynthesis. Plants take up water through their roots. They take carbon dioxide from the air. Then, plants absorb sunlight into their chlorophyll to turn water and carbon dioxide into oxygen and glucose. Oxygen is released (lucky for us.) Glucose sugar is used by the plants as a building block for growing.

It seems we don't know what we've got until it is gone. Have you ever wondered why straw is considered a "brown" for the purpose of compost-making but green lawn clippings are a "green?"

The reason has to do with that N up there in the make-up of chlorophyll. As the plants lose chlorophyll, they lose Nitrogen. That is kind of too bad since a new generation of plants can't get that back easily. The nitrogen is mostly lost into the air. Leaf color changes to yellow and brown.

One reason I like to get green plants into the ground quickly is to hold that nitrogen right where a new season of garden plants can make use of it. Even frost-killed plants hold onto that nitrogen for a little while before it begins to be lost as ammonia gas.

If I dig down into the ground in early March, the plant material I buried last fall will still look just about the same as when it went into the ground! Nearly all of that green will still be there! It won't be for long! Come spring, soil microorganisms and worms will be eating it!

In no time, there will be lots of soil microorganisms and worms! As they use up that food, those soil microorganisms and worms will die. The cycle begins again! By that time, the growing plants will be pulling the nitrogen back above ground and into their tissue to make chlorophyll, for one thing. More growth through photosynthesis!

It is a wonderful world .

Steve

 

[digitS']

That Mg in chlorophyll is Magnesium.

Some gardeners believe that their soil should have Epsom Salts (magnesium sulfate) for plants to grow well. That might be true but a soil test would be a good idea. Here is what Wikipedia says about magnesium: "Magnesium is the fourth-most-common element in the Earth as a whole (behind iron, oxygen and silicon) . . ."

I didn't know that until I read it! Well, I'm not 100% sure, tho'. Other sources of information have it the 8th most abundant in the Earth's crust, 6th most common, etc. It might make a difference where you are looking for it - sea water included? Anyway, there's a lot of it around. But, notice that there's only 1 atom of Magnesium in chlorophyll . . . Not sure what it all means but I actually had plants that didn't do as well when I used Epsom Salts. I suspect that if it has anything to do with volcanoes & igneous rock - there's no shortage of Mg here.

Steve

 

[seedcorn]

The N is moved into the seed of the plant. So if you bury it all, you will get almost 100% of the Nitrogen it fixed. As I understand it, worms, grubs, etc look for dead material to eat vs. live. Kind of like, we like to let our meat age before we eat it. Agree thankful for the cycle of life we are in.

Soil tests are good. I was surprised last week at meeting at how much N, P, K and other nutrients are in top 6" of soil. Unfortunately most of it is unavailable. Just in unavailable N, most fields have 30X more nitrogen than plants need--if available.

 

[thistlebloom]

Hoo boy! What a great discussion, I'm taking notes!
So, Seed, you're saying that as Steve buries his greens in his beds in the fall, the nitrogen from those greens becomes 100% usable to the seeds he plants the following season?
I always knew Steve was smart, but I think his practice of composting in place is genius!

And I too agree that this is a very wonderful world and I'm thankful to be here.

 

[seedcorn]

No, not 100% usable. It has to be broken down into a form that the plants can digest. What I'm saying is that if you let the plants die, do not harvest the seeds, you have kept all the nitrogen the plant made. For the highest amount of nitrogen in the plant only, harvest before it goes to seed. There are more nutrients in the soil that are unavailable than are available, I always knew that, didn't realize the numbers. Just to pick on one insect, grubs. They only eat living tissue because there is no dead material or it's intertwined with dead and they are an indiscriminate eater--pac man at his finest.

75 bushel wheat makes 139 pounds of nitrogen-87 in grain, 52 in stover or plant material.

 

[seedcorn]

Hoo boy! What a great discussion, I'm taking notes!
So, Seed, you're saying that as Steve buries his greens in his beds in the fall, the nitrogen from those greens becomes 100% usable to the seeds he plants the following season?
I always knew Steve was smart, but I think his practice of composting in place is genius!

And I too agree that this is a very wonderful world and I'm thankful to be here.

Actually, buring fiber products can make the available nitrogen even less. The microbes in the soil utilize the available nitrogen to digest the fiber. When you bury green plants, the nitrogen is tied up in the decay of the plant from green to brown (rotten), then the microbes will tie up more nitrogen as they use that for energy to digest the fibers. When digested, there will be more available nitrogen there than you had initially. Plus the breaking down plant material will reduce other needed nutrients that help with nitrogen absorbption--carbon, sulfurs, etc.

I leave dead material on top of my garden, encouraging worms to get it all fall/spring before I can work ground. Worms don't tie up nitrogen altho their belly is full of microbes that do.....Benefits of worms could fill up an encyclopedia.

 

[thistlebloom]

Please bear with me as I try to understand this..., if the plant material is buried the amount of available nitrogen is LESS initially, because it needs to be broken down, but once it has been broken down the available nitrogen will then rise and be higher. ? So far so good?

So, if the plant material is buried when it's green, as opposed to letting it die and dry, there should be more available nitrogen with that practice, then letting the nitrogen escape into the atmosphere.
( I realize I'm just restating what has been said, I'm just trying to digest it in a way I understand )

But you (Seedcorn) leave it on the surface rather than burying it because that allows the worms to work on it better? I think I must have missed something. I better start at the top and re-read....

 

[seedcorn]

Yes, on first paragraph.

Nitrogen is taken up by the plant, some goes to plant, some to seed. The plant will rob the plant of nutrients to make the seed. So if you bury both seed and plant, you have all the nitrogen produced (not actually true but close enough for this discussion). If you harvest seeds, that part is gone. Think of plant as bank that the seeds pull out of. Longer bank open, more produced. But the more seeds produced, the more nutrients taken from bank. But you harvest plants for manure before seed set, the plant is at it's highest percent.

Now that I've confused everyone, you see why I'm not a teacher.

 

[seedcorn]

Reason I leave trash on top until I till next spring, is 2 fold. You till it up, worms have to find it. On top, worms will drag it into hole and the trash on top hides the worms from the early birds. In my garden, I mulch with straw. By fall worms have eaten a decent amount and by spring, most will be gone. Without it, my ground gets too hot, driving worms away and allowing birds that are eating bugs to get lazy and find my big fat worms. Whatever fiber left will tie up nitrogen so I supplement my heavy nitrogen feeders-corn, lettuces, cabbages, etc.

 

[digitS']

It got us thinking . . . and, I can't claim to have it figured out, all or in part.

Burying the plants seems to work well for me but I'm almost convinced that I get away with this because of the type of soil that I'm burying them in. If it was clay, it might be like putting those plants in a clay pot . . Sauerkraut!

Another concern is keeping the material damp until it decomposes. This isn't desert but there are ancient cow pies on the soil surface in deserts. Of course, there are other areas of the world where digging a hole would result in a pond.

This seems to be a suitable place to just bury the plants because of the rocky nature of the soil. My guess is that lots of oxygen is held in the soil once it is disturbed and maybe even before it is disturbed. It is well frozen right now but the material will all but disappear by July.

Steve