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The information below is excellent! I will
print it and add it to my file. And that process is exactly what
Melendez describes in his video. He does NOT claim to have produced humus
synthetically. His claims are 1) that they have developed a way to
make mined humates non-hydrophobic, and 2) to keep microbes alive and dormant
long enough to reach the consumer. Maybe those claims are not true, but
let's not bash the guy for the wrong things.
----- Original Message -----
Sent: Wednesday, December 06, 2006 9:20
PM
Subject: [Livingontheland] Understanding
the Soil Processes - PetrikLaboratories
I'm not a soil scientist or expert of course, but this is
solid soil
science from Petrik Labs. It's also the standard
biological, organic
approach to healthy soil building. Specifically Petrik
explains that humus
formation is something that takes place in the soil:
"It is impossible for
man to produce stable humus synthetically". Nor
is it produced by simply
adding secret potions to soil.
"The
production of humus is a complex process. In general cyclic substances
like
phenol groups and also other like organic acids and vitamins (humus is
also
related to crude oil) are polymerized with help of enzymes,like
phenol
oxidase. These cyclic compounds are both from plant parts (like
lignin) and
are also produced by the microorganisms. Mostly fungi,
actinomycetes
(Streptomycets) seem to be responsible for humus formation.
Aspergillus,
Pisolithus, Rhizoctonia, Streptomycetes are but a few examples
of
microorganisms actually capable of synthesizing cyclic(aromatic)
compounds
and form them into humus from non-cyclic materials."
paul
tradingpost@lobo.net
------------------------------------------
from
http://www.petrik.com/PUBLIC/library/ups.html
Petrik
Laboratories Since 1947
If you need up to date information please
fax to
916-661-0489
voice call 916-666-1157
Or email petrik@aol.com
Quotes from
Understanding the Soil Processes
Most of us will agree that the soil is
the major natural resource available
to mankind. Yet it is and has been
abused by us to the point of self
destruction. Many past civilizations have
perished due to their abuse of
the soil (like Mesopotamia and the Mayan
civilization).
Why didn't anyone stop the destruction? The soil
destruction process takes
time and the changes in each generation are
"small" so no one cared-and
most of us still don't.
The soil in
which we plant crops today has been self perpetuating for
millions of years
without man's help. It will continue to do so if we do
not disturb its
natural cycle.
In the soil there are nutrients and trace elements both
of which plants
require for growth. They are essential.
Soil moves
continually in a natural cycle aided by oxygen, water, minerals
and
decomposing animal and plant matter. These elements create life in
the
soil, which is ongoing if not disturbed. We speak of healthy soil if
it
works well and nutrients continue to be available to the
plant.
Good soil consists of 93% mineral and 7% bio organic substances.
The bio
organic parts are 85% humus,10% roots, and 5%
edaphon.
Edaphon is itself a "world" of life and consists of microbes,
fungi,
bacteria, earthworms, micro fauna, and macro fanuna as
follows:
* The Edaphon consists
of:
* fungi/algae
.........................40%
*
bacteria/actinomycetes.....40%
*
Earthworms.........................12%
*
Macrofauna........................ 5%
*
micro/mesofauna............... 3%
Some of the nutrients get lost
naturally through leaching continually wet
weather, melting snow, flooding
or through denitrification. Also each
cultivated plant takes nutrients from
the soil, as soon as the crops are
harvested.
The substantial task
of the farmer is to take care of returning nutrients
taken from the soil
through harvesting. The conventional farmer is using
water soluble, mostly
salty chemical fertilizers.
In contrast, the bio-organic farmer uses
organic matter in the form of crop
residues, and other wastes, and /or
compost and BTR, in order to take of
soil life, its proliferation and
stimulation to highest effectivity.
With this treatment and approach,
the bio farming system should bring out
the following: Stronger nutrient
accumulation and nitrogen fixation.
Availability of soil nutrients to
plants.
Humus
The natural life cycle of out fields must be kept
functional through the
addition of organic matter after the residues from
the previous crop have
been depleted in order to build new
Bio-Organo-Mineral nutrition for our
next crop. This action connot be
replaced with the water soluble salts or
overdoses of chemical fertilizer
which destroy soil life, not build it.
During the growing season, as
the plants fix carbon dioxide by
photosyntheses, about 10-25% of this fixed
carbon,finds its way back to the
soil through the roots (root exudates)
this is even if all residues
including roots are removed. This is very
important in bio-organic farming.
