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<div class="moz-cite-prefix"><big><small>Hi there Robert !</small></big><small><br>
<br>
</small><big><small>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.<br>
<br>
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.<br>
<br>
David.<br>
</small><br>
</big><br>
On 09/12/2013 8:49 PM, Robert Deutsch wrote:<br>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span
style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D">Dear
DJM, I have never heard of </span>Hugelkultur<span
style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D">
either, 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.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span
style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span
style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D">I
just remembered the radio show I heard on rock dust
recommend igneous rock dust (ie Basalt or Granite). <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span
style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
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1.0pt;padding:3.0pt 0in 0in 0in">
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span
style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif";color:windowtext">From:</span></b><span
style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif";color:windowtext">
Gasification
[<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="mailto:gasification-bounces@lists.bioenergylists.org">mailto:gasification-bounces@lists.bioenergylists.org</a>] <b>On
Behalf Of </b>David Murphy<br>
<b>Sent:</b> Monday, December 09, 2013 2:43 PM<br>
<b>To:</b> Discussion of biomass pyrolysis and
gasification<br>
<b>Subject:</b> Re: [Gasification] Biochar et al.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
</div>
</div>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<div>
<p class="MsoNormal">Robert, I haven't got any thoughts on
Hugelkultur I'm sorry to say. Actually, never heard of it
before !<br>
<br>
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.<br>
<br>
DJM.<br>
<br>
On 09/12/2013 4:22 PM, Robert Deutsch wrote:<o:p></o:p></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span
style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D">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).</span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span
style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D"> </span><o:p></o:p></p>
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