Bill;
If you take your topsoil to be 140mm deep for practical purposes, then the
soil in a hectare will be 2,000,000 kg given average bulk density. Then
adding 2kg per hectare of active ingredient will naturally equate to 1ppm.
This is the basis for soil corrections as applied to small grain crops. Its
generally easier in the metric system to do these sorts of calculations.
SS
From: compost_tea_at_yahoogroups.com [mailto:compost_tea_at_yahoogroups.com] On
Behalf Of Bill Skerrett
Sent: 20 April 2011 14:22
To: compost_tea_at_yahoogroups.com
Subject: RE: [compost_tea] Sea Minerals as a Food Source
Stephen
I heard an interesting thing at a talk last month, it sounding right but I
thought I would throw it out there
If you are trying to add micronutrients or trace minerals 2 pounds per acres
equals 1 PPM
I had never heard someone make the correlation before
Just what I need more "stuff" in my head
William R (Bill) Skerrett
ICT Organics
W: 410-997-5450
C: 410-707-2794
bill_at_ictorganics.com
www.ictorganics.com
www.EarthHarvestOrganics.com
From: compost_tea_at_yahoogroups.com [mailto:compost_tea_at_yahoogroups.com] On
Behalf Of Stephen Steyn
Sent: Wednesday, April 20, 2011 3:24 AM
To: compost_tea_at_yahoogroups.com
Subject: RE: [compost_tea] Sea Minerals as a Food Source
Camlaurie;
In my experience, the most cost effective way to apply trace minerals or
macro minerals is from a bag. We all like to think that adding a pinch of
this and a pinch of that in a special secret formula will unlock a magical
result. It's almost like homeopathy, except that homeopathy is more like an
inoculation as we do in ACT. With minerals, I believe we need to see how
much we are applying per hectare (or acre or section). I cannot see how the
minerals can be in any way different if they are recovered from the sea
rather than from land based deposits. I'm not trying to insinuate that you
are wrong and that I have more knowledge, but I would like to understand the
theoretical basis which leads you to postulate that what you are doing is
correct.
If you are going to conduct a statistical experiment with sufficient
replications, and will be able to say at the conclusion of the experiment
that you have valid observations that can be objectively measured (say using
growth cages for example), than I look forward to your results. I hope you
can prove my scepticism unfounded, but I've seen too many of these
agricultural concoctions peddled to us farmers based on paradigms that
appear plausible but eventually fall into disrepute. Many of these things
are driven more by the need of the salesman to earn a commission rather than
meaningful science.
I would rather look to my levels of minerals and correct that if necessary.
I note that for example, you are not adding phosphate or calcium or sulphur
which are the minerals most frequently in short supply. As for trying to
have them taken up by the biology to prevent them leaching, you can usually
accomplish this by increasing the organic matter content of your soil. This
will also tend to multiply your soil biological component which in turn will
unlock many of these minerals from the soil and leave them in a form
available to your crop (and livestock.)
Kind Regards
SS
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Received on Wed Apr 20 2011 - 14:54:16 EDT