Soil Test
I had a soil test of my garden done last summer, and I’ve been meaning to post the results. Since they are in Dutch, and probably not many of my readers can understand them as they are, I will attempt to translate. However the original report can be found here.
You can compare this to my earlier do-it-yourself efforts at soil testing.
Measured values are given first, followed by target values in parenthesis if these are given in the original rapport.
Organic Material 10.3%
Silt 2-5%
pH (KCl method) 7.2 (>6.4)
Available Nutrients:
Phosphorus 58 (45)
Potassium 22 (21)
Magnesium 230 (125)
Nitrogen 1.4 (1.0)
Unavailable Nutrients:
Phosphorus 1370 (1000)
Potassium 5 (7)
Biological Activity:
Detected mg of CO2 per per 100g per 7 days 86 (70)
Conclusions and Advice:
Conclusion: Soil has a high organic content, and a good pH level. For most nutrients, there is sufficient to excessive available and unavailable amounts. There is sufficient nitrogen and biological activity.
Advice: Add 300 liters of fresh manure or high quality compost per 100m2. As an alternative, 50 liters of dried cow manure per 100m2. The actual amount varies with crops grown. Lime loving plants (soft fruit, potatoes, cabbage, carrots, etc) 2 kg of (dolomite) lime per 100m2. Nitrogen loving plants (soft fruit, potatoes, leaf vegetables, cabbage, beet, etc) only in case of slow growth 500g nitrogen per 100m2 in the form of dry organic fertilizer. For example, this can be 4Kg bone or blood meal per 100m2. Further fertilizing is not necessary.
The advice seems to be open to some interpretation. I probably don’t add quite as much compost as they say here, and I don’t add any of the other fertilizers or manures, but since they say amounts vary with crops grown I guess you could say I’m following the advice. It’s worth mentioning I also grow a lot of nitrogen fixing plants.
At the same time I could be adding an awful lot of manures and nitrogen fertilizers and also be following the advice. 300 liters of fresh manure per 100m2 is an awful lot!
I think it’s more a part of the culture here to depend on soluble nitrogen in the form of manures or fertilizers, rather than fixed nitrogen, and that may be part of the reason the advice is given in the way it is. The test doesn’t seem to show fixed nitrogen.
The excessive availability of some of the nutrients is probably related to past chemical fertilizer use.
I purposely waited until the end of the second growing season to do this test, so I had a chance to amend the soil and grow some nitrogen fixing plants. I also wanted to give any previously used fertilizers a chance to wash away.
I do sometimes notice low nitrogen levels, and I also notice when I grow a heavy feeder like sweet corn, the soil is pretty depleted for the next season. Mostly my experience is that my soil is in pretty good shape, and this test seems to confirm that.
New Frontiers in Genetic Engineering
I was browsing some older posts from Matt’s blog, and I came across this.
In fact this is something I’ve known for a while, and coincidentally sent Matt an email about the other day, but I’ve never posted here on the subject.
It’s just a fact, the science of genetic engineering (GE) is quickly moving out of the laboratory and into the home. Not just in our ability to buy products that are themselves a result of GE, but also in our own ability to make GE organisms.
Already, if you have a well equiped home, it’s possible to do an awful lot. The cost of this equipment is within the budgets of many people, it’s only getting cheaper and it’s accuracy increasing.
The amount of publicly available data that can assist GE is also increasing at a dramatic rate; including things like decoded genomes and cataloges of marker genes (a fancy term that just means genes with a known trait). All of this applies to plants, microorganisms, animals and even humans.
So while the debate now often centers on the latest Roundup ready gene Monsanto inserted into our soybeans, tomorrow it could be the latest accident caused by a teenager or the mess intentionally caused by someone knowledgeable.
I often compare GE to abortions. I don’t really think it makes sense for anyone to be for or against abortions. An abortion is just a medical procedure. You can argue if it’s immoral, talk about it in terms of legal or illegal, safe or unsafe, early or late, but you can never deny the existence of the procedure itself.
This is really where we are now with GE. It doesn’t make sense to call it good or bad. The genie is out of the bottle. Now it’s time to start learning as much as possible as quickly as possible about the science, and to focus honestly and diligently on what the real risks are.
In the meantime, this crap doesn’t belong in our food or the environment, until we’ve had a chance to honestly research and learn more about it!
Special Tours of Kew Gardens, Near London, UK
As part of the 250th anniversary celebrations of Kew gardens, special tours are being arranged!
Included in these tours are the Behind-the-Scenes series, offering a rare glimpse at the goings on outside the usual public areas. Did you know for example that they do DNA sequencing to determine plant genus, classify pollen for the police or they are doing research into anti-oxident HIV treatments intended to benefit the people of South Africa?
I think this is a great opportunity for those people who live in the area, or plan to visit. Be sure to book in advance if appropriate, as most of the tours are first come first served and are filling up.
Pigs Catch Smithfield Farms CAFO Flu!
A pig herd in central Alberta has been infected with the virus after human contact.
Now after denials from the pig industry that the virus had anything to do with their products, and Egypt was harshly criticized for over reacting in it’s decision to destroy hundreds of thousands of pigs located in their country, a farm worker returning to Canada from Mexico has transmitted the infection to pigs.
New Hawaii Aspartame Resolution
Last year I made a series of posts about Hawaii’s move to ban the artificial sweetener aspartame in the state. While this didn’t pass last year, a new resolution has been put forward, Hawaii HCR 128, calling on the FDA themselves to revoke their approval of aspartame and remove it from the US market.
The text of the resolution is a little tedious, but quite an extraordinary read! I hope anyone who reads this blog and is a regular consumer of aspartame will read it and give some serious thought to what they’re doing to their bodies.
No less extraordinary is the list of cosponsors of the measure:
- Angus McKelvey: Economic Revitalization, Business, & Military Affairs (Chair)
- Maile Shimabukuoro: Hawaiian Affairs (Vice-Chair)
- Karen Awana: Transportation (Vice-Chair)
- Della Au Belatti, J.D.: Member Health, Judiciary
- Tom Brower: Human Services (Vice-Chair)
- Jerry Chang: Higher Education (Chair)
- Corrine Ching: Member, Environmental Protection, Higher Education
- Denny Coffman: Energy & Environmental Protection (Vice-Chair)
- Cindy Evans: Member, Economic Revitalization, Business, & Military Affairs
- Faye Hanohano: Public Safety (Chair)
- Sharon Har: Interim Task Force on Smart Growth (Chair)
- Ken Ito: Water, Land, & Ocean Resources (Chair)
- Michael Y. Magaoay: Member, Interim Task Force on Standards of Conduct
- Joey Manahan: Tourism, Culture, & International Affairs (Chair)
- Hermina Morita: Energy & Environmental Protection (Chair)
- Mark Nakashima: Higher Education (Vice-Chair)
- Scott Nishimoto: Health (Vice-Chair)
- Roland Sagum III: Member, Finance
- Roy Takumi: Education (Chair)
- Glenn Wakai Consumer Protection & Commerce (Vice-Chair)
- Ryan Yamane: Health (Chair)
Details of the measure and it’s current status can be found on the Hawaiian Legislature webpage (type HCR128 into the search box), and there is an RSS feed if you want to follow the progress of this measure.
First the measure has to clear the Health Commitee, and will then be referred to the Finance Committee.
