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Re: potato torture

Stan/Ross, ol' pal,

Nitrogen gas is what the plants *don't* need.  Nitrogen in the air in in
the form of 2 nitrogen atoms stuck together, and they don't like to come
apart.  Plants need nitrogen in another form that is more easily broken
up into useful pieces.  Sources of N compounds are usually manures,
including compost, which is the "manure" of insects, earthworms and
bacteria.  

Even the seedmeal which I use for my N source must be "broken down"
(eaten and excreted by bacteria) before it is usefull to the plants. 
Bloodmeal is a nitrogen source that can be used directly by the plants. 
And yes, bloodmeal is exactly what it sounds like, the dried blood of
dead animals... usually cattle.  

Steve  (Maritime...)



Ross E Stanford wrote:
> 
> Tom sent me this message off-list but I am sending it to the list because
> it started me thinking about another screwy possibility.
> 
> On Fri, 27 Mar 1998 08:19:08 -0500 Thomas Olenio <tolenio@world.std.com>
> writes:
> >Stan,
> >
> >Do you remember the "Flubber" movies Disney did in the 60's?
> >
> >The second film dealt with a by-product of flubber called "flubber
> >gas".  Good ol'e professor Brainard used it to make rain, "dry rain"
> >as
> >it turns out (forced nitrogen into the soil).
> >
> >We recently bought the video for our 2 and 5 year olds and I have seen
> >it mayber 300 times in the past month, so "dry rain" was forefront in
> >my
> >mind.
> >
> >Happy spring, and if you happen upon any flubber gas, let me know.
> >
> >Tom
> >
> 
> When I was working for the telephone company as a lineman back in the
> 60's, we used to use "dry nitrogen" to keep our open splices dry over
> night.  It came in a big, pressurized bottle (like those tall propane,
> oxygen, acetylene, bottles) with a pressure gauge on it.  We would put a
> temporary "seal" on the splice and run a line from the nitrogen bottle to
> the splice and keep just a small amount of the dry nitrogen fed to the
> splice under very low pressure.
>      Since I know next to nothing about how nitrogen works as a
> fertilizer, do you think that this may have some possibilities?  A buried
> tube with some small pinhole "leaks" directly under the plants would
> deliver the nitrogen to the right place and possibly saturate the soil
> with nitrogen.  Of course it couldn't be on all the time or it would
> replace all the oxygen in the soil, but then again it may asphyxiate the
> bugs in the ground?
>      I suppose that if this does work, commercial growers would have done
> something with it a long time ago.
>      Yes, I know that the air we breathe is 78% nitrogen already but
> there isn't necessarily an abundance of air in the soil.
>      It probably won't "fix" the nitrogen into the soil anyway.  (I have
> no idea what "fix" means, but it makes me sound knowledgeable).
>      Just a thought.   ( I've got to do something while waiting for my
> garden to dry out)
> 
> Stan        The cheap and lazy guy who digs in the dirt out back.
> 
> P.S.  To guarantee a successful garden;  simply change your definition of
> successful.
>           I did.
> 
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