The production of humus is a complex
process. In general cyclic substances
like phenol groups and also other
like organic acids and vitamins (humus is
also related to crude oil) are
polymerized with help of enzymes,like phenol
oxidase. These cyclic
compounds are both from plant parts (like lignin) and
are also produced by
the microorganisms. Mostly fungi, actinomycetes
(Streptomycets) seem to be
responsible for humus formation. Aspergillus,
Pisolithus, Rhizoctonia,
Streptomycets are only but a few examples of
microorganisms actually
capable of synthesizing cyclic(aromatic) compounds
and form them into humus
from non-cyclic materials.
It is impossible for man to produce stable
humus synthetically. Man can
properly cultivate the field, supply organic
matter and so encourage the
development of stable humus in the soil. Soil
with stable humus must always
be protected to maintain the fertility and
productivity of the soil.
The production and maintenance of stable
humus in the soil should be the
primary goal of every farmer. Good
stewardship of the land is necessary to
protect and maintain mankinds most
important asset, fertile soil.
For nearly one hundred years soil
science in most schools of higher
learning (especially in agricultural
colleges) has been primarily concerned
with the physical and mechanical
aspects of soil structure. Biological
thinking has become a major concern
only in the last few years.
The new approach considers not only the
physical properties and mineral
structure of the soil,but also the process
by which organic matter is
transformed into humus by
microorganisms.
Organic
Transformation
[HUMIFICATION]
Humification, the transformation of
organic matter into humus, is a
fascinating process. Organic materials such
as manure or field wastes ,when
disked into the upper three to six inches
of topsoil, will undergo several
changes. The humification process involves
first catabolism , then
anabolism. These are not truly correct terms as
they are usually used for
same functions within living organisms, but we
may consider soil as one
living organism.
Catabolism
The
first stage in the break down process is important to be started by
fungi,
these make the debris "pre-digested" for many animals in the macro
and
mesofauna. Many of these animals lack needed enzymes for the start of
the
decomposition process (springtails, millipeds, earthworms, etc.) The
debris
is fragmented into smaller parts and chemical changes occur in
breaking up
of cellulose, chitin, etc.
Most plant parts already contain fungi
within(seed,leafs,stems all are
inhabited by fungi): these are going to
start the decomposition process.
Many fungi residing within seeds are known
and seeds (or plant parts )carry
only certain fungi, that will actually
start the decomposition process
(sometimes they also carry
pathogens.)
If bacteria start the decompostion process instead of
fungi, this may
happen because of several reasons, the one most common
would be water
logging (too moist), the process turns to putrefaction.
During this stage
toxic substances are produced (methane, formaldehyde,
hydrogen sulfide,
phosphine) which are harmful to soil and retard the
growth of plants.
Please do not misunderstand-bacteria and fungi are
decomposing all at the
same time,we mean predominance of one over the other
not that the other is
not involved at all.
The excrements of the
neso and macrofauna are a very suitable medium for
growth of bacteria,
algae, and nematodes. These multiply rapidly and again
draw the mesofauna,
as it feeds on the bacteria. Many new animals are
involved in this stage,
some are the same as in the first decomposition.
Slowly the materials
are broken into smaller parts, at the same time many
are again combined and
used for building hormones, enzymes, proteins for
the rapidly multiplying
microfuna. Antibiotics are produced to secure an
area for growth, form
other microorganisms.
Carbon dioxide is evolved back to the atmosphere
and only about 20-30% of
carbon originally found in the plant parts makes
it to humic complexes.In
case of carbohydrates as starting point the carbon
percentage that makes it
to humus is less than 20%. If the starting point
is lignin, tannins, or
other phenolic groupings (mostly found in wood and
leaves) the percentage
may reach 75%.
Mineralization is the process
of freeing minerals from organic molecules
(carbon bonds). During
humification there are two possible end products for
atoms within the
starting molecules. Minerals may either be built up stable
humus or be in
free form, carbon either tied within humus or evolve in form
of carbon
dioxide. The following is a summarizing table where atoms end up
after
humification:
All minerals within organic
compounds
80% freed up and 20% in humus
Carbon from
carbohydrates
80% evolves as carbon dioxide and 20% goes
to humus formation.
Carbon from lignin, aromatic type amino acids
(tyrosine, tryptophan...) and
like compounds (fats, hydrocarbons like
waxes,...)
