Market Farming

["Peg Cook" <pegcook AT northnet.org>]

Since I stuck my nose in about the soil testing I do, I'll try to answer
this question without making it to complicated.  Most vegetable crops grow
best at an Organic Matter (OM) between 5% to 7%.  Since OM is the "raw"
material you apply to the compost pile, aging, heating and fermenting turn
it into nice rich Humus which is the "finished" product.  Now for OM to be
broken down it needs soil microbes (and other soil organisms) to break it
down into humus.  But, will doing this, the soil microbes "feed" on Calcium
to keep them going, growing and reproducing as well as digesting OM.  So,
when a soil test shows so high in OM, it is an indicator that the soil
microbes (and other little critters) are getting overwhelmed with raw
material to break down because they can't break it down fast enough.  In
addtion, you will probably see on your soil test report that Calcium levels
may be going down and you may begin seeing the signs of some "tightening" or
compaction in the soil.

Hope this helps!

Peg Cook, Agronomist
Cook's Consulting

pegcook AT northnet.org

----- Original Message -----
From: <BBGREGSON AT cs.com>
To: market farming <market-farming AT franklin.oit.unc.edu>
Sent: Saturday, February 26, 2000 12:03 AM
Subject: Re: A lurker taking the plunge with compost question


> Michaele;
>
> Yes, that's our understanding too.  But apparently there is always some
> undigested material in the compost and therefore it can be overdone if you
> have a very high percentage of organic matter already in the soil.  That
was
> how we understood the advice from Timberleaf.
>
> Bob and Bonnie
>
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