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The Water Issue

     Arid lands across the globe are being impacted by water shortages that are having grave economic consequences. In the arid west of the United States, this is causing a conflict between cities and agricultural entities which are competing for the same water!    At the same time, arid soils have been compromised due to common management practices and therefore are not functioning at optimum capacity.    As a result, these soils provide relatively low levels of water and nutrition to vegetation.  These compromised soils lack or are deficient in Mycorrhizal fungi and Humic substances; both Mycorrhizal fungi and Humic substances greatly increase a soils capacity to hold water and a plant’s ability to uptake nutrients.        If we do not restore compromised arid soils, we cannot maximize crop success nor the conservation of water in arid lands of the Western United States, nor anywhere else on the globe.       Mycorrhizae associate with roots and help improve the uptake of wate

What a Soil Should Look Like

This image illustrates 3 of the essential components of a healthy soil.  Essential Components Include: Macroaggregates - the large brown clumps. Form when Humic substances are present in a soil system. Pools of water - water will penetrate and remain in a soil system when macroaggregates are present. Mycorrhizal Fungi - are represented by white lines which look like roots, because they are essentially an extension of the plants root system. Mycorrhizal fungi aid in macroaggregate formation.

Salt Remediation on Cotton Fields in Arizona

I've attached photos of cotton production in Arizona, on a site that had serious salt problems. These photos show the dramatic affects of the Supramolecular Humic Acids, when we treated with 2000 pounds per acre rate (Ag Grade TerraPro).  This photo shows the cotton production increase with the total treatment. W e were able to increase production by 70%! WOW! This field historically produced significantly less than adjacent fields, due primarily to salt damage and soil type (sand). After treatment with 2,000 pounds/acre of TerraPro the field demonstrated a 70% increase in production.  Increased production (number and size) seen in cotton bolls.  This cotton field contained an area, 25' x 50',  which was highly contaminated with salt. The area to the left of the tall stake treated with 2,000 pounds/acre TerraPro and Endomaxima. Photos and data provided by John Miller with Spec International. For more info please email John,  specintlinc@aol.com ,

Cotton Treated with TerraPro

From the Desk of Michael Martin  Meléndrez - Managing Member of Soil Secrets LLC: Check this out.   I visited a cotton grower in Texas this past week who wanted me to visit his fields and see the success he was having using Agriculture Grade TerraPro.  He stopped watering in early September, using buried drip irrigation, but the field treated with our TerraPro's Supramolecular Humic Acids has continued to grow and produce a higher percentage of cotton than the field treated with just EndoMaxima (mycorrhizal spores).  Both areas were treated with EndoMaxima and the field showing the main production increase is the TerraPro treated field where he used about 850 pounds per acre of the granulated product.   The following photos show me standing in the field, using the oil battery tanks in the background as reference.  Note that one photo shows both fields side by side, same seed type, same planting date and same irrigation timing.  The only difference is the TerraPro!   Fie

Soil Amendments

Soil Amendments are defined as any material which is added to a soil, in order to increase plant growth and improve plant health. Water - It important to remember that water must first penetrate a soil and the quality of water will dictate how well the water can penetrate. Rain water is better at penetrating the soil than hard well water, because rain water does not have the concentration of minerals that well water does. This concentration of minerals is measured as hardness of water. Because of the mineral hardness of well water there is higher surface tension, limiting the water's ability to penetrate the soil.  A healthy soil will retain water for a much longer period of time and buffer higher pH levels than an unhealthy or depleted soil. Humic Acids play a huge role in water retention, because a single molecule of Humic Acid (if Supramolecular) can hold over 10,000 molecules of water. Humic Substances  -  Humic Substances are complex Carbon compounds found in soil. The

Explanation on Lack of Hardiness

In the Chihuahuan Desert of New Mexico, Trans Pecos Texas and Northern Mexico, we have many mountain ranges that have an ecotone at the base which I call the Desert Edge Woodland.  It's very arid, dominated by Quercus species and averages between 12 and 15 inches of annual precipitation, rarely higher.  50% of precipitation falls during the summer monsoon season which is not much when you consider that the daily evaporation rate can exceed 1/2".   Despite the aridity the oaks in this ecotone can still reach 40 feet tall or larger and you might assume that when grown for landscaping that these same species could tolerate the same 12 to 15 inches of annual moisture, however they cannot.  Under cultivation the Chihuahuan Desert Native Oak will most likely need about 20 to 30 inches of annual moisture supplemented if planted in Albuquerque, Tucson, El Paso or Las Cruces.  Nothing close to the 12 to 15 inches of its native counterparts.  The reason for the lack of the same hardine

