green manure is a sustainable organic fertilizer

http://www.permies.com

Helen Atthowe of http://www.veganicpermaculture.com shows off her sustainable organic fertilizer experiments starting with a pasture that is dominantly used for grazing and some haying. The goal is an organic minimum till and no till vegetable production system. The area started with smooth brome, weeds like oxeye daisy and goldenrod, and legume/nitorogen fixers alfalfa and red clover.

After turning over the sod, the green manure / living mulch was planted. Dominantly red clover and triticale. The green manure crop turned out to be very water dependent.

Relevant threads at permies:
http://www.permies.com/permaculture-forums/2230_0/permaculture/helen-atthowe-...
http://www.permies.com/permaculture-forums/8140_0/organic-sustainable-practic...
http://www.permies.com/permaculture-forums/245_0/permaculture/organic-vs-sust...

music by Jimmy Pardo

Category:

Science & Technology

Tags:

• sustainable
• green manure
• fertilizer
• eco
• green
• permaculture
• organic
• sustainability

[ECOAGROMAX]

A brief report on the scientific Research in the field of agriculture, particularly with such a mineral as "Zeolite" - the laboratory of the Institute of Agriculture Soil UAAS, led by the Academy of Agricultural Sciences Professor Henry Masur Adolfovich. And in light of the birth of a universal ecological fertilizer "Tseolorg-U" (zeolite + organic)(know-how)

[arthurcnoll]

Annuals, and biennials grown as annuals, are inherently poor at recycling nutrients. The size of the root system determines ability to soak up soluble nutrients, and annuals grow a root system from nothing each time they are planted, and at their peak it is a smaller, less efficient system than perennials have. Killing perennials to grow more annuals and trying to make it long term sustainable, is generally trying to defy physics.

[arthurcnoll]

Rotation out of production does not solve the problem. The volume of soil that plants have their roots in is finite, outside nuclear reactions matter is not created or destroyed. Nutrients may be chemically-physically locked up in soil particles, and given time may be broken free by bacteria, freeze- thaw cycles, but this just means depletion happens in steps. Either the nutrients are recycled after being eaten, or they must be added in from somewhere else, or the situation cannot last.

[hatthowe]

@arthurcnoll

The clover seems to add P and K as well as micronutrients. In our research it added very high levels of K and Fe, esp. mid to late season. But, of course, if you keep harvesting lots of veggies off of a piece of land (removing lots of biomass, even permanent living mulch won't keep up with nutrient replacement. Rotation out of production is also key.

[Appealsman]

An alternative nitrogen-fixing crop for the drylands might be tepary beans, which are pretty xeric - the Tohono-O'odham dry farm them in the mouths of arroyos in the Sonoran desert.

[smilewait4flash]

Wow you all are some kind of pioneers. Very professional. I am soaking this up!

[arthurcnoll]

This would logically add nitrogen, to increase the clover. But for all the other vital nutrients, you will simply be mining the pasture to feed the vegetables, which isn't sustainable.

[simonk512]

she needs some passive water harvesting, maybe a swale system?

[SuzyB1988]

Helen knows her stuff. This is great.

[vention4wh]

That's Helen? I didn't expect her to be such a handsome woman.

Your podcasts with her were awesome.

I'm eager to see who's right in your nitrogen fixing plant, nitrogen sharing disagreement

I have a little cucumber sprout here at the condo that just sat in my deck garden for weeks and weeks but when I planted alfalfa to cover the soil on that planter, the cucumber plant started growing. I'm kind of leaning toward some degree of nitrogen sharing, but I'm a diesel mechanic, not a permaculturist