[Arid_gardener] Question from Home-Hort WWW page

[Dick]

As I understand the process, Dianne, vegetative debris (anything organic) is 
not compost until it has been eaten, digested and excreted as frass, I think 
it is called, from the gut of soil organisms. The excretesd waste represents 
many complex hydrocarbon compounds that have been broken down into chemical 
forms that can be adsorbed by feeder roots and used by the new plant to 
build new cells.

If you blend unfinished vegetative waste into the soil, the avaliable 
nitrogen is gobbled up by the feeding organisms leaving little to mourish 
feeder roots to build new cells for plant structures like foliage, flowers 
and fruit.

One can make up the difference by adding more 33-0-0 Ammonium Nitrate or 
21-0-0 Ammonium sulphate but if too much nitrogen is added, you can end up 
with dead plants or with a lot of foliar growth but, feeling fat and sassy, 
the organism does not concieve a need to reproduce, so most of its energy is 
used to make leaves instead of flowers, seed and fruit.

My science may not be pure and exact but I welcome intelligence from any of 
you who can make the matter clearer. If, however, any of you can correct my 
observations or technical matter, feel free to contribute so that I may also 
be enlightened.

Learning by trial and error is a costly way to gather knowledge but if we 
can get the intelligence from our contemporaries after they have made the 
mistakes, we are way out front. The Master Gardener program is a body of 
horticultural skills, that--if not shared and disseminated, go largely 
wasted.  If we Master  Gardeners aren't teachers, we aren't nothing but we 
don't pretend to be grammarians or writers.

Your commentary is invited, of course.

Dick Gross, Master Gardener Volunteer
University of Arizona Maricopa County
Cooperative Extension.



----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Dee" <namaste78 at cox.net>
To: <arid_gardener at Ag.arizona.edu>; <yafadance at yahoo.com>
Sent: Friday, August 17, 2007 6:58 PM
Subject: Re: [Arid_gardener] Question from Home-Hort WWW page


>   Compost works best in my book. I put it everywhere-as a side dressing, 
> top dressing and dug in to the soil prior to planting. If it is throughly 
> decomposed, it should not attract ants.
>  Good luck & don't give up on organics.
>  Deedee
>  ----- Original Message ----- 
>  From: <yafadance at yahoo.com>
>  To: <arid_gardener at Ag.arizona.edu>
>  Sent: Friday, August 17, 2007 9:47 AM
>  Subject: [Arid_gardener] Question from Home-Hort WWW page
>
>
>  > Dianna
>  > 85022
>  > yafadance at yahoo.com
>  >
>  > I am trying to use alot of organic fertilizer, such as alfalfa pellets 
> and used coffee grounds, but it seems like this is attracting alot of 
> ants. I am about ready to give up on organic fertilizer due to the bug 
> problem, but I'd prefer to not hurt the environment with my gardening 
> practices. Any suggestions?
>  > Thanks
>  >
>  >
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