Healthy soil and sustainable growing

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

With your expertise I rarely disagree, Steve. But I do feel there are too
many loose ends with that testimonial. I don't know how we can judge *how
much* humus is in that three inches, in what concentration. I saw no test
results on it or results from "secret" solutions. I'm wary of shortcuts
that turn out to be detours. And in the photo it appeared that whatever
stuff was below that three inches was some sort of light-colored clay or
gunk. If I showed a soil photo like that people would ask what went wrong.
Of course some soils and methods may take 15 years of composting etc. and
some kind of special treatments to build productive soil. But it's my view
that we can't encourage many people to get with it if they have 15 years of
garden work to look forward to before they get decent soil. That's my take
on it. 

In your work you've compiled a mountain of useful sources and credible
research on soil and cropping, and they show us effective, proven practices
for soil and humus building. We can do a lot of soil improvement in a year
or two, given resources and favorable climate. 

paul tradingpost@lobo.net

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

On 12/7/2006 at 12:02 AM Steve Diver wrote:

>I'm very impressed with the efforts to build soils 
>at Kim's garden.
>
>I'll wait for further details from Michael Melendez,
>but so far it seems that a humified substrate was
>used to condition the soil and mycorrhizal fungal 
>inoculants were used in combination with certain
>plant hosts to promote mycorrhizal root colonization.  
>VAM fungi that produces glomalin glue 
>can contribute up to 30% of soil carbon.  
>
>Three inches of humus buildup in a few years is
>remarkable.   
>
>Steve Diver
>
>
>
>
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