The Bio Geo Chemical Process of Plant Nutrition & Soil Formation

Expanding on the Soil Food Web Abstract: For a Lecture to be given by Michael at the Univerity of Bordeaux Conference Center in Bordeaux, France. The study of plant ecology is complex, for which the question of fluid dynamics and nutrient uptake presents many questions for those of us interested in growing plant material.   It’s particularly relevant in situations such as agriculture, urban horticulture, erosion control and brownfield remediation, where jump starting the biology and manipulating the chemistry of the soil is sometimes essential for sustainable success. Water flows up into the organism, transporting soil minerals that are somehow purified into elements.   Many of these elements, in the case of crops, are hauled away from the site when the crop is sold, while some are re-mineralized back into the soil in the form of decomposing organic debris.    If all goes well, healthy soil, biologically rich in mutualistic microbes and recalcitrant carbons, is the result and we

Plant Nutrition

Here is a very interesting link on plant nutrition: Dirt Poor: Have Fruits and Vegetable Become Less Nutritious? Related Blog:  The World Has Problem: The Cascading Failure of Soils!

Saline and Sodic Soil: Using Mycorrhizal Fungus & Supramolecular Humic Acid

From the desk of Michael Martin Meléndrez - Managing Member of Soil Secrets LLC: Much attention and concern has been recently paid to the increasing problem of salinity in soils, particularly soils found in arid and semiarid lands that are being irrigated. Where frequent irrigation is necessary, a residue of salts is left behind from the evaporation of water, gradually but imminently concentrating the salts until the soil can no longer support production. Plant roots generally do not absorb all the salts, so the proportion in the soil of salts gradually increases to a point of toxicity. The problem can be made worse by the use of animal manure based soil amendments in the form of raw manure or compost and from acid based fertilizers. The retention of salt in the root zone can cause negative ‘Fluid Dynamics of Plants’ inhibiting the movement of water and nutrition into the plant. Water water everywhere but not a drop to drink! Soil compaction and the dispersion of soil particles can

Mycorrhizal Effects on Root Growth

Here are a number of scientific abstracts which cover Mycorrhizal effects on plant root growth. Please post a comment if you are interested in finding additional information. LANSAC AR; MARIN A; ROLDAN A. 1995.  MYCORRHIZAL COLONIZATION AND DROUGHT INTERACTIONS OF MEDITERRANEAN SHRUBS UNDER GREENHOUSE CONDITIONS.  ARID SOIL RESEARCH AND REHABILITATION 9: 167-175.           LANSAC AR, CSIC,CTR CIENCIAS MEDIOAMBIENTALES,SERRANO 115 DUPLICADO, E-28006 MADRID,SPAIN.           Juvenile plants of  Thymus mastichina ,  Thymus zygis ,  Lavandula pedunculata ,  Genista hirsuta , and  Cistus ladanifer  were transplanted from the field to the greenhouse; the soil used was the same in which they had grown at their natural site. The plants were grown to maturity to determine comparative growth, water status, and mycorrhizal colonization under greenhouse conditions and to determine the influence of drought on the symbiosis. After 24 months,  L. pedunculata  showed the most developed root system

Success in Arid Arizona

     Arid lands across the globe are being impacted by water shortages that are having grave economic consequences. In the arid west of the United States, this is causing a conflict between cities and agricultural entities which are competing for the same water!    At the same time, arid soils have been compromised due to common management practices and therefore are not functioning at optimum capacity.   As a result, these soils provide relatively low levels of water and nutrition to vegetation. These compromised soils lack or are deficient in Mycorrhizal fungi and Humic substances; both Mycorrhizal fungi and Humic substances greatly increase a soils capacity to hold water and a plant’s ability to uptake nutrients.        If we do not restore compromised arid soils, we cannot maximize crop success nor the conservation of water in arid lands of the Western United States, nor anywhere else on the globe.       Mycorrhizae associate with roots and help improve the uptake of water

Soil Health: Level 2 - Soil Structure

Soil macroaggregates create a soil structure which is permeable (by air and water) and stable (resistant to compaction and erosion). Soil aggregates result when Mycorrhizal Fungi bind soil particulates together . To be more specific Mycorrhizal hyphae, or filaments, are  responsible  for increasing a plants overall root mass. These hyphae extend throughout the soils surrounding a plant, and in their search for water and nutrients end up binding soil  particles  together. As hyphae die and begin to decompose they release Glomalin into soil systems. Glomalin is a glue-like protein which  significantly  increases aggregate formation, by gluing organic matter to soil particles. This process, of binding Labile carbons (as you recall, organic matter contributes to the Labile Carbon pool) to soil particles, traps these rapidly decomposing carbons in the soil; thereby storing them for future use and preventing these carbons from being  released  into the atmosphere.    Humic Acids have bee

