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nafex - [NAFEX] Re: "contaminants" | chemical "purity"

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  • From: road's end farm <organic101@linkny.com>
  • To: North American Fruit Explorers <nafex@lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: [NAFEX] Re: "contaminants" | chemical "purity"
  • Date: Sun, 24 Apr 2005 12:35:07 -0400


On Apr 18, 2005, at 10:38 AM, David W Hausmann wrote:

I felt it
would be better to have chemically equivalent material and therefore the
proper nutrients, similar to adding lime, rather than using compost with
all of the biological contaminants possible due to animal "contributions"
of one form or another. With [an extreme, I know, but...] mad cow
disease, bird flu, etc., etc., I felt give me good old chemically pure
and relatively or completely biologically inactive fertilizer any time.


Healthy soil isn't sterile -- one could say that sterile soil is the opposite of fertile soil. Properly made compost is full of beneficial organisms, that should encourage and add to the beneficial organisms naturally in your soils. Many synthetic fertilizers are caustic, and may damage the beneficials.

Soil full of healthy beneficials is less likely to have pathogenic (harmful) microorganisms, as the beneficials usually crowd them out. If you kill off the beneficials, you may well leave an excellent breeding ground for the pathogens.

The beneficials will also improve your soil tilth. If you kill off all the organisms (micro and macro) in your soil, leaving a "biologically inactive" situation, your soil will turn into a compacted rock-like mass or into sterile sand. It's the healthy biological activity in your soil that keeps it able to hold nutrients, and the right mix of water and air. Soils with less organic matter dry out faster, flood more easily, and are harder to work; as well as harder for roots to penetrate.

You shouldn't, of course, dump raw manure straight on the lettuce; and organic standards prohibit this.

--Rivka
Finger Lakes NY; zone 5 mostly





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