The Arboretum Tomé Annual Open House and Garden Party Is Coming Soon!

If you like trees, you'll love

The Arboretum Tomé!

Join the Staff of

Trees That Please and Soil Secrets LLC

for the Arboretum Tomé Annual

Open House and Garden Party.

May 31^st from 9:30am to 4:30pm

Free Parking and Admission!!

Talks with Discussion between 10:00 & 12:30

Bring a Picnic Lunch and Enjoy Live Easy Listening Music

in the Afternoon Shade!

The Arboretum Tomé is available for researchers,

school field trips, student projects, plant clubs,

photographers, and others

who want to learn more about Southwestern Native Plants

and Soil Restoration Techniques.

The Arboretum Tomé is a private collection of trees developed by Michael Martin Meléndrez, who for 26 years has been using biological restoration techniques on the native soils of the site.

Come, see and learn, how this technique can benefit our

Southwestern Soils and Plants.

Michael's business, Soil Secrets LLC, employs these same techniques

on organic farms, DOT projects, mine reclamation sites,

and public school grounds across the country.

Click Here to Download and Print a PDF for this Event

Comments

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

How does nitrogen work in the soil and where does it come from when we don't have a bag of fertilizer to supplement it?

I've spoken many times on this subject at conferences and it was the main theme of my talk when I represented North America at the World's 1st Humus Experts Meeting in Vienna Austria back in 2013. Most of the Nitrogen used by the vast tropical rain forests, or the fastest growing biomass place on Earth, the Coastal Redwood Forests of California, comes from the production of protein by the Free-Living Nitrogen Fixing bacteria in soil and the massive biomass structure of the mycorrhizal fungi. The proteins as it breaks down in the soil into amino acids are the building blocks of life and the explanation of the Soil Food Web. However, in order for those amino acids to enter a plant and be part of the nitrogen budget of the plant they must have the assistance of the mycorrhizal fungi. It's much more efficient for a plant to uptake amino acids whose molecules include nitrogen needed to build tissues than to uptake just nitrogen minus the amino acid. The problem with dep

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 Secrets

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