pounds N/acre/year, was RE: [compost_tea] compost application

From: Paulette Mouchet <geomouchet_at_QNET.COM>
Date: Tue, 18 Nov 2003 06:09:23 -0800

Dr. E frequently mentions that particular crops take X amount of nitrogen
from the soil each year (ex. onions take 50 pounds of N per acre each year).
Where does this info. come from? I'd like to look up some other crops.

Paulette

-----Original Message-----
From: soilfoodweb_at_aol.com [mailto:soilfoodweb_at_aol.com]
Sent: Monday, November 17, 2003 9:39 PM
To: compost_tea_at_yahoogroups.com
Subject: Re: [compost_tea] compost application

Perry asked -

> Anyone have ideas of how much is too much? What kind of potential
pollution problems can arise in agronomic applications.

We have documented none, even after five years of applying tea. There isn't
enough chemical in compost tea to worry about. The biology KEEPS the
nutrients in the soil, so they don't leach.

When you think that onion for example, which removes 50 pounds of N per
acre, with a 40 ton onion per acre yield, usually requires 200 pounds of N
applied per acre if working with inorganic fertilizer, where does the
"excess" N go?

What if you held on to all that excess N? You wouldn't have to add any
additional N for 4 years. And 2 tons of compost would more than supply the
needed N on an annual basis.

You could, alternatively, supply the N in the compost tea by adding fish,
for example.

Perry wrote:
>Since ours is going on forage crops will the biology consume the additional
nutrients the plants don't use.

Yes. Leaching goes away as a concern.


> Do we assume P & K levels will rise with compost and
> compost tea as they will with manure application?

You want to balance the P and L that you add with compost and compost tea
with removal of those nutrients by the plant. So, if you put manure into
compost, and that manure was from cows fed pelletized material, you may be
elevating P or K in your soil. But, as long as you don't blow off the
organic matter by tilling too much, the organic matter and organisms will
hold that P and K in organic forms, which do not harm plant roots. Benign
forms of P, K, etc, instead of "salts" which harm plant growth by holding
water in the salt forms.

I'm not sure that explanation is really clear if you don't understand salts.
So, you might want to come to ACRES, where Arden Anderson and I are giving a
talk in a pre-conference workshop, Dec 8 and 9, I believe. ACRES is in
Indianapolis this year. I'll be doing a tour of the organic dairy in
Indianapolis too, while I'm there!

Please come join us!

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 Tue Nov 18 2003 - 11:50:37 EST

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