Healthy soil and sustainable growing

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

Our list doesn't accept attachments so those interested should definitely 
look at Michael's carrots, mail to soilsecrets@aol.com . I am the humus and 
microbe believer so I don't doubt those results, but I haven't used microbial 
innoculants in my soil building yet. My own focus is  microfarming 
vegetables, and I don't know how much humus per 100 sq.ft. or how much 
microbial material would be recommended for this high desert soil. I go with 
more is better and rely on finished compost to form humus in the soil with 
sufficient moisture. I'd be interested in more specifics about the 
preparation or history of that carrot bed, and how it holds moisture. How do 
you add humus without working it into the soil?

You're on the mark about this soil. Low humus content and all that goes with 
it is definitely associated with our low rainfall and little annual growth of 
vegetation and root mass.

paul, tradingpost@riseup.net
---------------

The outstanding scientific discovery of the twentieth century is not 
television, or radio, but rather the complexity of the land organism. Only 
those who know the most about it can appreciate how little we know about it.
   - Aldo Leopold in  Round River, 1933
*********** REPLY SEPARATOR  ***********

On 4/20/2006 at 12:23 PM Soilsecrets@aol.com wrote:

>I'm a native of New Mexico, I'm a sixth generation farmer, the Great
>Grand
>Nephew of Geronimo and I own the largest growing operation of plant
>mutualistic
> microorganisms in the industry.  Now with that in mind, if  allowed, I
>could
>send  you a photo of carrots that were grown on  the worst of all crummy
>clays typical of New Mexico's high desert region.   Low to no measurable
>indigenous humus content and very little organic matter to  contribute a
>future
>pipeline of humus formation.  Yet without tilling or  mixing compost and
>other
>mechanical manipulations to this soil type, we were  able to grow carrots
>that
>looked more like baseball bats and they tasted  wonderful.  The trick was
>in
>Restoring the Natural biology of the soil and  to use a pure biologically
>viable
>humus as the carrier of the inoculation of  these mutualistic mycorrhizal
>material with their helper bacteria.  The  soils found in and about the
>community of
>Eldorado, New Mexico are high desert  soils which have not seen the true
>native ecotone of Oaks and grasslands for  about 300 to 400 years and
>consequently
>have not had a pipeline of organic  biomass needed to replace the natural
>loss
>of humus.  This results in what  is called locally caliche which is just
>bone
>dry and compacted clay.  Humus  and microbes can easily fix this  problem.
>
>If you would like to see  this photo of the amazing carrots, send me a
>personal
>email.
>
>Dr. Michael Martin Melendrez
>Soil Secrets LLC
>Los Lunas New Mexico
>_soilsecrets@aol.com_ (mailto:soilsecrets@aol.com)
>
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