How much urea do I have to add to wood chips?
californian
14 years ago
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Lloyd
14 years agolast modified: 9 years agoRelated Discussions
? how to speed up decomposition of wood chips
Comments (13)Initially the amount of bacteria and fungi, which break down the wood is very small in the pile. In order for the populations of those oranisms to grow they need nitrogen in order to make proteins/enzymes, to make new "bodies". The mass of a living organism is mostly carbon, but the machinery that carries out the chemical reactions of growth and metabolism are nitrogen containing proteins/enzymes. The nitrogen is not an energy source, it is a building block source. The wood-carbohydrate is the energy source for population growth. "Greens" are somewhat high in nitrogen from their formerly living cellular contents. Alfalfa (hay or pellets) is higher than most. Manures are high in nitrogen from animal urine. Commercial fertilizers are the most concentrated source of nitrogen. Nitrogen content is the first of the three numbers on the package. You do not want to add a 18-18-18 vegetable fertilizer or a 5-50-9 flower booster fertilizer if all you want is the nitrogen. Lawn growth fertilizers with a very high first number are usually mainly urea-nitrogen, but may have ammonium and or nitrate salt sources (also good). Sometimes you can get ammonium nitrate or ammonium sulfate as a nitrogen source. A "Salt" is a chemical class, and has nothing to do with saltiness (sodium build up) harming plants or the soil. Plant roots are designed to take in ammonium and nitrate salts, which are more prevalent in nature than urea, but they do fine taking in urea too. Fungi and bacteria use it all too. Organic fertilizers are usualy low concentration fertiizers (5-5-5 organic vs 20-20-20 chemical) so are more expensive for the amount of nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium they provide. The easiest way to get a pile of wood chips composting is to add 1-2 pounds of high nitrogen fertilizer (high urea lawn growth fertilizer) per cubic yard (3ftx3ftx3ft)of damp wood chips. An equal part of sugar (easy energy) in the mix can jump start the population growth of the decomposition organisms, and a little dirt/unsterilized compost mixed in will act as a starter source for those organisms. Beer has negligable amounts or protein/enzymes, and what little is there are not the type that break down cellulose and lignin(wood). The alcohol and carbohydrates act the same as sugar to the decaying organisms (energy food). Hope this helps....See MoreMulch: wood chips or ... this compost-like stuff I have?
Comments (4)Thanks! As a hypothetical question, how do wood chips suppress weeds? If I had wood chips, should I be putting down newspaper/cardboard/landscape fabric under them too? I thought they supressed weeds by creating a surface, an upper/top surface, that any seeds that blew onto it couldn't grow on, because the surface was wood. But I wonder if you're saying that the weeds I need to worry about are coming from underneath, up through the mulch? In which case, is there anything about wood chips that stops that better than compost? Like the robbing-nitrogen-from-the-soil stuff I've heard about wood chips?...See MoreHow do I tell painter I see where he primed, and didn't add paint
Comments (3)Oopsie, I plan on talking to him. Because I have seen his temper I'm afraid of what he may do, not sure why? When he let me know that the wood grain was going to show thru in the front of the cabinets, said how that wasn't included in the sanding and spackling, I agreed to give him 200 extra, even though DH and I knew it was included, wanted it done right. When he let me know his estimate for painting skylight, sofit and walls didn't include ceiling, he thought it was going to be another extra. Who would expect a job with (new lighting,under counter lighting, granite counertops, carpentry, crown molding, floor, added pull outs, new appliences)not to have ceiling painted? At this point I just want to pay him for what he has done and get him out of my house. If I have to stay home with him while he paints the inside frame with 2 coats of paint, I will sit in the kitchen and watch. Is there anyway of me telling if he did the agreed on 2 coats of paint on the front part of my cabinets? Since he told me several times it wasn't necessary to give 2 coats of paint, I feel he didn't do it,even though he said he did, obviously I don't trust him any more. When he paints the frames he will have to cover my granite, and will also have to take the doors off (inside hindges), do I tell him this, or assume he will do this the proper way? I'm afraid the quality of this work won't be the same, which is why I ageed to the price he gave me. My mistake was looking at his own house as an example of his work, in my home he cut as many corners as he could, in his own home he cut no corners. He has also told me several times that for the "money I paid him and for my doors I could have had a new kitchen", till I asked him never to say that again. He has made other comments, which have done what they are suppose to do, shut me up and get me out of the kitchen! Thanks in advance for your help....See MorePine wood shavings with Synthetic Urea for clay soil mix
Comments (20)Hi toxcrusadr, yup, thats what I suspect when I sense the ammonia... I know sawdust take quite a fair bit of time to get decomposed but I didnt expect no change at all after 1 month of composting. Even the colour of the sawdust remain the same. Now, I wont be suprise if anyone were to tell me that sawdust could take years to be decompost. rgreen48, yes, I have been turning the compost every 3 days for the 1st 2 weeks but the pile does'nt heat up so I turn the pile once a week instead from 3rd week onwards. On 4th week, that is when I start to smell the ammonia. I guess I need to turn to twice weekly turning of the sawdust pile from now and wait for another 2 month. I will also cut down the Urea mix to 1/2. by then, I should have added 8kg worth of Urea into the sawdust pile. The sawdust should have absorb sufficient nitrogen and I will start to mix it with my claysoil. From this lesson, I will keep my test raise bed small... perhaps a 1' x 1' raise bed. Just In case if anything went wrong, I can reverse it easily., unlike now, I dont know what to do with the sawdust pile if it really take years to compost.....See MoreUser
14 years agolast modified: 9 years agoUser
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