Re: Beneficial microbes - Destroying forest soil?

From: Elaine Ingham (Soilfoodweb@AOL.COM)
Date: Wed Dec 25 2002 - 13:05:49 EST


David -

Loss of 40% of the best soil humus from any forest would be devastating. That sure seems like a classic rape and pillage attitude to me!

And think that if you take that much forest soil to inoculate ONE field, what if all farmers did that? We wouldn't have any forests left.

Do the SENSIBLE thing.

Take a single handful of the wonderful forest soil resource and inoculate your compost with it. Don't destroy the forest in order to spread the forest's humus out on your ag fields.

Take a small amount of the resource, once a year, and inoculate compost with it to gain what you need from the forest, which is the set of beneficial organisms.

Or better yet, do what Harry Hoitink has shown works - make your compost pile next to the woodlot, or a healthy forest. During the composting process, the critters from the woods come visit the compost, and they bring with them the organisms you want in the pile. Feet, poop, skin surfaces are great ways to bring the bacteria and fungi you want.

Elaine Ingham

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