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livingontheland - Re: [Livingontheland] Compost, a type of humified organic matter

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Subject: Healthy soil and sustainable growing

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Chronological Thread  
  • From: "Catherine Fenner" <c1fenner@comcast.net>
  • To: "'Steve Diver'" <steved@ipa.net>, "'Healthy soil and sustainable growing'" <livingontheland@lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [Livingontheland] Compost, a type of humified organic matter
  • Date: Mon, 3 Jul 2006 16:48:12 -0600


Thank you so much for posting this. Now I feel like I'm cooking with gas.

Please correct me if I'm misunderstanding what you're saying. What I think
you're saying in the quote below is that there are two tests; one for what
percentage of organic matter is in the soil and the second is the percentage
of humus?

Somehow I think I'm not quite getting this.

Catherine

-----Original Message-----
Soil testing methods can ascertain the percent organic matter on a dry
weight basis using acid digestion of soil
samples. This is the percent OM that is displayed on a
soil test.

But there is a second test known as the Humus Value test which is available
thru several labs or by using your own test kit. It is a sodium hydroxide
extraction, then determined by colorimetry. It is expressed as a relative
value from 0 to 100. The higher the number the *darker* the color, and the
higher degree that organic matter has undergone
humification.






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