Re: [compost_tea] Re: Watering (orchard mulch)

From: butch ragland <wilddog_202_at_yahoo.com>
Date: Tue, 9 Nov 2004 17:33:39 -0800 (PST)
this in no way disagrees with what you say about mulch

but i have applied fresh brown material at a rate of
2-3 inches a year for years.

my results, not tested in any way, is that after 3-4
years the soil organisms eats them and the landscape
plants grow well at these rates.

the question is in a situation like an established
orchard is there really a problem with mulching in
small quantities over a period of time. and can it be
beneficial as i describe.

there is always the problem of cost, and composting
and turning and looking for the perfect mulch may cost
more than its worth in a business situation

--- soilfoodweb_at_aol.com wrote:

> Mulch and manure mixed with sawdust are not the same
> thing. 
>
> Mulch should be wood-based material.  Putting
> something high in manure, and
> therefore high in nitrates, or if anaeorbic, high in
> ammonia, can be more
> harmful than beneficial for several years. 
>
> Mulch should be aged so that the initial burst of
> bacterial growth has
> happened.  That burst of bacterial growth, where
> they use what ever small amount of
> simple sugar, simple proteins, amino acids, carbs,
> etc, will severely tie-up
> other nutrients, N included.  So, that process has
> to be over before you use
> mulch around your trees.
>
> OR - yep, there's more to think about -
>
> If you put on mulch on a soil that is healthy, has
> the organisms that will
> buffer the early mulch tie-up of nutrients, then
> don't worry.  Healthy soil is
> robust. 
>
> But, putting un-composted materials, which includes
> manure with sawdust or
> other woody materials, can result in a huge
> bacterial-burst of growth, serious
> nutrient tie-up, and tmerpature elevation of the
> soil at exactly the time the
> plant roots should be going to sleep because the
> temperature is cooling off. 
> You can fool plants into spring-time behavior, just
> before winter sets in. 
> Plants don't tend to survive when that happens. 
>
> But again, if you have heatlhy soil, and your roots
> are down in the soil
> where they belong, then this nutrient tie-up, and
> even temperature elevation
> doesn't reach the root zone.  But it requires
> healthy soil, and roots that have
> been growing in a healthy manner for quite some
> time.
>
> It is best if you compost the manure-sawdust mix
> properly first.  That way,
> you help build the soil, help roots grow deep into
> soil, because you supply the
> biology and chemistry needed to start the building
> process. 
>
> If you have good soil, well-made compost will just
> continue to enhance the
> soil-building process. 
>
> I always smile at the USDA's statements that it
> takes a 100 years to build an
> inch of soil. 
>
> Not true, if you understand biology.  We can build
> an inch of soil in a
> couple days, given the proper conditions.  Now, in
> arid, no-organic matter soils,
> we have to get the orgnaic matter and the biology
> back into the soil, with some
> water to start the building process.  But even
> there, we've built an inch of
> soil in three months.  Talk to the Larsson's in New
> South Wales, in Australia,
> where they've been growing bumper crops of barley
> and soy on 13 cm of water a
> year for the last 4 years. 
>
> Lots of examples where things are working, and
> examples of how to use
> existing equipment to do this.  It was the step we
> had to take, to document that this
> approach could work on the practical level.
>
> The science of "if you get the right biology into
> the soil, then plant grow
> in a healthy manner" has been documented, and is in
> the scientific literature,
> starting about 1985, with the Ecological Monograph
> published then. 
>
> Practical application to real-world conditions were
> then required.  We ran
> straight into the brick wall of agronomists,
> botanists, extension folks saying
> only the chemical approach would work.  So, we are
> demonstrating that the
> biological approach does too work. 
>
> And now, hopefully, there will be a group of voices
> demanding that the USDA,
> NSF, and other government funding agencies fund
> LARGE scale replicated
> experiments, done by people who give the biological
> approach a fair test, not done by
> people who have an agenda to protect their "life's
> work" and therefore
> sabatoge the results. 
>
> Bugging your congressional people is what is needed.
>  Make sure the funding
> to do the final, finishing touch of "proof" is
> provided. 
>
> 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
>


=====
Butch Ragland
Conflict is as addictive as
cocaine, alcohol, cigarettes,etc
I'm sorry to report that
cooperation is not


           
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Received on Tue Nov 09 2004 - 21:21:32 EST

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