Skip to main content

Conserving Water in Agriculture and in Urban Horticulture; The Present

Conserving Water in Agriculture and in Urban Horticulture:
The Present

by Michael Martin Meléndrez

The Material Science program at Soil Secrets has developed a protocol of materials that work, help hold water in the soil, provide nourishment for the soil microbes and the vegetation, and fortify the soil with the essential bio-identical humic molecules that are the foundation of a healthy and productive soil. Below are some photos of a cotton crop in the desert of West Texas that show the power of humic molecules managing soil water in the event of drought.

In this particular case water was cut off in early September, two months before the cotton crop was mature enough to harvest.   Figure 1 below shows a cotton field where the crop is much shorter, caused by the artificial drought caused by the irrigation being terminated.  


Figure 2 below shows a cotton field that did not terminate during the same irrigation drought and which had a two month advantage for soil moisture.  


Both images were taken on the same day and only a few hundred feet apart, with all variables the same except for one difference.   The green field (Figure 2) was treated with 315 pounds of the active ingredient in our Ag Grade TerraPro, which are Supramolecular Humic molecules, formulated by Soil Secrets.  The product was not mixed into the soil and was only surfaced applied.  It resulted in the soil holding onto a greater amount of moisture which allowed the cotton crop the chance to keep on growing while the other fields where irrigation was cut off, failed to grow as much.  Also, note the background of these two images, where you can see the same tanks, as the position of where I'm standing is only a couple of hundred feet apart, taken on the same day.   The conclusion is obvious, that we can improve the soils ability to hold onto water and contribute more to the mineral nutrient uptake into the crop or the landscape.   This point has been an easy sell to the agriculture/urban horticulture and landscape design industries, particularly those which identify with the problem of drought and alkaline soils. 




Comments

Post a Comment

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...
9 comments
Read more

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
9 comments
Read more

Growing Pecan Trees in Western Alkaline Soil

It's common to see nutrient and water inhibition compromise the production of pecans in the arid western states, particularly where the soils are high pH, which can tie up nutrients such as zinc, iron, phosphorus and more. Keeping soils moist is also a problem because the regions were we grow pecan are not wet bottomland soils where pecan is native, but are high and dry desert soils where irrigation is essential. If the irrigation water is high in dissolved solids, the problem is made worse. There are many good things Soil Secrets can offer pecan growers that can overcome these obstacles, by improving the moisture management of the soil, improving nutrient solutioning and availability of both the native minerals as well as the purchased minerals, and improving the porosity of the soil so that water and oxygen can penetrate meters deep without the need to subsoil with machinery. How's this done? By using the power of Nature's own bio-chemical called the Carbon Matrix. Starti...
Post a Comment
Read more