25% evolves as carbon dioxide and 75% goes to
humus formation
Nitrogen
will remain to 50% in humic
form.
The micro, meso, and macrofauna is so closely interwoven that one
could
say, if areas have small amounts of earthworms, beetles, etc. the
microbial
population will be small.
Anabolism
The second half
of soil metabolism-anabolism now begins, starting with the
synthesis of
soil plasma. It is in this process of plasmolysis that the
catabolized
organic matter becomes plasma building material for new plant
life. This is
the least understood of all the processes that go on in
the
soil.
Soil plasma is the liquid portion of the soil. It contains
proteins, salts,
degraded organic compounds and water. It is like the
liquid part of the
blood which, although without corpuscles , is much more
than water.
Soil plasma is that substance in the soil that can spin
catabolized
remnants of former life into vital threads that are woven
together into the
fabric of new life through the processes of
anabolism.
In the anabolism process the plasma is transformed into
stabel humus. This
plasma also contains the decomposed cell walls of
organic residues and has
become a spongy, gelatinous substance that bonds
the surface of the clay
crystals together. In this manner, clusters of clay
crystals form
aggregates that are resistant to being broken apart. This
gives the soil
the ideal structure farmers refer to as tilth. The
combination of plasma
and clay forms what is known as stable
humus.
The presence of stable humus allows air, water and essential
mineral
nutrients to be held in the aggregates. The chemical nutrients are
in the
form of ions-atoms carring positive or negative electrical charges .
In
science, they are referred to as swarm ions.
The spongier the
soil the more pores or open spaces are within it. Like
Swiss cheese reduced
to an infinitesimal scale, each of these holes or
pores has an inner
surface that is coated with plasma. The greater the
porosity of the soil
the more capacity it has to accumulate and hold air,
water and nutrients
and prevent them from being washed away.
Consequently, we can imagine
that a loss of this porosity with all its
inner surfaces represents a
catastrophe to the soil. With the loss of
stable humus, the mineral
particles of the soil come together almost like
concrete. The porosity is
lost and with it the ability of the soil to
retain air, water and
nutrients. As this capacity diminishes , the
fertility of the soil is
reduced and productivity declines.
When we have stable humus,we have
all the ideal conditions we are seeking
for our soils. We have the inner
protected porosity, the glued together
clay crystals coated with plasma
containing the decomposed organic matter
holding air, water and chemical
nutrients-swarm ions.
In this ideal environment the third phase of
stable humus, plant feeder
roots develop. It is here the dormant power and
original resource of soil
fertility comes to life. This is the secret of
rebuilding the energy and
fertility of "Mother Earth".
Here the
living matter, which was originally buried in the soil to decay,
celebrates
the birth of new life; the re-births of organic matter for
germinating and
growing plants
Stable humus, the so desired, ideal stage of fertile
soil, could be
considered the connectiong link or connector of life. Here
decomposition
ends the last stage of death:and new life begins. Through
this process,we
can understand the fertility of the soil depends on the
ability of Nature
to create living,organic order from inorganic
disorder.
Many farmers are imprisoned in a way of thinking that is only
concerned
with levels of chemical fertilizers and must be re-educated to
begin
considering the biological processes occurring within the soil.
Balanced
soil fertility is a condition which cannot be measured by chemical
or
physical tests. The farmer who strives to maintain the
bio-organo-mineral
complex in correct balance in his fields can achieve the
hightest
agricultural production levels as a result of these biological
processes.
Today's popular chemical tests of soil do not tell anything
about the
decisive life processes. They are merely a yardstick of the
mineral content
of the soil and do not help farmers in knowing how to treat
the fields for
future productivity and healthy corps. The whole process
misses the basic
point that the true purpose of agriculture is to recycle
life to capture
the life factor from decomposing organic material and
channel it into new
growing plants. It is only by doing this that vital
healthier life can be
maintained in plant, animal and man.
When the
farmer decides to begin a biologically balanced fertility program,
soil
analyses show minimal values of nutrient reserves and indicate that
large
amount of fertilizers should be applied to meet the needs of the
crop.
However, after a few years of successful biological farming, analyses
can
show high residual levels of available nutrients, although the farmer
has
not used any chemical fertilizers during that time.
