The link below takes you
to a web site that gives old outdated information about how to solve the
problem of Iron Chlorosis. The nurseries and garden centers of the world
need to get on the learning curve about this, as do the agronomists that advise
farmers.
From Michael's paper 'The
Journey to Better Soil Health' which will be presented at the 1st
Humus Experts Meeting in Austria. January 22nd, 2014 where Michael is one
of eight global experts invited to present at this conference. For more
information about this conference:
Click
on the link below to view the brochure on the event.
The following are bullet points
that will be used in Michael's lecture. These points are also in his
paper, in the conference proceedings. Some of this
science explains why gardeners in the western half of the United States
often have problems with yellowing of leaves called Iron Chlorosis. The image below shows a Maple Leaf with Iron Chlorosis.
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Most of the time nursery
people, blogs and forums will provide solutions to this problem by recommending
one of two techniques. Acidify the soil, or treat the soil and the plant
with extra chelated iron. However is this the real solution, or is "solutioning"
via the Carbon Connection the answer?
1. The Carbon
Cycle: what is it, how does it work, what are the various forms of
carbon in soil and what are the characteristics of the various forms? Is
all soil carbon just dead and rotting organic matter? Does
dumping tons of manure or compost onto the site fix the problem of poor
soil, poor plant nutrient uptake, etc.
2. The Bigger
Problem caused by poor soil: We now have the lowest nutrient density
in our food that we've ever had at any time in human history and we can
relate this to what's happening to us health wise. I don't know what
percent of our health care in the United States is disease care, but we are
told by our government that our National Health Care represents 30% of our
entire economy, the GDP. Health Care in the United States is not
keeping people healthy, its only Disease Care which is causing the
health care system in the United States to crash. Disease
is directly related to our poor diets, caused by food weak "Nutrient
Density" a deficiency of trace minerals which compromises
our immune systems ability to work properly. Most disease
of humans is nutritionally related. We don't have the trace
elements in our bodies because our food lacks them and our food lacks them
because our soils are compromised at most conventional farms and even
Organic Certified farms. Farm soils are compromised because
the farmers are not on the "Journey to Better Soil Health"
and are not working on building the carbon levels in soil. As
a whole our farmers and our academic society of farm experts do not
understand the distinction of the various forms of carbon in a soil.
Not all soil organic matter in the soil is the same!
3. Our soils are not
functioning well anymore and carbon is all about the functionality of the soil
contributing to the bigger picture of helping plants uptake the trace
elements. You are what you eat.
4. Solutioning
Soil Elements: If the Carbon Cycle is weak or disrupted than the flow
of trace elements to the plant is compromised, as its the combination of
powerful Humic molecules and the soil microorganisms that make the trace
elements available by "solutioning" the process of
dissolving the trace elements from the complex chemistry of the soil
into available mineral nutrition.
Microbes bring trace
elements to the plant via "Solutioning" in exchange for
food provided by the plant in the form of carbon rich monosaccharides sugar.
The sugar was made in the plant leaves from atmospheric CO2
fixed during photosynthesis. The plant then exchanges the energy carbon
rich sugar for minerals that were made available by mutualistic fungi called
mycorrhizae and by the terrestrial biosphere of soil microbes. So if
you have a mineral deficiency in the plant such as Iron chlorosis and
the soil is known to have adequate iron levels, almost always the case in
Western soils, than you have a soil microbe problem!
5. If the plant is
unable to uptake what it needs from the soil it will do a lessor job of
producing liquid carbon in the chemical form of monosaccharides such as
fructose and glucose, energy needed by the soil
microorganisms. The carbon element found in the
monosaccharides came from the atmosphere's CO2 during photosynthesis and the
carbon elements found in the molecular structures of the Humic molecules also
came from the atmosphere's CO2. A process called Carbon Sequestering
which results in the accumulation of long term banking of recalcitrant carbon
in the soil! This is what we call top soil! The Humic
molecules are recalcitrant supramolecular substances rich in carbon!
Compost, manure, peat moss, worm castings and combustible soil organic matter
(measured in soil tests) are also rich in carbon, but the carbon is not
recalcitrant, its labile, which means it will rapidly break down and turn back
into CO2. Recalcitrant carbon substances of soil have a long resonance
time in undisturbed soil, possibly lasting thousands of years!
6. However without soil
microbes helping with adequate trace element uptake resulting in optimum
photosynthesis, producing extra monosaccharides leaking from plant roots
as exudates food for microbes, we would never see carbon
sequestering into recalcitrant carbon substances resulting
in the accumulation of top soil.
Without soil microbes
Humic molecular carbon would fail to form and accumulate because the
precursor chemicals would be lacking.
The whole thing is called
the Carbon Connection and its a must if we are ever going to fix our soils and
live on the right side of history.
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