Healthy soil and sustainable growing

[Nancy Babbitt <nbabbitt2003@adelphia.net>]

Paul,

> Actually we do have something on how humus is formed, as I posted  
> before.
> http://www.soilsecrets.com/SoilEcologyandtheSoilFoodWeb.pdf
> http://www.petrik.com/PUBLIC/library/ups.html#humus
1st link doesn't work.

2nd, I read, sort of understand that we know the microbes, some  
working with others, form the humus.  That's why I brought up the  
idea of SCOBYs and Kefir grains.  I was not inquiring about the  
safety of its use as a food item, silly.  I was suggesting the  
symbiotic culture of more than one micro organism that produces the  
SCOBY/Grains parallels the formation of humus by another relationship  
between multiple types of microbes.
> Laying the compost materials as a ground cover is called sheet  
> composting.
> http://web.extension.uiuc.edu/homecompost/methods.html#4
Sheet composting, is most closely what I am speaking of, but not  
tilling it into the soil, as described in the link.  Simply laying  
the material on top of the soil, as in Ruth Stout's deep mulch  
method.  No Till, also.  Removing spent plants by cutting at soil  
level so as not to disturb the soil.  When weeding, removing and  
laying them on top of the soil to act as a mulch, and compost.
> You said
> > Using finished compost as the cover would simply supply less of what
> > was originally used as composting ingredients, therefore less for
> > nature to use, therefore less humus.
>
> Are  you advocating not composting, just turning everything under?
I am not really advocating composting or not, I am simply suggesting  
that gardening or farming by imitating nature may be the key to  
producing humus in the largest possible quantity.  If compost then  
gets disturbed to add to garden or field, then again there is a risk  
to losing any humus that has formed, because it will get exposed to  
the air.
> Or
> leaving everything on top?  As we've seen there are drawbacks to  
> turning
> under, one of which is, the more cultivation, the more soil humus is
> exposed to air which oxidizes and breaks it down, leaving soil less
> moisture absorbent and more prone to leaching of nutrients.
You just stated that oxygen breaks down humus.  That is why I suggest  
not turning a pile to heat it up (oxidize?).  Am I correct in  
believing that if it's necessary to get air into a pile to make it  
heat up, then it's the oxygen that's allowing the the process that  
heats up the pile to take place, therefore it is oxidizing the pile?

If I remember correctly (and I may not) that more humus is formed  
when the plant material is broken down in a wet environment.  That  
implies that it's the anaerobic  microbes doing the job.