As information continues to broaden our knowledge about fertility, it becomes almost impossible to keep separate the living organisms from their life blood, soil humus. One is so dependent upon the other that when we describe the activities and properties of one, we are confronted with the inseparability of the two. Perhaps that is why we have encountered such an imponderable task when solving the problem of fertility in and of the soil.

To be fertile soil, it must contain all of the twenty or so nutrient elements, including adequate carbon, necessary to produce the organic components of the life support systems of its inhabitants. Fertile soil must also contain a balanced level of clay, silt, and humic substances to maintain an optimum cation exchange capacity. It must exhibit the tilth and structure for vigorous root structures. It will also contain adequate buffering compounds to help maintain the optimum pH. It will also contain major and micro nutrients that have been determined necessary to plant and animal life.

A complete fertilizer should include any substance containing one or more recognized plant nutrients which are used in the soil to improve soil fertility.

The philosophy of N P K fertilizers is not necessarily the correct one, even though many cling to the tenet that used alone, these elements are all that are required for a fertile soil. N P K could well be considered plant stimulants since they do not aid in improving the soil. Their use reminds me of the electric cattle prod-it provides impetus but not a long and lasting effect. Even worse are the additions of the toxic nitrogen sources, anhydrous ammonia and ammonium nitrate, which destroy countless beneficial organisms and earthworms.

The philosophy of N P K fertilizers is not necessarily the correct one, even though many cling to the tenet that used alone, these elements are all that are required for a fertile soil.

The soil inhabitants include microorganisms and small animals which are, in themselves, complete chemical manufacturing facilities. The estimated quantities of soil organisms are vast, numbering in the millions per gram of soil, and their combined weights including both flora and fauna are estimated to lie between 0.5 and 8 metric tons in fifteen centimeter depth per hectare. This quick overview of the soil’s inhabitants is impressive when one reviews the numbers.

The important functions of the soil organisms include the decomposition of plant residues in order to release elemental nutrients. Large numbers of the soil bacteria are heterophobic, requiring sources of preformed organic substances for carbon and energy.

The soil, for one reason or another, is the natural home for the bacteria that are discovered there. The practice of introducing foreign strains is not usually successful, and at best only temporary, the reason being, one, the new arrivals are devoured by their hosts and two, if that doesn’t happen the environment will not support them.

The existing bacteria metabolize and transform the chemicals they consume in their diet. These new chemicals are in turn utilized by the neighboring bacteria and yet another host of chemicals enter the soil environment. This system of chemical production is repeated with all of the many chemicals which appear as raw materials. There is no visible limit. As the chemicals appear, their hungry boarders devour and convert them to new compounds to be used for the reproduction and maintenance of living cells.

The continued production of these compounds depends on the numbers and the activity of the bacteria which rely upon the proper food supply. The horticulture practice that increases the organic food supply, including proper fertilization for crop production and sufficient application of organic wastes, will increase their numbers.

If these chemicals producing bacteria are destroyed, along with other beneficial organisms, the easily recognizable condition of infertile soil are not far behind.

If these chemicals producing bacteria are destroyed, along with other beneficial organisms, the easily recognizable condition of infertile soil are not far behind.

There is, however, a surplus of these chemicals, organic colloids, known as humus that accumulates in the soil. Its chief components are humic acids and polysaccharides.

So, we know a good soil is also a living soil. It is the homestead of many organisms: bacteria, actinomycetes, fungi, lichens, protazoa, nematodes, arthropods, and earthworms. They live and die together and their lifestyle provide the soil with chemicals that make it more inhabitable for all who live in it and on it. They release inorganic nutrient elements from plant debris and make them available for biogenesis.

The lack of usable plant residues is well known and the popular response is the use of composted plant and other wastes. This composted material is a long step from being assimilable in metabolic systems of the microorganisms requiring it. Long experience in the farming industry reminds us that the seven year crop rotation is required to reduce the agriculture residues to the form acceptable at the dining table flanked by the star boarders of the soil. What all of us fail to realize is the microorganisms will eat us out of house and home, leaving the soil in a sorry condition beset with hard pans, poor water holding capacity, impervious clay structures, and other undesirable symptoms, diagnosed as infertility.

The problem arises as to where do we obtain the supplemental residues that possess the properties demanded by the ever-hungry, soil inhabitants?

As in most castes the answer to a problem is not always obvious. There exists a centuries-old material, Leonardite. Leonardite, resulting from the diagenesis of organic material, is an ore, bearing a colloid material known as humic acid. It is a medley of organic compounds, some of which contain nitrogen. It is similar in chemical composition to the naturally occurring soil humus. These leonardite deposits are compost piles “par excellence”.

Leonardite is available at reasonable prices. It can be applied easily and effectively to the surface of the soil. Within a short period of time, desired improvements in the soil and the plants it bears are easily observed and measured.

The use of leonardite, and its consideration as a fertilizer, is long overdue. Sufficient evidence has been published that humic substances satisfy the requirements of a fertilizer.

By the continuous use of leonardite, A LIVING SOIL WILL BE A FERTILE SOIL.

 

Credit: R. John Townley, President of Soil Life Systems, Inc.

 

BIBLIOGRAPHY:

1. Abbott, G.A. Humic Acids from Weathered Lignite (Leonardite). Proc. North Dakota Acad. Science, July 1949.
2. Aiken, et al. Humic Substances in Soil, Sediment and Water. John Wiley and Sons, 1985.
3. Burdick, Everette M. Commercial Humates for Agriculture and the Fertilizer Industry. Economic Botany, Vol. 19, No. 2, April-June, 1965.
4. Collins, Donald N. and White, Wm. C., Editors. The Fertilizer Handbook. The Fertilizer Institute, Second Edition, January 1976.
5. McCalla, T.M. and Lavy, T.L. Microorganisms and Their Increasing Importance in Today’s Agriculture. Revised Edition, June, 1967.
6. Martin, James P. and Focht, Dennis D. Chapter 6: Biological Properties of Soils, reprinted from Soils for Management of Organic Wastes and Waste Waters. 1977
7. Philip, R. Paul. Geochemistry in the Search for Oil, Special Report in Chemical & Engineering News, Volume 64, Number 6, February 10, 1986, page 28.
8. Swanson, Vernon E. and Palacas, James G. Humate in Coastal Sands of Northwest Florida. U.S. Dept. of the Interior, Geological Survey Bulletin 1214-B, 1965.