Re: Composted cow manure/rice nutrient cycles

From: Elaine Ingham (Soilfoodweb@AOL.COM)
Date: Tue Apr 08 2003 - 08:30:21 EDT


When you till, what is it that you are doing?

You slice and dice some fungi. You mix carbon into the soil, and that plant
carbon now comes into contact with more of the N, P, K, S, etc in the soil.
C:N:P:S ratios narrow. Bacteria "win" in competition with fungi, and you get
a big burst of bacterial growth.

Is this good or bad? Depends on your objectives. If you NEED to reduce
fungal biomass to make the soil habitat more selective for the plant you want
to grow, then it's fine to use this management practice.

If you are making the soil less compatible for the plant you want to grow by
tilling, reducing fungi, letting bacteria bloom, volatilizing carbon through
bacterial respiration, then you might want to understand that it might be
better to do something other than till.

what plant are you trying to grow, and what is the biology it needs to grow
better t han anything else in the soil?

Elaine Ingham
President, Soil Foodweb Inc.
www.soilfoodweb.com
SFI Oregon, USA
SFI Australia
SFI New York
SFI Europe
SFI New Zealand

"Hope is not a feeling. It is not the belief that things will turn out well,
but the conviction that what we are doing makes sense, no matter how things
turn out." -- Vaclav Havel, former President of the Czech Republic






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