Healthy soil and sustainable growing

["bruce smith" <cityhomesteader@gmail.com>]

Towards a Sustainable Agriculture -- The Living Soil

http://journeytoforever.org/farm_library/balfour_sustag.html

By Lady Eve Balfour

Be a Better Farmer: Understand the Living Soil
http://www.omafra.gov.on.ca/english/crops/facts/livingsoil1.htm

  Living Soil and Microorganisms
http://www.microorganisms.com/Living_Soil_and_Microorganisms.htm
Exerpt:

"A single gram of soil (about 1/5 teaspoon) can contain over 100 million bacteria, 1 million actinomycetes and 100,000 fungi with hyphae if strung together would measure 5 metres in length. The weight of these organisms would only account for 0.05 percent of the weight of the soil. Living soil and microorganisms. The size of a single bacteria is approximately 1 micron or 1 millionth of a metre - 100,000 bacteria placed end to end would measure 1 cm. - Wow !"

On Dec 14, 2007 1:41 PM, E. E. Mitchamore Jr < emitch@att.net> wrote:

Manure has been used to enrich soil since the beginning of agriculture, but I still have not found much in-depth science about how, or why, there is such a benefit.  Recently, while reading about grass-fed beef, a point struck me: Ruminants digest cellulose by bacterial action in their gut, with the result that their manure is pre-inoculated with beneficial microorganisms.  This was a revelation to me, and explains a lot while raising other questions.  For example: Do browsers (who eat more woody material), have bacteria well adapted to that purpose, or do they deposit fungi that are normally required to break down the lignin in woody matter?

 

And, does poultry manure, well-known to be hot (a lot of Nitrogen), have any such beneficial microorganisms?

 

While I'm thinking about such matters, does anyone have any thoughts about "fuel" being necessary to get the benefits of inoculating soil (like with compost tea)?  We've acknowledged that most soils are humus-deficient, so it seems like you must add organic matter that is biologically active (good compost), or organic matter + inoculation.  Seems like the fuel has to come first, then the microbes.  Once established, good soil should maintain itself if enough organic matter is left or added.

 

Sure, you can do the right thing without understanding, but understanding is better.

 

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

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-- 
Bruce E Smith

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A little faith will bring your soul to heaven, but a lot of faith will bring heaven to your soul.  ~Author Unknown