[Terrapreta] On the practical side

[MFH]

Dear Folke

 

Many thanks for this response and its good to know there is a farmer with a
critical eye watching over my shoulder. I have cc’d the group because your
query is so valid. 

 

However:

 

a)       This land has been farmed or grazed for at least 150 years.

b)       I know the family that owned it previously, and they have no record
of ever adding fertiliser

c)       I had a soil test and then had these tests analysed by two
independent labs

d)       The consensus was that I needed to add a lot more than 2 tonnes/ha.
For example, both recommended 1T/ha of “soft-rock phosphate” alone. The test
result for P was 4ppm against the recommendation of 60ppm. Virtually all Aus
soils are seriously P-deficient.

 

I’m guessing that you’re in Northern Europe, where there has been a much
longer tradition of land stewardship, if for no other reason that there was
far less land available per capita. Admittedly most of the early farmers in
Australia after the arrival of the colonisers were of European stock, but
amongst the jailbirds few were farmers, and fewer still understood the
differences in climate, soils and plants. Australian farming (regrettably)
has tended to focus on increasing the acreage under the plough or under the
cow, rather than looking after what is already available. In the past there
was always been another block of trees to fell when the present area was
flogged out. Not dissimilar to the ‘slash and burn’ tropical experiences.
It’s changing of course.

 

I agree that a kg for 4.8 sq.m. may be a little on the extreme side, but
plants in both trial plots have shown greatly increased vigour over the
un-fertilised plot, even in the first 4 weeks.

 

One way or another I’ve been farming for 60 years, and there have been some
expensive lessons. In tropical ag in particular I learnt much, including how
to improve cocoa and coffee and copra and vegetable production without
artificial fertiliser, and how to overcome pests without pesticides. My
current farm is organic (at least apart from 4.8 sq.m.), but I’ve also
learnt that to be organic or biodynamic is very difficult in a time-sense
unless the basic nutrients are there in the first place. Given that I’m not
going to be here for another 50 years, then if P (for example) is so
seriously deficient that it will impede soil recovery, my philosophy is to
get the deficiencies fixed first (hopefully through non-industrial
additives), and then maintain and enhance these levels with organic methods.
I’m not promoting artificial nutrients – I just need a quicker initial
balance.

 

I needed to go to this fert level for my char trials. I’m also betting that
the 50+kg of char in the 4.8 sq.m plot will uptake some of the nutrients and
then slow-release them

 

I’d appreciate any further comments

 

Sincerely

Max Henderson

 

 

  _____  

From: folke Günther [mailto:folkeg at gmail.com] 
Sent: Tuesday, 22 April 2008 7:08 PM
To: MFH
Subject: Re: [Terrapreta] On the practical side

 


1 kg of NPK fertiliser (13:13:15 + 2Mg) to 4.8 sq. m! Do you realize that
that is more than two tonnes per hectare! More than twenty times even th
most ambitious farmer uses to put on the land. And the you have all he
other. I doubt you will see very much difference the first year. If the
plants survive that amount of fertilizer.


-- 
----------------------------------------
Folke Günther
Kollegievägen 19
224 73 Lund
Sweden
Phone: +46 (0)46 141429
Cell: +46 (0)709 710306
URL: http://www.holon.se/folke 

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