Healthy soil and sustainable growing

[<pbunch@cox.net>]

I have not been actively working my garden plot long enough to estimate a 
ratio but I suspect it may be similar to your situation. Rainfall here is 
high  but the temperatures are cool and the soil has low nutrient levels. 
Where I have applied nutrients, growth is good if a bit slow. I don't have 
animals yet so my local source of nutrients has been heap compost and some 
urine on ornamental plants. 

The carbon:nitrogen ratio in the native grasses appears to be high based on 
their texture, slow decomposition in the piles and on the soil surface. There 
are a couple of areas that have been invaded by Thunbergia alata which I am 
clearing and composting the residue. This plant is a bad weed here but grows 
very rapidly and has soft growth. It also decomposes rapidly but I don't 
surface mulch with it due to the presence of seeds.  The only other thing 
that grows rapidly is kikuyu grass which also is a non-native invasive and 
sprouts from just about any stem that has a node. I also am trying to 
eradicate it and have to be very careful when adding it to the piles.

I think I am going to have to import a lot of chicken manure to enhance the 
nutrient pool. Scarlet runner beans grow well in this climate and I can use 
them as a nitrogen source but to really grow well they need other nutrients.

I also have experimented with some chemical sources on a very limited scale 
but I don't plan to continue their use. What I have learned is that KNO3 
produces very good growth. Based on this I think the P content of the soils 
is pretty good. This makes sense as it is relatively insoluble and should not 
leach out as rapidly as the N and  K. It may be that a combination of legume 
derived nitrogen and potassium from ashes would do the trick. Neighbors burn 
the residue from mowing their properties so I can import the ash with ease. 
Processing the ash through the compost piles should reduce the risk of 
adversely affecting the soil flora and fauna and also should raise the pH. In 
the long run this would not be a sustainable practice as it requires 
transporting nutrients with a net loss where the ash is produced. Also since 
the K leaches rapidly there will be unavoidable losses with time.  

Phil
Piedras Blancas, Colombia




---- Dieter Brand <diebrand@yahoo.com> wrote: 
> In my case it is about 1 to 10; i.e, I use mulching materials from 10 acres 
> to feed 1 acre of vegetable beds.  But that is probably not typical since I 
> live in an arid climate with poor soils.  The ratio is bound to be much 
> lower in regions with more rain and better soil where more biomass is 
> produced per acre.  Also, mulched gardening is unusual for arid regions.  
> Traditional farming in this like most other arid regions uses bare soil 
> cultivation together with manure from goats which can survive on shrub land 
> during the summer when grasses and other annuals have dried.  But no matter 
> whether we use mulch or manure, there is a constant transfer of fertility 
> from the fields to the garden.  The question really is; what is more 
> efficient: manure or mulch?  But I guess the answer will very much depend 
> on local conditions.

Regarding the question of compost versus manure, I think manure always ought 
to be composted, while plant residues should be returned as surfaces mulches 
for in-place composting whenever possible because heap composting, especially 
high temperature composting, always involves a loss of nutrients.  I only use 
heap composting for plant residues when I don’t have enough water to keep the 
mulched area wet because without humidity the mulch isn’t going to decompose. 
 It requires less water to keep a compost heap wet than a mulched area.

Dieter Brand
Portugal


--- On Thu, 9/23/10, pbunch@cox.net <pbunch@cox.net> wrote:

> From: pbunch@cox.net <pbunch@cox.net>
> Subject: Re: [Livingontheland] TWO AGRICULTURES, NOT ONE, By John Michael 
> Greer
> To: "Healthy soil and sustainable growing" 
> <livingontheland@lists.ibiblio.org>
> Cc: "Dieter Brand" <diebrand@yahoo.com>
> Date: Thursday, September 23, 2010, 3:03 PM
> Interesting observation. I wonder
> what the ratio between intensive:extensive growing has to
> be. Also what differences might be required in compost
> verses manures as means of transporting the nutrients. I
> suspect that P, K and trace minerals would become critical
> as legumes can supply the N. It would seem that human
> waste  recycling would become a critical component.
> 



      
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