BUILDING SOIL CARBON
& PLANT SAP TISSUE
TESTING
(Building the Farmer’s
Soil System Savings Account)
All crops represent cumulative natural
wealth being photosynthesized from elements
of the atmosphere, soil and sun, with soil
biology serving as the preferred engineers
for nutritional exchange between the mineral
and plant worlds. (rhizosphere)
Humus is the fully decomposed carbon stored
in the soil system made up of crop residues,
plant exudates and microorganism cycles.
It is the ’savings account’ that
regulates storage and release of water, soluble
and insoluble elements and chemical/biological
reactions that produce the energy that builds
crops. It is also the ‘barrier reef’ for
all soil life, which all plants and the entire
food chain are dependant on.
Soil life is responsible for the delivery
and exchange of most below ground nutritional
supplies which we can stock with amendments
that feed the soil- food-web as well as the
crops we value. A good soil recipe feeds
these unseen workers with high nutrition
and allows for abundant crops and carbon
storage in the form of re-mineralized humus.
To build and protect soil carbon in the humus
form is to protect our farms, watersheds
and food supply.
Plant Sap Tissue Testing
(To track and apply, accurate in-season amendments
or practices)
Extracted plant sap tests can be viewed
as a real time soil and plant health indicator
for improving crop quality and making future
fertility decisions for crops in a timely
manner.
The use of three or more tools; Refractometer,
pH meter and Conductivity meter, to name
the primary ones, allow us to read the plant’s
physical health index to anticipate and correct
events before they compromise a crop, or
the information can be used to make effective
formulations such as foliar sprays (which
work by design), and make harvest judgments
to maximize nutrition and shelf life.
Further field tests can be done on site to
evaluate current energy supplies in the soil
for crop growth or stress. As well as identifying
weed indicator species, insect behavior,
root, stem and leaf conditions to build a
full view of situations that the farmer can
control during the season without having
to wait for long term lab analysis or “better
luck next year”.
Copyright Mark Fulford 2007 |