Fertilizers formulated for alkaline soils of the Southwest

Recently I was in an Albuquerque retail nursery where a fertilizer was being sold that stated it was formulated for alkaline soils of the Southwest.  It contained high levels of iron and sulfur, plus the N, P and K major nutrients.  Do any of the readers care to comment on this type of product?    Pros, Cons, etc.  I have my take on it, but I'll entertain what you want to say about it.  Michael Martin Meléndrez

Soil Health: Level 2 - Description of Terms (Carbon Compounds)

The  Labile Carbon  is also known as the 'Rapid Cycling Carbon' and its composed of all the Soil Organic Matter that is dead and actively decomposing.  It's benefit to the soil is that it provides a source for minerals that are being recycled as potential plant nutrients, so in a sense it's Nature's fertilizer.  Active Carbon   also known as Reactive Carbon is more complex than the Labile Carbon in that its composed of all the dead and actively decomposing organic matter plus all the living soil microbial community that will eventually die and begin decomposing.   For example, the hyphae of mycorrhizae only live about 5 to 7 days before they die and start to decompose, while the fungus organism itself may live far longer.  Recalcitrant Carbons   are the Humic substances made up of complex organic chemistry, some of which is inert and some of which is very reactive and are powerful biologics, such as the Humic Acids.  Recalcitrant Humic substances are known in la

Soil Health: Level 1 - Introduction of Terms

Level 1 - This post is intended to introduce terms which describe the essential components of a healthy soil. This discussion is complicated, so we will provide increasingly detailed levels of information, at the risk of oversimplifying in the beginning. All plants, found on earth today, evolved to thrive in a soil system filled with variety. Ancestral soils teamed with organisms and carbon compounds, which supplied abundant nutrients and water. What does a varied soil system look like when compared to a conventionally managed soil system? A varied, or healthy, soil system contains the following essential components: Carbon Compounds :   Labile Carbon:  Carbons which easily decay, such as those present in microorganisms, compost, crop residues, manures, and mulches. These materials release mineral nutrients back into the soil. Recalcitrant Carbon: Contains Humic Acids which are essential to a healthy and productive soil, Humic Acids are known commonly as Humus. Humi

The World Has a Problem: The Cascading Failure of Soil!

In Response to: Fruits and Veggies are Not as Vitamin-Rich as in the Past, Says New Data    Larger Fruits and Vegetables Mean More Plentiful but Less Potent Bounty March 1, 2006 ABC News Internet Ventures Story by Megan Carpenter Staff of Soil Secrets Responds to this story:   The population of the earth is growing by approximated 86 million people per year, according to a recent National Geographic Special Issue; this is a net gain after accounting for population mortality.   This means that on average 235,000 babies are born each day, which is 235,000 new mouths to feed every day.   The USDA and food protection studies performed by Sandia National Laboratories have determined that according to our Ecological Footprint - 6 acres of land is required per person for annual food production, based on the standards of the United States.  If the goal is to modernize the developing world to the same standard of living as the developed world, then the same Ecological Footprint would be need

Understanding the Importance of Cation Exchange Capacity

I was recently asked to provide a simplified explanation on the importance of Cation Exchange Capacity (CEC) values. My Response:  CEC is the ability of a soil to hold onto plant nutrients.   The finer the particle size the higher CEC value, generally speaking. For example sand particles are course and visible to the naked eye, where as clay particles are fine and are not visible to the naked eye. So clay will have a higher CEC value than sand. It is obvious to most of us that sand cannot hold onto water or nutrients as well as a soil with a finer texture. Therefore, soils rich in Clay and Loam size particles are universally recognized as being better for farming - CEC explains this.  The numerical value for CEC represents how much nutrition can be held by a given amount of soil. For example one pound of a clay loam soil with a CEC value of 20 will hold 4 times as many nutrients as a sandy soil with a CEC value of 5. 20/4 = 5 .  It's all about math, for example Nitrogen in

Do Your Humic Acids have any Character?

While Humic Acids may have a personality, what's really important is whether or not they work and how much of this active ingredient is actually in a given product. To determine this, Soil Secrets LLC,  initiated a study to characterize the Humic Acid molecule found in our products.  What do we mean by asking if a molecular substances has Character? The characterization process measures the geometry and the functionality of the targeted molecule, in this case Humic Acid.  So what does this mean to our clients or to the staff at Soil Secrets?   For us, it provides the evidence we need in order to talk intelligently and accurately about what the active ingredient is in our product.  For the client, its proof that the active ingredient is indeed present in the product and that it does function in the way we claim it should.  The " Characterization of the Functionality of the Humic Acids "  found in our products was performed in collaboration with Femto Chemists and a