this post was submitted on 01 Aug 2025
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Slight clarification: Dutch Clover (trifolium repens) under nitrogen deficient conditions, at temperatures above 50F and below 95F, and with the correct rhyzobium species present, with soil pH between 5.5 & 8.0, can produce nitrogen that is stored in its tissue.
When clover is mowed and the clippings mulched back into the soil, the decomposition of the leaves adds nitrogen to the soil. If you remove the clippings the nitrogen goes with it.
Clover doesn't just release more nitrogen into the soil, it takes a bit of work.
Yes, "green manure" is taking nitrogen fixing crops (like clover and beans and peanuts) and to mulch them while still green, and incorporate that decomposing mulch into the soil you're using. That adds nitrogen in fewer steps than the traditional way of using animal manure (where the nitrogen still ultimately comes from plants).
Of course, the modern Haber process also fixes nitrogen through industrial chemistry rather than agriculture, so most commercial fertilizer today gets its nitrogen from chemical synthesis of atmospheric nitrogen into ammonia.
50°F = 10°C
95°F = 35°C
Interesting, I thought the N would be stored in the little nodules on the roots? For other legumes you're supposed to cut them of, not pull them out, so that the roots with their nodules remain and release the N during the rotting process. Is this bullshit?
The nodules in the roots are the happy little homes that the plant provides for the bacteria to grow and reproduce in.
It's the production location, not the storage location. The nitrogen is incorporated into proteins and used all over the plant. It's especially concentrated in legume seeds.
For example winter peas can produce up to 400lbs/acre of nitrogen during its growing season (newer varieties like Icicles etc). If you removed the top and the seeds you remove around 350-375lbs of N. So you get 25-50lns of N per acre if you leave just the roots. So it's best to incorporate the entire plant in when the seeds reach soft dough stage.
Iirc, it's stored all over the plant. Any bits left on/in the ground will contribute to nitrogen in the soil.