[[/quote]

Hi All,

The rhizosphere is the depth to which micro-organisms have influence within the soil. Now in most soils this is relatively shallow, however If enough inoculated charcoal and home made compost is dug deeper into the soil,I believe that this changes things.

I was reviewing some of the documentaries which I have kept for reference and relocated a gem of information which I don't think that I have put up before. I have a file relating to this information however I'm sure that I may only have sent it to Tony and squirrel.

The rhizosphere of the TP soil is directly related to the depth of inoculated charcoal within the soil. One commentator said that the rhizosphere of TP soil was on average 4 to 6 feet in depth. In other words the depth of the native charcoal containing TP soil is the depth of the rhizosphere.

Now soil temperature and humidity would have had a great influence on this, but I believe it is possible to increase the depth of the rhizosphere in a zone 6 to 8 environment.

The soils which would benefit most from this deep amendment would be sandy and possibly chalk soils. These are soils which tend to dry out relatively quickly. Now if these soils were deep dug with inoculated charcoal and home made compost what a difference this would make.

These soils would begin to retain their moisture, the long term target is 30% by volume of deep dug inoculated charcoal. This would obviously be an ongoing process due to cost for those buying lump charcoal.

The introduction of the inoculated charcoal would also help to breakdown and I believe and separate the chalk soil making it more friable.

Year after year of adding inoculated charcoal and home made compost will I believe within 5 years produce a soil which will not dry out easily. Not only that but once the 30% inoculated charcoal by volume is achieved such a soil would I believe have the means to retain its fertility for hundreds if not thousands of years.

The population of VAM's would increase year upon year due to the leaching of soluble carbon from crops to VAM's during the growing season. The charcoal would supply soluble carbon during the winter season to the multiple VAM spores during dormancy.

This is why I say that inoculated special charcoal is essential, and why VAM's have an affinity with said charcoal. Both this charcoal and VAM's are the essence of TP they are the catalyst for other good micro-organisms to play their part in the process.

Having said that any soil which can be deep dug, as in 2 feet or more in depth before hitting clay will receive the same benefits.

However, to give a TP type amended soil a good environment in which to thrive we I believe, need to employ EM's.

These micro-organisms not only breakdown toxins within the soil, they actively suppress bad micro-organisms and disease. They will create the conditions for a TP type soil to prosper, I may be wrong but this is what I think.

With regard to the application of EM's to the soil I think that this is best done by means of a watering can when once you have prepared your soil for the seasons cultivation . This will prime the soil with immense numbers of EM's ready and willing to be of service, in a way its like having your own army of good micro-organisms fighting for you in the soil.

Isn't Mother nature wonderful when you work with her and not against her.

Now EM's if properly cultivated have a pH of approximately 3.1, as in highly acidic it is therefore necessary to pH test your soil.

The closer to neutral pH 7 or slightly below and in good health , the greater the need to dilute the cultivated EM's, as you go up the scale to pH 8 and above the less dilution I believe is required. EM's I think have the ability to lower the pH of soil if applied in sufficient quantity in their cultivated form.

This I would say maybe best done in the autumn if you have nothing left growing in your alkaline soil.

It may well be of use in its cultivated form to drench all soils with when your last crops are lifted and said soil is dug over for the winter. This action may I believe be effective against over wintering pathogens within the soil.

This is not a proven method of reducing pH, or protection against over wintering pathogens. It is up to you, I am not advocating this as a method of pH reduction or soil protection. I am only informing you of the possibility that such an amendment may have this effect.

It is becoming more and more obvious That EM's will be our saving grace in the fight to revitalise our earth, rivers seas and oceans. However this is what they have always done, but we humans have been totally unaware of the cleansing and balancing work that they do.

Not only that but Squirrel has found an amazing number of uses for EM's within our homes and to make health giving tonics.

See squirrel's post on "EM's Effective Micro-organisms", this is need to know information!

These EM's and other good micro-organisms are the only reason that we exist on this planet. When we kill them off we also kill the ecosystem which gives us life!!!

It is still my belief that sandy soils will reap most benefit from EM and TP amendment as they are closer to the nutrient deficient soils of the Amazon delta. These soils can be deep dug allowing the inoculated charcoal in the TP amendment to conserve moisture and promote EM and VAM activity. And as you are already aware VAM's have the ability to unlock Phosphorus and other nutrients from within the soil to be fed to all Endomicorrhizal crops within your soil.

Now this might seem odd, but if you dig out clay sub soil, allow it to dry, and put it through a shredder on a 2:1 ratio with charcoal you release all the nutrient within the clay. There is a lot of locked up nutrient within clay which can be released. The clay can never bind together again because it has been thoroughly mixed with the charcoal. This could be dug into sandy soil to provide a nutrient base along with home made compost, its just a thought.

I may be wrong but it is my belief that once clay has been separated and mixed with charcoal it will give up its nutrients for cultivation. This is a theory which I intend to test in the future, the mixing of clay with charcoal should prevent these clay particles from ever binding together again.

Once mixed and wetted the clay will bind to the charcoal and be fixed. The charcoal will soak up this nutrient making it available to VAM's bacteria and yeasts.

All life on this planet is carbon based, every living thing has carbon in its make up, we just need to think smarter as to how we utilise this carbon to repair the damage that we humans have done to the eco-system.

The deeper the rhizosphere the greater the potential for crops to thrive in an environment which is stable. This stability comes about with the forming of mutual symbiotic relationships of VAM's bacteria(EM's) and yeasts.

The varying seasonal temperatures may slow down their activity during winter in a zone 6 to 8 environment, but I think that these micro-organisms are well capable of adaptation to circumstance.

These micro-organisms have survived through the many ice ages which this planet has been subjected to, so it would be logical to think that they would survive in a zone 6 to 8 environment.

As always these are only my thoughts others will disagree

Uriel13

The mind is like a parachute it is totally useless unless it is open