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  • From: Nan Hildreth <NanHildreth AT riseup.net>
  • To: Market Farming <market-farming AT lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: [Market-farming] Easy soil fertility test
  • Date: Fri, 29 Oct 2010 14:14:22 -0500

How can you tell if your soil building is working? Do this quick and dirty soil fertility (biology) test.

To summarize the below:

Get a shovel and dig a two inch slice, count worms in slice.
2 worms not dead soil
4 or 5 worms fairly decent soil
7 or 8 worms great soil will grow heavy feeder veggies
20 worms especially fabulous soil
If needs improvement, add organic matter and inoculate with soil biology by a compost tea.

At 12:25 PM 10/29/2010, Philip Bogdonoff wrote to soil-age AT googlegroups.com

An 'optimally inaccurate indicator' (OII) is usually a quick and low-
cost method for estimating a trait you wish to measure.

Here's one for soil fertility posted by "Honyocker" to the
greenwizards.org/ website recently launched by John Michael Greer):

Soil Fertility

Wed, 10/27/2010 - 10:26

Honyocker

I recently found a simple method of estimating soil fertility that
seems to be pretty accurate, at least in the fields and gardens where
I've tried it. The theory is that natural soil fertility depends on
activity of the soil bacteria, fungi, insects, etc. (biota) that work
the soil and release nutrients from the inorganic and organic
materials in the soil. It assumes that earthworms are the peak
organism in the soil biota and, if you have a sufficient quantity of
earthworms, the remainder of the soil biota is probably in good
condition.

To estimate the number of earthworms, take a shovel and dig up one
shovelfull of soil. Then take the shovel blade and dig it in to the
top of the blade again about 2 inches back so that you end up with a
slice of soil 2 inches thick and the width and depth of the shovel
blade. Count the number of earthworms in the slice of soil. Then
repeat the process in a grid pattern around your garden or field and
calculate the average number of earthworms that are found in a slice
of soil. Take the average and multiply by 100,000 to get an estimate
of the number of earthworms per acre.

In general, you need a minimum of 250,000 earthworms per acre to have
enough natural soil fertility to grow crops, although you probably
will still have shortages of some nutrients. 400,000 to 500,000 will
allow you to grow most crops that aren't heavy feeders. 700,000 to
800,000 is a good range to be in, but more is always better.
Organically managed, deep topsoils in the American Mid-West can have
in excess of 2,000,000 earthworms per acre.

If you're short of earthworms, first try adding more organic material
to the soil by digging it or tilling it in. Also use organic mulches
around your plants. If that doesn't bring up the earthworm numbers,
trying adding organic compost or compost teas. In most cases, your
soil fertility can be increased by these methods.

# # #

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Nan Hildreth, Houston 713-842-6643
www.HoustonClimateProtection.org

Make Soil, End Global Warming

"We could end global warming if we restored the fertility in the soils in the state of California." Dr. Elaine Ingham, www.soilfoodweb.com

"...global warming can be reversed by restoring biodiversity in the soils and in the ocean. ... There is enough land to sequester this carbon and it could be done in a decade or two. ... Now that the Oil Age is coming to an end, we are entering the Soil Age. " http://groups.google.com/group/soil-age

"... a 1.6% increase in organic content of soils humans manage would restore atmospheric carbon dioxide levels to normal." says Allan Yeomans in http://www.youtube.com/user/AllanYeomans1#p/a/u/0/-o2N6vJDLpE Free download of his book http://www.yeomansplow.com.au/priority-one-contents.htm

"Soil is the new frontier" Eaarth by Bill McKibben




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