Healthy soil and sustainable growing

[Dieter Brand <diebrand@yahoo.com>]

Zack,

 

You just turned conventional wisdom upside down.

The generally accepted view is that depletion (i.e.,

loss) of humus is greater in a hot climate than in

a cold climate. According to one source, humus

is lost 50 times faster in the tropics than in the

North of Europe. I was born and raised on my

grandfathers farm in the North of Germany, and

now work and live on a piece of land in the South

of Portugal, I can assure you that this is more

than just theory.

 

Loss of topsoil can have more than one reason. Mostly

it is agricultural practice, especially deep ploughing and

the use of chemical fertilizers without returning organic

matter to the soil. Also, regions which were historically

covered by forest, like much of central and Northern

Europe, have more stable long duration humus than

grassland, like the prairie in the US, the ploughing of

which resulted in the dust bowl.

 

In the part of Portugal where I live it gets quite cold

during the night. Night temperatures below 10 C are

common. This is no problem for microbial activity,

in fact, my compost temperature charts show much

higher heap temperatures for the night than for the day.

This clearly shows that microbial activity is higher at

night than during the day even though ambient

temperatures are lower. As long as the temperature

doesn't drop below 0 C there is plenty of microbial activity.

 

If you have a lot of torrential rain, then it is even more

important that you keep your soil covered.  The mulch

or cover crop will not wash away, the uncovered soil

will.

 

Dieter Brand

Portugal

Zachary Domikez <zdomike@yahoo.com> wrote:

> Dieter and Aliza are in hot dry climates, which is the
> opposite of the south of Chile. Here, if you leave
> the organic matter, the cool night temperatures,
> always below 10C, or 50F, will reduce microbial
> action, aka- decomposition. That, and the regular
> showers washing away the same microbes, leaves the
> leaves, and the forests and fields here reflect that
> lack of action.
>
> There is very little topsoil production! A bit more
> warmth, less rain, and soil could develop. Stuff just
> sits there, year after year. . . . .
>
> I compost in cubic meter (cubic yard) bins made out of
> covered disposable polyethylene sleeves, to
>  increase
> the heat and reduce the washing action of the rain.
>
> Also, lasagne layering has worked well for raised
> beds.
>
> Regards,
> Zack
>
> ----- Original Message ----- 
> Didnt they talk about tilling the green manure crop
> in? I thought it was better to cut it and let it lay
> on top instead of stirring up that precious 6" on
> top. And of course doing it before it reseeds:o) 
>
> Aliza
> ----- Original Message ----- 
> From: Dieter Brand 
> Sent: Friday, October 05, 2007 11:13 AM
>
> The way I understand it is that cover crops are the
> precondition for no-till farming.
> Dieter Brand
> Portugal
>
>
>
> ____________________________________________________________________________________
> Boardwalk for $500? In 2007? Ha! Play Monopoly Here and Now (it's updated for today's economy) at Yahoo! Games.
> http://get.games.yahoo.com/proddesc?gamekey=monopolyherenow
>  
> _______________________________________________
> Livingontheland mailing list
> Livingontheland@lists.ibiblio.org
> http://lists.ibiblio.org/mailman/listinfo/livingontheland

---

Catch up on fall's hot new shows on Yahoo! TV.  Watch previews, get listings, and more!