Skip to main content

Using Supramolecular Humic Molecules To Improve Saline Soils

A common malady of irrigated agriculture in arid parts of the world is the gradual accumulation of sodium, salinity, or both.  This is often compounded by arid climate soils being high pH where many of the mineral nutrients such as iron and phosphorus are chemically tied up in the soil.  In the case of excess salinity, water will move in the wrong direction away from the vascular system of the plant resulting in dehydration.  What many of us call burning.   Where water is expensive and a limited resource, the last thing a farmer needs to contend with is excess salinity and sodium that robs his crop of water. 

This story is a Case Study in Merced, California where a raspberry grower is experiencing salt burn and where TerraPro was applied as an experiment to try and remedy the situation. 

TerraPro the product used on this project is not organic matter like compost or manure.  It's a formulated biologic substance that we developed with the help of a Technology Transfer Program of Los Alamos National Laboratory and Sandia National Laboratories under an exclusive 'Commercial Proprietary Information Contract'.  TerraPro is a sole source novel product of my company Soil Secrets LLC.

The farm in Merced, California that grows Raspberry Plants is seeing an increase in soil salinity.  Each year the damage is worse as the salts accumulate in the soil.  The first image shows a close up of what the leaves start to look like as the growing season progresses and the third image shows a close up of the foliage of the treated site.   The forth image shows the vigorous canes of the treated site.  Driscoll, the company that owns this farm has several thousand acres of berries and provides fresh fruit to many grocery chains in the US. 


This second image shows our test plot treated with our Supramolecular Humic molecules contained in our product called TerraPro, where the site was treated with 2000 pounds of active ingredient.  The treated area is on the left and to the right of the flagged stake you can see the untreated area, plainly still damaged by the salinity while the treated area is not damaged.  The odd thing about this test plot is that the soil tests we conducted on the treated site still don't show a change in the E.C., ppm of Sodium or pH.  The biologic molecules of TerraPro are doing something to protect this crop from the salinity issue but we don't understand how or why! Nature is sure a mystery.




To learn more about Humus please visit our website via the following link:

Michael Martin Meléndrez
Managing Member of Soil Secrets LLC
505 550-3246
www.soilsecrets.com

michael@soilsecrets.com

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

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.  Recalcitran...

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

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 ...