This has been an interesting read. I often don't give enough consideration to the science behind things, so it's good to have my thoughts venture off down this road.
We have rather sandy acidic soil, definitely lacking Ca and K. River floodplain in a semi arid environment. We also have a dense stand of invasive acacia trees. Nitrogen fixers, not bad firewood, but way more than we need and would love to manage and utilise them better, and use the much better quality soil underneath them that they've helped create.
We've chopped down a lot, sell and use firewood and chip the small branches. Chips cover roads and pathways, random bare patches left over from flood damage, and also the floors of our animal night shelters, along with straw.
We have refrained from burning a lot of dry biomass from previous felling (before our time) as we have slowly been chipping it and because fires can get pretty risky in our climate/environment, and also because in my mind it's not the best way to clear land if you're trying to build soil.
But, in our situation, perhaps there is value to adding a good amount of ash to the sandy fields we use for pasture, rather than trying to chip it all, even though chips can slowly build pretty good soil, as we've seen on the forest floor under the trees themselves. I'm all for amending things faster if possible!
What would you all do in this situation? Maybe I should start a new thread?