The absurdity of
conventional chemical thinking is revealed in the mistaken
notion that
larger quantities of nutrients will continue to result from the
aid of
chemical fertilizers. But the truth is ,that by the activity of
microbes,
the nutrients are biologically enriched, accumulate in the pores
of the
soil aggregates as swarm ions, and will become available to the
growing
plants. The farmer who implements the balanced fertility program
can
achieve needed levels of nutrients in the soil in a less expensive way,
can
achieve the highest possible yields, and a higher quality harvest. By
using
the wrong fertilizers, excessive chemicals and heavy machinery we
are
destroying our soil, our filds, our farms and our future.
Plants
supplied with this kind of nutrient require less water. This assures
the
biological farmer a significant saving of water in the production of
crops,
an especially important consideration in arid zones and in dry
seasons
elsewhere.
We cannot outwit Nature. Nature does not allow a wasting or
loss of living
matter in the restless process of mineralization the
procedure for
impregnating the soil solution with the mineral elements
required for plant
growth. In the final stage of decomposition the remmants
of plasma still
contain the essential elements of the life processes. These
remnants are
then transformed into soil plasma in the process of producing
stable humus.
Stable humus is the crucial center, the focal point of
the life cycle.
Adhering to farming practices that assure the production of
stable humus
thus becomes the farmer's main objective.
V. soil
fertility
Over 130 years ago (1855) Justus von Liebig's discovery that
plants are fed
by water soluble substances started a revolution in
agriculture.
However this revolution went in a different direction far
from the original
thinking of von Liebig.
Von Liebig's discovery
reads:
"Plants take up water soluble nutrients"
This discoveries
became internationally understood, but unfortunately, a
single word has
been added to the Liebig statement and his sentence and the
meaning changed
as follows:
"Plants take up water soluble nutrients only"
There is a
great difference between his original statement and his
interpretation by
the addition of the single word "only".
The single addition changed the
truth of his discovery. First to recognize
the important misunderstanding
was von Liebig himself. However, the huge
agro-chemical industry built
their fort based on the word "only".
Science neglected his best
discoveries and findings which are as follows:
1. Man must
regard nature as one unit, a whole and everything that
occurs in nature
works together as knots in a net
2. Diseases of plants are
diseases of the soil.
3. We must treat the prime origin of the
disease, not the symptom
It is important to understand that if the soil
is living and healthy, the
plants will be strong and healthy with natural
resistance against disease.
This opinion is the basic pillar of organic
biological farming.
Fertilizer facilities prospered and became firmly
established as the bass
of a huge, new agro-industry.
Ammonia taken
up by plants is utilized directly, but nitrates have to be
converted to
ammonia within the plant to be utilized. In addition the
production of
ammonia from nitrates within plants is only on a as needed
basis; therefore
if soil is high in nitrates that are taken up by the plant
in higher
amounts than needed they will not be formed into ammonia, but
will sty in
nitrate form and this is toxic to animals ( carcinogenic
compounds may be
easily created under certain cooking conditions.)
Liebig actually
discovered that plants take up solutes, these are dissolved
substances.
Well dissolved substances is a very broad statement, it does
not mean in
water only. Many things can be dissolved in substances other
than water yet
are not water soluble. The actual meaning of solutes in the
biological
sense is that the molecules are in fluid state, independent of
each other,
there may or may not be other substances present (solubilizing
agents ,
like water) The word dissolved means broken up into molecules, or
ions in
salts. This is what the agro-chemical changed "Only ions are taken
up" But
ions are not the only solutes, nor does the wording solutes
necessarily
imply a solubilizing agents(like water) is present. The
molecules only have
to be disassociated to be solutes.
Good soil is a world of working
microbes. One gram of soil can contain over
ten million bacteria. "Around
the roots of a healthy growing plant a dense
coating of microbes may
contain a population of from 100 to 200 billion
microbes. The life span of
a single microbe in this environment is
approximately one half
hour.
Microbes live in colonies and are very mobile. In their rapid
life cycle
from creation to death they develop tremendous metabolic
activity and
steadily improve the structure of the soil.
Some
microbes excrete antibiotics. They metabolize phosphorus and iron
bonds
which are difficult to dilute efficiently without this microbial
activity.
The earthy odor of the soil is due to them. They create two
thirds of the
soil carbons, attack cellulose and mineralize nutrients.
We have
another important grouping of life in the soil. These are mites,
nematodes,
centipeds,worms,and insects. All preying on or eating plant and
animal
residues, eating each other, producing dung and other excrements. As
death
they leave important waste. They work on stages in the formation of
humus
in the
soil.
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