Healthy soil and sustainable growing

["ECO FINCA" <ecofinca@hotmail.com>]

This link can contribute to know a little more about humus...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Humus


E C O
http://spaces.msn.com/ecofinca/
http://humano.ya.com/ecofinca/




----Original Message Follows----
From: BT Benjaminson <btbenj@netvision.net.il>
Reply-To: Healthy soil and sustainable growing 
<livingontheland@lists.ibiblio.org>
To: Healthy soil and sustainable growing <livingontheland@lists.ibiblio.org>
Subject: Re: [Livingontheland] Humus - Understanding the Soil  Processes
Date: Thu, 18 May 2006 05:03:51 +0200

Patricia
Besides what you see in finished compost, I think humus in the soil is the
stuff that makes soil a little sticky even if the soil is made larger grain
sizes than clay.

Here's my question to the list
I think that stickiness is one of the properties that keep nutrients from
leaching out but still makes them chemically available to plant roots. My
limited understanding of this process is that the plant nutrients are in the
form of ions that carry electrical charges. These ions are weakly bonded to
the surface of a microscopic clump of humus. Plant roots capture and take in
the nutrients they need from the humus surface. The plant root hair puts out
an ion that bonds more strongly to the nutrient than the bond it had onto
the humus clump. The root hair ion captures the heart of the nutrient ion,
if you will, and somehow (mysteriously to me) draws it in to the root like a
bride going to her new home.

Please, anyone out there, can you correct and amplify on this? I've been
carrying around this (almost certainly flawed) understanding for years and
I'd just love to know more about it at a level I can understand.

Bat-Tzion
Negev, Israel


----- Original Message -----
From: "Patricia Ruggiero" <ruggierop@earthlink.net>
To: "'Healthy soil and sustainable growing'"
<livingontheland@lists.ibiblio.org>
Sent: Wednesday, May 17, 2006 8:22 PM
Subject: Re: [Livingontheland] Humus - Understanding the Soil Processes


> Marty wrote:
>> How can I visually identify humus in my garden, compost piles or wooded
> area? I thought it was that rich black looking stuff after compost breaks
> down. I'm not so sure now.
>
>
> That's what I think it is.  I will be interested to learn more.
>
> Pat
>
>
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