A science-based tree fertilization question

[pdqdl]

Perhaps not just water impermeability is the cause of grass kill; I am sure that there are other factors involved. I'm not buying any arguments that the fungus sucks the nitrogen out of the soil and then puts it back. If that were true, you would see chlorosis at the edges, not darker green.

Having personally observed the fairy rings, watching some of them for years, I can pretty much guarantee that it isn't a lack of nitrogen killing the grass. For one thing, grass roots MUCH deeper than the width of fairy ring kill. This, and the obvious darker ring at the edges of the fairy ring suggest that it is not possible for the fungus to deprive the soil of nitrogen while simultaneously enriching it.

Most fairy rings don't involve any dead spots, they are usually darker green.

 

[David (saltas)]

We call them "pyramids" They just keep piling it on. Some trees have over a ft! They sometimes suffer from ridiculitus around here!

When mulch compost's, it creates quite a bit of heat, could that lead to the hyrdophobic condition? I have pulled up "waffles" of mulch that seem to have been "baked" together. Isn't this part of the decaying process? So when I pull it a part, the materiel that is in the "waffle"seems to be broken down more than the materiel that is still loose. In that case, am I jacking up the process by breaking up the waffles?

Break them up. good composted mulch will let the water through it and air through it.

Green un-composted mulch is water replant so the water runs over the top of it and out side the root zone under the drip line. It gets baked together, matted like you described and it can raise the humidity and fungal spores grow madly.