Healthy soil and sustainable growing

["TradingPostPaul" <tradingpost@riseup.net>]

Somebody correct me if this is wrong, but I don't think those "prions" 
survive in soil at all (if there's anything to the prion theory in the first 
place). Proteins decompose naturally. They can't be taken up directly by 
plants.  I'd go with the bone meal for the calcium and phosphorus.

paul, tradingpost@riseup.net
---------------
The care of the Earth is our most ancient and most worthy, and after all our 
most pleasing responsibility. To cherish what remains of it and to foster its 
renewal is our only hope.
   - Wendell Berry
*********** REPLY SEPARATOR  ***********

On 3/27/2006 at 3:03 PM Laura McKenzie wrote:

>Paul I need to work on the pH of some areas of mine.  These are
>undeveloped
>areas and the soil tested at 4.3 (that's not a typo) at Auburn University.
>  But the soil tested very high in Magnesium and low on calcium.  What can
>I
>find that doesn't have Magnesium in it?
>
>   What other sources of phosphate would you use? I'm more than leery of
>bone meal because of prions.  Composting doesn't kill prions as far as I
>can
>tell from what I've read.  I've always been organic and don't want to do
>anything but. The soil tested very low for phosphate on the undeveloped
>parts of our land.
>
>   We have five compost piles going right now and we mulch heavily
>(no-till)
>with leaves and grass clippings but its my feeling that if your land is
>low
>on calcium or phosphate then the plants you compost that grew on that land
>are going to be low too.
>
>   Gardening in New Mexico was SO much easier!
>
>Laura
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>Laura's Homeschooling, Garden, and Genealogy Site
>is found here: http://home.att.net/~ekyorigins
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