Skip to Content.
Sympa Menu

permaculture - Re: cryptogamic soils (fwd)

permaculture@lists.ibiblio.org

Subject: permaculture

List archive

Chronological Thread  
  • From: Victor Guest <vic@daena.eepo.com.au>
  • To: Permaculture WA <perma@eepo.com.au>
  • Subject: Re: cryptogamic soils (fwd)
  • Date: Tue, 28 Oct 1997 06:54:53 WST

>From: Darren <darren@eepo.com.au>
>To: Permaculture WA <perma@eepo.com.au>
>
>Victor Guest wrote:
>>
>> I'm unsure whether anyone on this list can use this info because
>> cryptogamic
>> soils don't mean anything to me. I might know them under another name.
>
>Maybe cryptobiotic. The "official" line is expressed by the US National
>Park Service at http://www.nps.gov/care/crypto.htm from whence this
>extract comes:
>
> We refer to cryptogamic soil crust - "brown sugar soil" - that dark
> cruddy stuff which covers much of the terrain of untrampled desert
> areas.

Can you think of an example of these soils in WA. Are they found around
rock catchment areas in the eastern wheat belt.

> Cryptogamic soil is actually alive, composed of several species of
> mosses, lichens, fungi and algae. It protects the soil from erosion,
> absorbs moisture, and provides nitrogen and other nutrients for plant
> growth.
>
>> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
>> Cryptogamic soil!! The everlasting political question. HM says they need
>> to be broken for succession to advance. The anti-livestock people says
>> they fix nitrogen and protect soil. I think we have good practical
>> evidence
>> that they need to be broken. If you want a scientific argument why this is
>> so and how the nitrogen and other good products of the cyptogamic process
>> are
>> unavailable to other organisms, including grass, unless the crust is broken
>> contact Dr. David Mitchell, University of Wolverhampton / Wolverhampton
>> West Midlands WUI ISB, UK email: d.mitchell@wlv.ac.uk

Regards,
Vic
--
Victor Guest V.G.Guest Perth, Western Australia
victor.guest@eepo.com.au 11 Carew Place Greenwood 6024
----: Sustainable Agriculture :---- Tel. (09) 2464674
--: The Land Management Society & The Permaculture Association:---
--:http://www.eepo.com.au/permacul.html:--
-----: Men Of The Trees :------
------: Revaluation Co-Counseling :------
-----: AAEE and Greenteach :-----
http://www.eepo.com.au/~victor/
http://www.cowan.edu.au/~paustin/ipc6 for the proceedings of the
Permaculture Convergence on line




Archive powered by MHonArc 2.6.24.

Top of Page