Thousands and thousands of American farmers have gradually made the move from chemically intensive farming to a new biological farming system, one that nurtures fundamental soil life and inherent mineral in the soil, yielding healthier crops and higher net profits per acre. There are a plethora of articles supporting this big change in farming since […]
The main concern for proper soil management is to focus on “nutrient balance.” In our last two blogs we dove into the importance of cations and biostimulants and their individual roles in soil health – in this installment, we will talk about the advantages (and best practices) of using cations and biostimulants in unison to […]
Cations are positively charged nutrients in the soil, and many of them you may already know. Calcium, Magnesium, Potassium, Sodium, and Hydrogen are all common cations. The balance they share with each other and the other negatively charged nutrients is extremely important to soil balance. All cation units have a holding and pulling capability, directly […]
In disease-inducing soils, plant pathogenic microorganisms such as Fusarium fungi can comprise 5 to 20 percent of the total microflora. If fresh organic matter with a high nitrogen content is applied to such a soil, incompletely oxidized products can arise that are malodorous and toxic to growing plants. Such soils tend to cause frequent infestations […]
Stimulating and Feeding the native microbial life is absolutely essential if a grower is trying to maximize his crop yield potential and develop a sustainable system for increasing organic matter, improving nutrient availability, and creating soil balance. In a healthy soil ecosystem, soil microbes regulate the flow and exchange of nutrients in many ways. All […]
No fertilizer or food source in itself can offer the soil and the plant all of its needs. Just as no nutrition or stimulant program can offer the soil and the plant all of its needs without a proper fertility program. As a leading manufacturer and distributor of natural soil nutrition and liquid plant food […]
Land management practices that conserve and enhance organic matter and soil organisms will help sustain soil health. Organic matter stabilises soil structure by binding particles together to form aggregates, which reduce erosion and provide a habitat for soil organisms. During organic matter decomposition, micro-organisms may tie up soil nutrientstcmporarily, which would otherwise be leached or […]
Continued from last week: Using a tool known as Soil Foodweb Analysis on the Menoken Farm, owned by the Burleigh County Soil Conservation District, Fuhrer showed total bacteria in the soil more than tripled from 2005 to 2010 and total fungi increased by about one-third. The soil was also initially low in beneficial nematode numbers, […]
Jodi Dejong-Hughes digs deep into her soil research as a University of Minnesota Extension educator. In-field soil pits are one of her favorite teaching tools for revealing to farmers the importance of deep soil structure – and the and the importance of soil management. Her message is twofold: What occurs on top can either enhance […]
