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Don't forget the larger picture - that many people
(perhaps, eventually, most of us) will be trying to grow enough food to SURVIVE,
without the possibility of moving to better soil. Think of all the areas
of desert and near-desert and the people who live on them because they have no
choice.
----- Original Message -----
Sent: Tuesday, December 05, 2006 10:30
PM
Subject: Re: [Livingontheland] another
picture of humus growing in Arizona
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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