How to Fertilise our Crops Sustainably | Could Perennial Green Manures solve the nitrogen problem?

[@dr.froghopper6711]

I haven’t heard such a beautiful Welsh accent since I lived in Wales in the late 1970’s. Outstanding work! I live in central New Mexico, USA, in the high Chihuahuan desert. 5000’ elevation and 10” of annual rain makes gardening here a challenge. But I’m attempting similar things with my small property. This type of work is scalable!

[@jannekewittebol5911]

Great project

[@saqlainkazmi-kp1mp]

So it is the same concept like CHOP & DROP from Permaculture. Well I knew that green leaves are rich in nitrogen. But i never knew that if those leaves are cut and palletized and dried, IT WILL STILL HAVE NITROGEN IN IT. I thought that Nitrogen will maybe evaporate when the color changes to brown or black. So thank you. One more thing. What do you mean by the statement Can be applied to the plants AS AND WHEN THEY NEED IT. Why not regularly. Why put in this Lacuna?

[@dyfibiospherebiosfferdyfi2680]

Thank you! Clo here, from the Perennial Green Manures project. Yes, plant leaves will retain nitrogen when dried, as long as they don’t rot in the process. The dried leaves and pellets actually looks a bit greeny-brown. What we’re suggesting is similar to many existing methods, e.g. “mobile” or “cut and carry” green manures, comfrey patches, or the practice by topical farmers of using leafy prunings from nitrogen fixing trees. It is a bit like “chop and drop”, but as I understand it, “crop and drop” is usually leaving the prunings on the ground near to where the plants are pruned. We haven’t come across anyone in temperate climates specially designing nutrient-producing bio-service areas (including trees and shrubs) from where the prunings and mowings are moved to the cropping area. This diagram, which appears at 6.20 shows the multifunction aspect of the bio-service areas a bit, but there's an annotated version on our website which explains it better (scroll down) www.dyfibiosphere.wales/perennial-green-manures We say “as and when they need it” because crops need the nutrients at specific times in their life cycle, when other factors mean they are able to grow fast. Different types of leaves rot at different speeds, so for example, our research at Bangor University found that you can add a lot of alder leaves at once and the nitrogen will be released slowly, but the nitrogen in clover becomes available quite fast. So, that's why we don't say to add it regularly, but to carefully time the right addition at the right time. Although both alder and clover are being processed by soil organisms into plant-available nutrients, it’s best to carefully time the clover addition to provide the nitrogen when crop can benefit from it.