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[compost_tea] RE: nitrogen & kelp



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@aol.com [SMTP:soilfoodweb@aol.com]
Sent:	Friday, May 09, 2003 7:22 AM
To:	compost_tea@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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