Healthy soil and sustainable growing

[Robert Monie <bobm20001@yahoo.com>]

Dr. Melendrez,

 

For those of us who want to experiment with this idea, can you give us a short list of

"correct plants" that do associate well with Glomus and maximize humus production

(as well as a list of plants that do not associate well).

 

The optimal arrangement for humus production might turn out to be something a little

more dicey and dynamic than the relatively static idea or "no-till" farming.

Some of the "ley" farmers around the late 1800's and early 1900's interplanted such things as sheep sorrel, dandelion, orchard grass (bunch grass), chicory, and burnet so that the mixed deep roots would cut channels below the ground, and aboveground forraging animals would disturb the soil in a way that would encourage humus build-up. By nuzzling and nibbling on some (but not all) of the plants at the surface and tearing some up with their feet, the animals would sort of creatively spot-till soil and organic matter in ways that would not occur to humans. At least this is the theory of Australian farmer Greg Martin as reported in the extraordinary article "How to Build New Topsoil" by Christine Jones at http://managingwholes.com/new-topsoil.htm.  In the "acknowledgments" section of this article, Jones thanks Greg Martin for showing "the importance of intermixing of organic matter in the root zone for high levels of biological activity and for showing me the small mammals responsible for the soil building process which took place in Australia prior to European settlement."

 

If small mammals were responsible for this, then there is much more to soil building

than just "no till."

 

Bob Monie

New Orleans, LA

 

 

 

 

Soilsecrets@aol.com wrote:

Glomus is destroyed easily by typical gardening methods and needs to have the correct plants to associate with in order to be present in your soils.  If you are tilling in a green manure crop that did associate with Glomus, the slicing and dicing of the soil will inhibit the perpetuation of that association and consequently reduce the quantify of Glomalin that could be originating on the site.

 

Dr. Michael

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