Healthy soil and sustainable growing

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

What do you base this theory on?

---------------
tradingpost@lobo.net

Many types of jobs will cease to exist: public relations executive, 
marketing directors, et cetera. I think work will be very hands-on, 
and a lot of it will revolve around food production.
    -- James Howard Kunstler, 2003
*********** REPLY SEPARATOR  ***********

On 7/1/2006 at 7:14 AM Nancy Babbitt wrote:

>Paul,
>
>Is it likely then, that composting (allowing microbes to decompose  
>the plant material) before it's applied to the soil, can have a  
>negative effect on humus formation.  What I mean is that if less  
>plant material is is present in the final compost, than before  
>composting, and that lesser amount is added to soil, then there is  
>less to potentially become humus.
>
>Is it possible also that the anaerobes assist in the humus formation,  
>and they're not the ones doing the decomposing in a hot pile?
>
>Nancy
>On Jun 30, 2006, at 12:26 PM, TradingPostPaul wrote:
>
>>
>> Let me try that again easier to read. Point being, it appears that the
>> initial composting process is not humus formation; that occurs in  
>> the soil.
>>
>>
>> paul, tradingpost@riseup.net
>> ---------------
>>
>> from Humus - Understanding the Soil Processes
>> http://www.petrik.com/PUBLIC/library/ups.html#humus
>>
>> The production of humus is a complex process. In general cyclic  
>> substances
>> like phenol groups and also other like organic acids and vitamins  
>> (humus is
>> also related to crude oil) are polymerized with help of  
>> enzymes,like phenol
>> oxidase. These cyclic compounds are both from plant parts(like  
>> lignin) and
>> are also produced by the microorganisms. Mostly fungi, actinomycetes
>> (Streptomycets) seem to be responsible for humus formation.  
>> Aspergillus,
>> Pisolithus, Rhizoctonia, Streptomycets are only but a few examples of
>> microorganisms actually capable of synthesizing cyclic(aromatic)  
>> compounds
>> and form them into humus from non-cyclic materials.
>> -----------
>>
>> from Humus: Still a Mystery
>> http://www.nofa.org/tnf/humus.php
>>
>> Humus is essentially a massive storage battery containing energy  
>> that was
>> originally derived from the sun. Researchers in England discovered  
>> that an
>> acre  (furrow slice) of soil with 4 percent organic matter contains  
>> as much
>> energy as 20-25 tons of anthracite coal. Another researcher in Maine
>> equated the energy in  that amount of organic matter to 4000  
>> gallons of #2
>> fuel oil. This organic energy, which is stored as carbon compounds,  
>> was
>> originally derived from the sun  by autotrophic organisms such as  
>> plants
>> that can extract carbon from atmospheric carbon dioxide. About one  
>> percent
>> of the energy from the sun that  reaches plant leaves is used to
>> photosynthesize carbon compounds. During the  plants' life much of the
>> energy that is absorbed from the sun is utilized for growth, foliage
>> production, flowering, seed production and other functions.
>>
>> About 10 percent of the absorbed energy, initially from the sun, is  
>> left
>> available to a consumer, e.g. an animal that eats and digests the  
>> plant.
>> Like the plant, the animal uses most of the energy it consumes for
>> functions such as growth and sustenance but can offer about 10  
>> percent of
>> the energy it derived from plants to the next consumer in the food  
>> chain.
>>
>> Humus in the soil has more real value than money, real estate,  
>> stocks or
>> bonds. Its value doesn't fluctuate; it doesn't become scarce in a
>> recession; it's worth can't be depleted by inflation and it can't be
>> stolen. It is the direct or indirect source of sustenance for all  
>> life on
>> earth. It can sometimes be lost by environmental changes but more  
>> often,
>> its demise is from either the apathy or the inadvertent errors of the
>> steward who tends it.
>>
>> Humus is a renewable resource. Its presence in the soil can be  
>> maintained
>> indefinitely. Unfortunately, many agricultural and horticultural  
>> practices
>> are essentially mining humus. Like other mined products, such as coal,
>> minerals and oil, the natural resource can eventually be exhausted.
>>
>> The popular scientific definition of humus is "A more or less  
>> biologically
>> stable, dark, amorphous material formed by the microbial  
>> decomposition of
>> plant and animal residues". It is difficult to visibly  
>> differentiate humus
>> from organic matter in other stages of decay. Compost, well rotted  
>> manures
>> and peat are not necessarily humus. However, at some hard-to-define  
>> point,
>> all of these organic materials will contribute immeasurably to the  
>> humus
>> content in the soil.
>>
>> It is not realistic to think that one can quantify or qualify humus
>> production from contributions of organic matter to soil. There are  
>> too many
>> factors that control its formation and existence in the soil  
>> environment.
>> One can only assume  that cultural practices that both minimize the
>> depletion and contribute to the formation of humus will maintain  
>> the best
>> possible level of soil humus for each individual environment.
>> ----------------
>>
>>
>>
>>
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>
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