How come wood is so good in potting mixes for palms?

[Palmfarmer]

bananajssi grows his seedlings in woodchips and black gold. Around 70% wood. I tried this mix and it did very well compared to the others in compost, perlite and coco despite fertilizing them. 

What I don't understand is many people claim wood will lock up nitrogen when mixed into soil for some time. So why does this mix work work? 

[Philly J]

Still need to amend with nutrients.  Everything I have is in bark/charcoal/perlite and I do a 3-1-3 fert a couple times a year.  My collection is indoors 9 to 10 months of the year here in zone 2 🥶🇨🇦

[Merlyn]

On 8/5/2023 at 9:32 AM, Palmfarmer said:

bananajssi grows his seedlings in woodchips and black gold. Around 70% wood. I tried this mix and it did very well compared to the others in compost, perlite and coco despite fertilizing them. 

What I don't understand is many people claim wood will lock up nitrogen when mixed into soil for some time. So why does this mix work work? 

Mulching on the surface is maybe somewhat different than mixing it into a batch of soil.  There's a lot of discussion about it, but basically there are a bunch of fungi that use nitrogen to decompose wood.   https://s3.wp.wsu.edu/uploads/sites/403/2015/03/wood-chips.pdf

On the third page she discusses nitrogen issues.  The Royal Horticultural Society discusses that here:  https://www.rhs.org.uk/soil-composts-mulches/woody-waste-using-as-mulch

So it seems that making a mix of primarily wood products *might* cause a bloom of bacteria/fungi that temporarily use up nitrogen to decompose the wood.  The RHS says it may take up to 2 years to decompose the wood that is "dug in" to the soil.  Adding extra nitrogen in fertilizer may or may not be important...go figure.