Dan Mosley
Member
- Messages
- 1,169
- Location
- Palm Springs, Ca
I like to recycle so i put my shavings into plastic trash containers and my daughter takes them out to the barn where she rides horses and uses them to line the stalls and walk ways. However, walnut shavings get tossed because animals get some type of allerigic reaction to this type of wood.
Others have stated they use it to mix into the soil around trees and plants but i ran into this on the web and thought i would post it for those of you that do use it for mulch etc-
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Digging wood mulch into the ground (or anything else organic that still is rotting or still has to decompose) is not a good idea, why, well the decomposition will need nitrogen and if it is dug into the soil it will get it out of the soil.
But as a mulch this is NOT the case, as the air is 78% nitrogen it is very easy for the bacteria to get the required nitrogen out of the air, and it is not easy or needed to get it out of the soil, after the organic matter is decomposed by the bacteria, the bacteria will die off and release the used nitrogen back to the air, or if the decomposed material is dug into the soil, the nitrogen will be released into the soil.
The other beneficial factor of having mulch on the top of the soil is the prevention of heating and drying of the black garden soil, and thus the fine hair roots that grow close to the top of the soil are able to absorb both moisture (and the minerals) and are able to take in nitrogen and oxygen etc.
The thought that the mulch does take nitrogen from the soil is basically wrong, as the bacteria that does the decomposition does take the nitrogen that is readily available from the surrounding air, since they are not in contact with the dirt, they are not able to do that, even if they wanted or needed to do that, and since the nitrogen is very easily absorbed from the air that is where they do get it.
So don't dig it in until it is decomposed, because in that case the air/nitrogen is not as easily accessible and the bacteria will take it from the surrounding soil it is in contact with.
Others have stated they use it to mix into the soil around trees and plants but i ran into this on the web and thought i would post it for those of you that do use it for mulch etc-
========================================================
Digging wood mulch into the ground (or anything else organic that still is rotting or still has to decompose) is not a good idea, why, well the decomposition will need nitrogen and if it is dug into the soil it will get it out of the soil.
But as a mulch this is NOT the case, as the air is 78% nitrogen it is very easy for the bacteria to get the required nitrogen out of the air, and it is not easy or needed to get it out of the soil, after the organic matter is decomposed by the bacteria, the bacteria will die off and release the used nitrogen back to the air, or if the decomposed material is dug into the soil, the nitrogen will be released into the soil.
The other beneficial factor of having mulch on the top of the soil is the prevention of heating and drying of the black garden soil, and thus the fine hair roots that grow close to the top of the soil are able to absorb both moisture (and the minerals) and are able to take in nitrogen and oxygen etc.
The thought that the mulch does take nitrogen from the soil is basically wrong, as the bacteria that does the decomposition does take the nitrogen that is readily available from the surrounding air, since they are not in contact with the dirt, they are not able to do that, even if they wanted or needed to do that, and since the nitrogen is very easily absorbed from the air that is where they do get it.
So don't dig it in until it is decomposed, because in that case the air/nitrogen is not as easily accessible and the bacteria will take it from the surrounding soil it is in contact with.