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livingontheland - Re: [Livingontheland] another picture of humus growing in Arizona

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  • From: "TradingPostPaul" <tradingpost@riseup.net>
  • To: livingontheland@lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: Re: [Livingontheland] another picture of humus growing in Arizona
  • Date: Tue, 05 Dec 2006 21:30:36 -0700


Thank you for the explanation. Of course I'm not minimizing the value of
any amount of humus-rich soil; it's my passion. I'm not making light of
Kim's accomplishment. But I don't need science to know that years spent
making productive, healthy soil out of dead dirt is a dead loss. The point
I was trying to make was, given the time and money needed to do as she did
she could have got the same results a lot cheaper and faster by trucking in
some sort of real soil to begin with and then composting and applying the
biologicals. If productivity and economical operation are even a
consideration, then why start with the worst possible soil? Kim can do as
she likes; it's her money and her land. We're not told what her balance
sheet looks like. But under the circumstances I think her CSA has to be
sinking in red ink. Where I am my aim is producing more of our own food
cheaply and running a profitable market garden. I'd be nuts to look for the
worst possible dirt to start with.

paul tradingpost@lobo.net


*********** REPLY SEPARATOR ***********

On 12/5/2006 at 5:39 PM Soilsecrets@aol.com wrote:

>In a message dated 12/4/2006 11:46:08 P.M. Mountain Standard Time,
>tradingpost@lobo.net writes:
>
>but the photo shows about three inches of
>topsoil built over 4 or 5 years. In my book that would qualify as years
>totally wasted.
>
>Paul,
>
>Is it really wasted effort or time? Well in your opinion it may be, but
>in
>my mind it's not and it's certainly not in the opinion of Kim who has
>worked
>tirelessly on this project.
>
>So let me explain what this 3 inches of humus rich top soil really means.

>
>1. To see 3 inches of humus rich top soil form in just 4 to 5 years is a
>daunting task even in a good climate where you don't have the high
>elevation
>intense UV burning up the organic matter of the soil. Or where there is
>plentiful rainfall to produce weeds and grasses that produce organic
>biomass easily,
>thus providing an abundant pipeline of calories that the Soil Food Web
>can
>turn into Humus. Most deserts of the world don't have that advantage and

>neither does this site, so producing 3 inches of top soil in such a short
>time is
>an amazing thing to see. I've been a Soil Scientists and a Plant
>Ecologists
>for 30 years and I've only seen it on a very rare occasion. If you
>recall
>your school days of Earth Science classes, you were once told, and
>accurately
>so, that under good conditions it takes nature at least 100 years to
>grow 1
>inch of top soil. So what's wrong with 3 inches in 4 to 5 years?
>
>2. What does 3 inches of humus rich top soil represent? Well let me
>define
>for you this information as it relates directly to this site as we have
>quantified it.
> -The soil on this site is not alkaline as you stated but rather it is a

>decomposed sandstone that is acidic.
> -The bulk density of the soil is right at 98.3 pounds per cubic foot.
> -The 3 inches of humus rich top soil weights 1,089,000 pounds to the
>acre.
>
> -The humus percentage by weight of this soil is 60,000 pounds per acre
>in
>the top 3 inches. "Humus is a conglomeration of biomolecules that are
>essential for healthy and productive soils" Journal of Chemical Education
>2001
> -The caloric equation taking a super high quality compost with a bulk
>density of 90,720 calories per cubic foot and turning it into pure humus
>(Humification) is this: 10,000 pounds of compost = 40 pounds of humus.
>Therefore in
>order to make one acre of 3 inch deep top soil that contains 60 thousand
>pounds of Humic substances (per acre 3 inches deep) you will need 15
>million
>pounds of a super high quality compost! Most compost made in windrows
>will have a
>bulk density of about 17 - 20 pounds per cubic foot, therefore it will
>take
>about 28 thousand cubic yards of compost on a acre in order to make
>enough
>humus to make the 3 inches of humus rich topsoil such as that found on
>this
>Arizona desert organic farm. It truly is a daunting task!
>
>3. While growing grass as a nurse crop, ground cover and root-tunnel crop
>is
>an excellent idea if the site allows for it, growing grass by itself will

>not create a mycorrhizal environment. If the soils did not have a
>indigenous
>grass cover that was mycorrhizal to begin with the mycorrhizae will not
>mysteriously appear just because you planted grass! You will need to
>inoculate the
>grass seed or soil in order to make this happen!
>
>
>
>Fortunately most humus in the soil and on this site for sure did not come

>from compost, or from sheet mulching. Furthermore it did not come from
>the
>supplemental humus provided by Soil Secrets either as Kim only added a
>fraction
>of that 60,000 pounds that now occurs on the site. Most of it came via a

>process we understand to be called Carbon Sequestration, where nature
>creates a
>provision for long-term storage of carbon in the terrestrial biosphere,
>most
>found in the form of Humus and Glomalin.
>
> I'm out of time and continue this later.
>
>Dr. Michael Martin Melendrez
>







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