Re: [compost_tea] Re: detrimentals not beneficials

From: <soilfoodweb_at_aol.com>
Date: Sat, 30 Oct 2004 09:18:57 EDT

One reason mulch works is because maerials with wide C:N raios continue to
"suck-up" nitrogen, sulfur, phosphate, etc for quite a while. If none of these
nutrients are available, plants can't grow, or grow very poorly. Weeds don't
germinate and grow, because there is no N available, for example.

Plants established before you put the mulch on, with roots deeper into the
soil, can survive, because they obtain their nutrients from deeper in the soil.

Unless of course, the soil below the plant is compacted, and thus being
killed by the anaerobic metabolites being produced.

Now, row crop systems are a bit different to manage. Because the root
systems of a just-germinated corn, for example, aren't down deep enough to begin
with, the mulch approach doesn't work well. In those instances, we have to
balance the amount of N-suck-up to reduce the availability of nutrients to below
what the weeds require, but above what corn needs. Careful balancing required.
You have to pay attention to the right balance of bacteria and fungi, and
have a decent protozoa and beneficial nematode community.

Balance.....which you set up in an agricultural field when you prepare the
soil in the fall, and let the bacteria, fungi, and protozoa and nematodes duke
it out all winter long so they are balanced right the next spring. Checking
and making sure the balance is right, that the protozoa and nematodes made it ok
through the winter, is a good idea.

So, testing now, and adding back what you are lacking this fall, and then
just checking protozoa and possibly nematodes, maybe fungi, next spring, is a
good idea.

sort of like taking a temperature when it comes to human health. Soil health
is dependent on the microbes being present and doing their job. Total
biomass, and activity, is what we call that.

Elaine R. Ingham
Soil Foodweb Inc., Corvallis, Oregon
Soil Foodweb Inc., Port Jefferson, New York
Soil Foodweb Institute, Lismore Australia
Soil Foodweb Institute Cambridge, New Zealand
Laboratorios de Soil Foodweb, Culiacan, Mexico
Soil Foodweb Inc., Jerome, Idaho
Soil Foodweb Inc., South Africa







Received on Sat Oct 30 2004 - 11:25:41 EDT

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