How to Grow More Vegetables : And Fruits, Nuts ... - Shroomery

A
3
224 WHO IS ECOLOGY ACTION?
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1
Preliminary studies by soil scientists at the University of
California, Berkeley, indicate that in as little as a 6-month period
(and in as many as 8 years), the soil involved in our tests (which
was only a “C-horizon” subsoil material at the beginning) was
built up to a humified carbon level equal to hundreds of years of
natural soil development! If maintained, this improvement may
make possible not only the maintenance of sustainable soil
fertility, but also the reclamation of deteriorated and marginal
lands. (See the following graph.) The GROW BIOINTENSIVE method
also nurtures the soil life and structure, utilizes renewable
resources, can be productive economically on a small manual
scale, and provides higher yields.
SOIL BUILD-UP RATE WITH GROW BIOINTENSIVE PRACTICES
AT PALO ALTO SITE COMPARED WITH NORMAL BUILD-UP RATE
A. ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■
Observed increase
(build-up) in carbon
soil (which was
subsoil to begin with)
at Ecology Action
Research Site (tentative
figures). The
program began in
June 1972.
%C*
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2
1
B
Normal Soil Genesis
“Steady State”
Curve shows what
happens in good soil
if organic matter is
artificially added in
excess: if left alone the
carbon content of the
soil will return to the
“steady state” level.
0
0 100 250 500 1,000 1,500 2,000
*% C Times�1.7 � % Organic Matter
Question: What would the fate of the carbon curve (or nitrogen curve)
be if the bed were now left fallow after the normal “intense” organic
mater input?
1. � � � � � � � � �
Remains at “natural”
steady state level?
—Unlikely.
2. •••••••••
Substantial drop, but
leveling off, then rising
again under “natural development”?
—Most likely. Accelerated
gain of hundreds of years of
soil development (in as little
as 6 months’ or as much as
8 years’ time with Ecology
Action–type cultivation).
TIME (in years)
3.
Drastic drop back
down to zero?
—Unlikely.
B.
Normal build-up of soil
by natural processes.
∞
∞