Healthy soil and sustainable growing

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

He can reply for himself, but as a side note let me reiterate that "just no
till" is a misnomer. No-till involves a range of intelligent growing and
mechanical practices. It is never meant to imply just not tilling. That's
an interesting source, http://managingwholes.com/new-topsoil.htm . 

paul, tradingpost@riseup.net
---------------
The outstanding scientific discovery of the twentieth century is not
television, or radio, but rather the complexity of the land organism. Only
those who know the most about it can appreciate how little we know about
it. 
   - Aldo Leopold in  Round River, 1933
*********** REPLY SEPARATOR  ***********

On 7/10/2006 at 12:26 PM Robert Monie wrote:

>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