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

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Subject: Healthy soil and sustainable growing

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  • From: "E. E. Mitchamore Jr" <emitch@att.net>
  • To: "Healthy soil and sustainable growing" <livingontheland@lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [Livingontheland] another picture of humus growing in Arizona
  • Date: Wed, 6 Dec 2006 06:18:39 -0600

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.
 
E. E. "Mitch" Mitchamore
www.hillcountrynatives.biz
----- 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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