Tad,

http://www.soilfoodweb.com/03_about_...ch.htmlappears to be a
GREAT site. I haven't read much of it yet but I was struck by a repeated
passage:
" Bacteria (and fungi) need N, P, K, Ca, and all the other nutrients as
well, and obtain those from organic matter and from inorganic sources as
well."

It may look at first blush that the authors are recommending the use of
"N,P,K chemical fertilizers" (I suspect they aren't.). My understanding
from reading "Teaming with Microbes" *by Lowenfels and Lewis is that
most commercial sources rely on salts to nurture the plants and soil.
Salts, in turn, have an detrimental osmotic effect on microorganism. I
presume that the higher the concentration of salts the greater the
detriment and vice-á-versa.

I'm just throwing in my 2¢ worth in and recommend that beginners try to
only use organic fertilizers with food stuffs until they understand
organic principals.

Apropos a discussion in "wrecked gardens.edible" on the dandelion, which
has deep roots and will translocate Ca and K from subsoils to the
surface. It, I believe, is also the only diuretic that supplies
potassium.
--

Billy

Bush & Cheney, Behind Barshttp://www.antiwar.com/eland/index.php?articleid=8282http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Movement_to_impeach_George_W._Bush- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

Billy,

The author of all the writings on the website is Dr. Elaine Ingham.
She is a well known in the industry and one of the pioneers in
research and theory relating to the Soil Food Web. She also wrote the
preface to Jeff Lowenfels' Book (another great resource). You are
correct in what you interpreted from Jeff's book. He recommends
organic fertilizers with NPK below 5-5-5. What Dr. Ingham is stating
in the above quote is that the nutrients in most instances are already
tied up in the soil, and just need to made available to the plant
(this is where the biology comes in). The bacteria consume the
organic material, and then are eaten by larger organisms (flagellates,
cilliates, bacterial-feeding nematodes). The waste products of this
process results in plant available nutrients.