Subject: Re: gardening chemistry question
From: "Bill Robinson" <roseguy@flash.net>
Organization: Flashnet Communications, http://www.flash.net
Date: Fri, 10 Oct 1997 16:42:12 -0700
Message-ID: <MOD$971010.6378@rec.gardens.ecosystems>
References: <MOD$971010.17474@rec.gardens.ecosystems>



>David Deutsch wrote ...
>
>What would happen if equal parts coffee ground and fireplace ashes were
>placed together (with nothing else) and allowed to decompose?
>
>True, the resulting product wouldn't be nutritionally complete (or would
>it?), but might it be useful as a supplement (like, say, fish emulsion)?
>What would the chemical make up of the product be exactly, from a
>fertilizer standpoint (i.e. NPK and trace mins).

Fireplace ashes contain mostly a variety of alkaline potassium salts and
potassium is one of the essential plant nutrients. Coffee grounds are mostly
carbohydrates laced with various organic acids. The alkalinity from the pot
ash and the acidity from the coffee grounds will work to produce a variety
of
potassium-organic complex salts.

This mixture would be O.K. in terms of supplying Potassium to soils that are
short of Potassium but pot ash is righteously alkaline and should be used
with
real caution. It would take a lot of coffee grounds to neutralize the pot
ash.
The mixture would also be shy of the other essential mineral nutrients
including
the essential micro nutrients.

One of the problems with "chemical" fertilizers is that plant nutrition is a
more
complex issue than just supplying mineral salts to feed plants. The mineral
nutrients
are but one of the elements in the nutrition process and they do not work
independent
of organic material and the soil microoorganisms. There are still a lot of
unanswered
questions but at bottom line the soil microorganisms are vital in the
nutritional process
and the soil microorganisms require organic material to function.

"Organic" fertilizers; i.e., manures and composts, are more than just slow
release
products. They are essential foods for the life of the soil and, in turn,
become foods for
the garden.

Bill