Healthy soil and sustainable growing

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

IMHO testing for the so called "basics" won't tell you much more than you
can see with your own eyes. One can diagnose certain deficiencies in the
plants themselves a lot cheaper, purplish, curling tip growth on tomatoes
for example. Simply knowing what has or hasn't been done with the soil can
suggest what's needed. We have to learn to look as the soil and see what
we're looking at, feel it in the fingers, even taste it like the old
farmers. And what do the weeds tell us about the soil? Nettle? Far as
spending the money for the higher priced tests, I'm a little skeptical of
the general necessity for that. Reason being, there are a limited number of
soil improvement practices. If we follow those practices there isn't much
more we can do. If we don't, adding a bit of this and that may leave the
soil pretty much as it was or worse. It's not a simple chemical soup as
once thought. We can add a bit of what's supposedly lacking, but how will
the soil biology deal with it? Some experts state that soil science is
still in its infancy, and I believe it. I'm certainly not thoroughly versed
on this but simply adding some chemical element (the "basics") may have
unintended effects, and finished compost may be safer or more productive. 

Someone said, the best fertilizer is the feet of the farmer. Maybe more
truth than poetry.

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

Beware of all enterprises that require new clothes. 
--Henry David Thoreau 
*********** REPLY SEPARATOR  ***********

On 6/22/2006 at 2:35 PM Greg Bell wrote:

>> Which is why most soil tests are sadly inadequate. That kind of test
>can't
>> tell you whether you'll spend too much time or water irrigating, or
>whether
>> your soil will support the healthiest, most productive growth.
>
>so would you recommend getting an organic content and microbe test 
>*instead* of testing for what used to be considered the basics (NPK, etc)?
>
>will all the other things (including macro and micro nutrients) just work 
>out if the soil's healthy enough in terms of organic matter and microbial 
>activity?
>
>~gb
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