[compost_tea] RE: nitrogen & kelp

From: George and Paulette Mouchet <geomouchet_at_QNET.COM>
Date: Fri, 9 May 2003 11:02:21 -0700

Dear Dr. E.:

This was very interesting. However I still feel that my kelp questions
have not been fully answered.

It's my understanding that, as a fertilizer, kelp is a valuable source of
essential, secondary, and micro nutrients, contains growth stimulants and
plant hormones, stimulates soil microbial activity, enhances
photosynthesis, and improves cold tolerance and disease resistance.

Kelp is about 1% nitrogen. Do you know what form this is in? I have the
idea that kelp requires soil microbial activity to convert its N to a form
usable by plants. If this is true, then the N is probably in nitrite form.
 Is this correct?

While it may be more economical to provide the benefits of kelp via AACT as
opposed to using it as a traditional fertilizer, I'm still trying to figure
out if it has value as a traditional fertilizer. Do you consider the N in
kelp to be a "recalcitrant compound, like fish oils, woody materials (but
balanced woody materials which means composted woody material)"? How much
kelp is safe to apply as a traditional fertilizer?

When you say, "convert the nitrate to bacterial and fungal biomass" what
exactly to you mean? Do you mean that instead of ammonia, ammonium,
nitrite, or nitrate, the nitrogen is actually a protein? Are you thinking
nitrogen = protein (i.e. the protein of the bacteria and fungi)?

How is it that "high growth rates of bacteria and fungi can suck up all
your nitrogen"? What form was the N in before the high growth rate started
and what form was it in afterward?

If N is stored as the protein of a living bacteria or fungi, then how is it
converted into a form plants can use? Does the bacteria/fungi have to die
and decompose? How does this happen?

Is it possible to provide all the N plants need in the form of the protein
of living fungi and bacteria?

I hope you can straighten me out! I'm really confused.
Paulette





-----Original Message-----
From: soilfoodweb_at_aol.com [SMTP:soilfoodweb_at_aol.com]
Sent: Friday, May 09, 2003 7:22 AM
To: compost_tea_at_yahoogroups.com
Subject: nitrogen, form of is important!

The question of adding too much nitrogen.....

You need to know what form your nitrogen is in. I know that some of the
chemies say "Nitrogen is nitrogen", but no, nitrate can be much more
harmful than protein, especially in the category of "too much".

Nitrate helps the disease-causing fungi to outcompete the beneficial fungi.
If oxygen is limiting at the same time, then the disease organisms have the
total upper hand. It is hard not to have disease in those conditions.

Convert your nitrate (NO3) to bacterial and fungal biomass, and the disease
problem will be remediated. Remove the lack of oxygen, and bingo, the
beneficial fungi have a chance to gain the upper hand, and the plants
improve.

Adding nitrogen as bactreial and fungal biomass is probably never going to
be a real problem. Could you over-do additions? If the organisms are
asleep, I don't believe it could ever be a problem. Note the word believe.
There probably is some extreme situation where addition of really high
microbial biomass would be detrimental - just as too much water will drown
you. But, within reason, adding extreme amount of N as dormant biomass
won't ever cause a problem.

Addition of even 10 ppm nitrate harms some of the beneficial microbes in
the soil. Same thing with nitrite (I'm not so certain about the
concentration of nitrite that would cause damage, but that information
probably exists in the scientific literature). Clearly, too high ammonia
and you have leaf burning, root pruning, and other symptoms of malaise in
your plants. Ammonium is so rapidly converted to nitrite and nitrate in
alkaline soils that addition of high levels of ammonium rapidly become a
nitrate problem. In slightly acid soils, ammonium helps out Fusarium,
Pythium, etc.

Addition of protein in the form of amino acids, fatty acids, carbohydrates
can be problems, becasue these are food resources for bacteria and fungi,
and high growth rates of bacteria and fungi can suck up all your nitrogen,
and all your oxygen, leaving the plants "up a crick".

Lack of oxygen is not the problem for plants, plants take up CO2 and
release O2 as a waste product. Lack of oxygen results in growth of
anaeorbic bacteria, and the products of anaerobic metabolism kill roots.

Addition of N as dormant bacteria, or fungi, will not cause bacterial ro
fungal growth to go crazy, however.
Addition of N as recalcitrant compounds, like fish oils, woody materials
(but balanced woody materials which means composted woody material), is the
way to safely add N to the soil.

OK? The form of N is really important.

Elaine Ingham
President, Soil Foodweb Inc.
SFI Corvallis, OR
SFI Port Jefferson, NY
SFI Lismore, NSW, Australia
SFI Hilversum, The Netherlands
SFI Cambridge, New Zealand
www.soilfoodweb.com



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Received on Fri May 09 2003 - 17:30:51 EDT

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