>
> So clover calls it stolon and brome grass calls it rhizomes and
> strawberries call it runners.
>
> Why not just call them all one name of rhizomes.
>

> plutonium.archimedes@gmail.com wrote in news:594139d9-3345-4ad2-85eb-
> 15bb8931459c@d1g2000hsg.googlegroups.com:
>

>>
>> So clover calls it stolon and brome grass calls it rhizomes and
>> strawberries call it runners.
>>
>> Why not just call them all one name of rhizomes.
>>

>
> A horizontal stem that is above ground is called a stolon, if it is below
> ground, it is a rhizome. Strawberry runners are stolons. Iris rhizomes are
> stolons too. Bermuda grass grows both.
>
> Confused yet?
>

>>
>>Has anyone quantified the nitrogen that comes from animal intestine
>>versus vegetation
>>decomposition.
>>

> Grass cuttings contains up to twice as much nitrogen as horse manure,
> 2-4%% compared to 1-2%%. Some of the nitrogen in the vegetation eaten by a
> horse is converted by its gut bacteria into protein.
>
> --
> Malcolm

> Malcolm wrote:

>
> I rather doubt the accuracy of Malcolm's numbers " 2-4%% compared to
> 1-2%%" Those numbers
> suggest that plants are better at fertilizing themselves than in the
> prescence of animals. I have
> mowed...

> I doubt Malcolm's numbers because I suspect that he does not include
> the fact that
> the decomposition of clippings probably has to go through the
> digestive process of
> bacteria to gain that 2 - 4%% nitrogen. So I suspect Malcolm is
> overlooking the fact that
> he replaces a horse intestine with bacteria intestine. And I would
> call the bacteria in
> this case part of the Animal Kingdom.

> In article
> e39g2000hsf.googlegroups.com>,
> plutonium.archimedes@gmail.com writes

>>
>>
>>plutonium.archime...@gmail.com wrote:

>>> Malcolm wrote:

>>
>>(snipped)
>>

>>>
>>> I rather doubt the accuracy of Malcolm's numbers " 2-4%% compared to
>>> 1-2%%" Those numbers
>>> suggest that plants are better at fertilizing themselves than in the
>>> prescence of animals. I have
>>> mowed my fields for 5 years and never were they as lush and green and
>>> vibrant as this year
>>> after 1 year of horse grazing. I can tell exactly where last years
>>> horse droppings were from ...

>
> Malcolm got his numbers from studies of the contstituents of grass and
> animal manure. These studies use chemistry to extract the elements that are
> contained in the substance studied. There are no bacteria involved in these
> measurements, in fact, most of the nitrogen that is in the horse droppings
> is contained within bacteria. These bacteria must die in order for plants
> to be able to use the nitrogen they contain. That isn't a real problem
> though, horse intestinal bacteria don't survive well in soil. Soil bacteria
> will break down the grass clippings, using the nitrogen for their own
> purposes, and then at some point, will die, and release their nitrogen to
> the system that includes plants, to take it up and make protein out of.
> Horses might eat the grass, but like most animals, they need protein, which
> they extract from the grass in their intestines, which is why there is less
> nitrogen in their droppings than in the food they eat.
>
> Sean
>
> ** Posted from http://www.teranews.com ** ...

>
>
> The nitrogen in the grass clippings are going to be in the form of
> proteins. The horse that eats them is going to extract as much of that
> protein as it can for its own metabolism and use. Some of that will be
> returned to you as the urea in the horse's urine, which is somewhat
> easier for plants to access, as there are fewer steps involved in
> bacteria turning it into a form that the plants can use. But in the end,
> there is less nitrogen in the grass after the horse has finished with it
> than before.
>