Soil Secrets

I recently listened to a podcast from Christos Miliotis, who I had not heard of previously but made some statements that I had not heard before and so am sharing. They are quite thought-provoking.

·         95% of the dry weight of a plant comes from the atmosphere (even trace elements). Plants have a unique ability to absorb and accumulate minerals this way.

·         A biproduct of using nitogen based fertilisers, or overuse of, is the formation of nitrous oxide. Nitrous oxide is a greenhouse gas and the effects are considered 300 times worse than carbon dioxide.

·         Water moisture (vapour) has a major greenhouse effect (5 times effect of CO2). Methane and carbon dioxide are the 2 gases most commonly talked about as greenhouse gasses.

·         Microbes build soil structure allowing for moisture and gas penetration. Microbes and plants are able to fix various gases into the soil.

·         1% increase in soil carbon can result in retention of an extra 144000 litres /hectare of soil moisture. Humus is the key as the soil structure now has aerated spaces to hold moisture as well as gases. Plant cover will provide shade to reduce evaporation.

·         Tree cover in pastures are essential, up to 30% is optimal. Trees provide shade for stock, deposit carbon with leaves, twigs etc dropping, are deep rooted drawing nutrients up, fungal networks have positive effects and some bacteria emanating from trees can seed clouds,.

·         The key to these points is building humus in your soil. How? A healthy soil biome.