PUFAs and GC bought compost.

https://www.researchgate.net/figure...e-study-sites-average-standard_fig4_233642048

this doesnt have birch but it does confirm alder has higher nitrogen content, by about twice of species like oak. I saw one for american species and their locust trees which are legumes are also high nitrogen. strange that hazel leaves were also fairly nutritious.

 

That's good, hazel is another thing I'm well supplied with. Got a good crop of nuts this year as well.

 

@Escarpment Alder also fixes nitrogen it has a different bacteria variety to legumes.

 

May I suggest you study the works of Dr Elaine ingham. You will of course already realise that the products you use are toxic to all life, dependent on concentration. "Ashes to ashes, dust to dust"
https://www.soilfoodweb.com/

 

You may be confused. The hay in manure problem is through the use of persistent herbicides such as aminopyralid, which pass through horses and need soil bacteria exposure to degrade. The herbicide glysophate may legally be used to prepare cereals by dessication prior to harvest. It is not a universal practice, but saves certain late crops where ripening is delayed. Oats in Scotland, beans and some wheat needing to be suitable for certain bread processes.

Straight human waste is not the problem,but the additional contamination with pharmecuticals, plastics,polluted run-off and heavy metals is. Processes such as reverse osmosis can 'purify' abstracted water but this tends to concentrate the solid contamination. It is for this reason that many farmers will not accept sewage biosolids, a growing problem when 3.5million tons a year are produced by water companies. It would be more but for the discharge to sea.

The growing of turnips for sheep is not new. Rev. 'Turnip' Townsend b1674, made a name for himself in Norfolk by introducing turnips to create a rotation crop, a true agricultural advance. I expect your local farmer has planted a cover crop for soil protection and will clear it by grazing ahead of spring cereal planting. Would it be Manor Farm perchance ?

 

What products did I say I use?
I don't use fish, blood and bone.

 

Your exact words were "with a chemically made fertiliser that contains all the nutrients my plants need,"
A 'chemically made fertiliser' may contain all your plants need but will not contain all the nutrients you need to thrive. The soil already contains all the compounds that your plants require but are not necessarily available to them. It requires the micro-organisms (life forms/'animals')to synthesise these to create a form that your plants can use,ie put in solution.
These soil organisms require carbon ,water,oxygen as well as the minerals to perform the task of feeding plants. Their role includes decomposing all life forms to recycle and repeat the process of life. Their survival is the key to all our survival and is fundamental to life itself. The introduction of manmade substances into that cycle is the 'pollution' that the OP fears.
We may never know the full effect of this destruction.

 

@Allex50 , I forgot to say earlier, from your description of your Allotment soil it sounds like clay based. Highly probable as many plots are. Although it has its challenges one advantage of clay is that it's naturally fertile so may not require so many inputs as other soils. That said Allotments have been and are heavily used and cropped so nutrients do get used up. Another product you can think about as well as your own compost is Rock dust or Remin, these are crushed volcanic rock, they help remineralise soils stimulate natural bacteria etc. Given it's origins, far less likely to be contaminated with any modern chemicals. I use this on my clay soil and it makes a tremendous difference, especially to long standing crops such as fruit (bushes &trees) but also to things like brassicas. Combined with seaweed products (probably not entirely PFA free as the Oceans are contaminated) and homemade compost all works for me.
As @NigelJ has already said PFAs are so prevalent now it's impossible to avoid them completely, but you can minimise your exposure.

 

I didn't say I was using the chemically made fertiliser, I said I didn't have a problem with the idea of a chemical fertiliser as opposed to a "natural" one providing exactly the same chemicals - i.e. the addition of N,P,K to the soil. What would be the difference? @NigelJ made the valid point that the chemical one is much more energy intensive to produce, but I would argue that it's unlikely to be possible to produce enough "natural" fertiliser to feed all our food crops.

In practise I use very little fertiliser, and usually seaweed based just for my tomatoes and courgettes. And since I don't eat meat or dairy products, I'm contributing less to the destruction of the land for raising those things. Fertilisers and pesticides to grow forage crops, petrol to harvest and transport the forage to the animals and the animals to the slaughterhouse. Incredible amounts of water for the whole process.

 

Yet hydroponics is increasingly successfully used.

 

Do you have comparable studies of nutrient content of crops grown thus ?

 

Its interesting that more energy is used by processors and supermarkets than the entire consumption by agricultural industries, but I accept your point but do not agree beyond it.

 

I don't I'm sure you can find them. What I do know is that it is becoming more widely used especially in glasshouses, vertical farming enterprises and the production of medicinal cannabis, also illegal cannabis. In the case of medicinal cannabis one of the advantages is a consistent product from batch to batch.

 

I don't use any bought in fertilisers on our allotment. We grow comfrey for tea or to just be chopped and dropped. We also chuck all the weeds, including bindweed into a water butt and it makes a nice fertiliser. Our composted waste, composted wood chip, biochar and a few ashes help but don't forget green manures.
We have some clay and there are a few species you can use to help break it up. Daikon radish and phacelia are good (or potatoes as a crop) but field beans are especially worthwhile because they fix nitrogen as well if you don't let them flower. Trefoil and clover are also good for nitrogen fixing, you just cut and drop the top growth and leave the roots, with their nodules, to decompose in the soil. This is how I thought most nitrogen fixers were treated, with trees coppiced or cut back so the roots would partially dieback and replenish the soil.

I believe night soil and people's pee is still used around the world but here I would think it's to full of medication to be an option.

 

I'm planning to make my own weed tea next year, and I compost too.