[USCC] Plant available nutrients in soil amended with compost

[John A. Crockett]

On soil nutrients, consider the possibility that it is more about soil
biology, having the microbial diversity, and food to sustain the microbes.

I have the illusion that most of our soils are dead because chemical
fertilizers and pesticides have killed all the microbes, including all the
'good guys' that should be cycling nutrients and controlling dis-eases.
Heterorhabditis bacteriophora is a beneficial nematode that is reportedly an
aggressive hunter, controlling a long list of pest insects.  Then, so much
of our soils have nearly zero organic content, which is another part of the
opportunity for composters.

Our finished compost often has over 32E+9 (32 billion) total bacteria, with
only about 1.5% active, per gram, dry weight (about a teaspoonful).  That's
a major store of non-leachable Nitrogen.  I often have people begging for
another sample can of our Magic Soil after they saw how plants performed in
the first sample they got.

Then, we go to great lengths to keep our compost aerobic, and by that I mean
holding CO2 down to 2% or less; and we do a lot of CO2 testing during the
process, often supplying over 20 times the volume of compost, in fresh air,
every hour to hold the CO2 between 1 - 2%. We're composting food residuals
which may have considerably more biological potential than yard waste.   It
appears to us that the biology massively changes when the microbes have over
4% CO2 during the composting process.

Working Together to Create a Sustainable Environment,
John A. Crockett, a.k.a. Dr. Mike Robe
Mother Nature's Farms, Inc.
(845) 225-7763
http://www.magicsoil.com/
jac at magicsoil.com
 

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