Comments on: Phosphorus Matters II – Keeping Phosphorus on Farms

By: Dana L. Olson

Dana L. Olson — Fri, 14 Oct 2011 18:53:40 +0000

In Alaska, chemical fertilizers do not work as predicted, due to abundance of rain , short seasons, and cool soils. As a researcher interested in endo-mycorrizae, to grow apple trees successfully, one must know the capacities of their soils. Most successful apple producers in Alaska do not use chemical fertilizers because the trees do not shut down predictably for winter, in our short seasons here.
A endo-mycorrizal apple tree is charateristically more vigorous, in growth, with more abundant flowering, ealier fruit ripening than trees grown with the use of chemical fertilizers. In fact the trees flourish when put on a rootsystem that is more suited to endo-mycorrizae symbiotic relationship with nitrogen fixing bacteria and the host’s rootsystem.
I use rock phoshate to enhance the mycorrizae native to my soil. We have wild rose bushes that come into the tree rows. The wild mycorriae transfer to the apple trees in the rows. Apple trees are in the rose family. Mycorrizae can skip a tree in a row, and it can be visuablly seen. Rock phosphate is put into plantings with greensand and a handful of bonemeal. It takes two years for the eco system to become established. I plant clover to soak up excessive rain and to make a native ecosystem for the mycorrizae.
I can attest for the superior growing of my trees, over other conveniental means.I would not be sucessful growing trees with tap roots, because the cooler soils make these rootsyems less effective in cooler soils.
I should mention that endo mycorrizae enters the rootsytem and partners with soil bacteria. This is one reason why in nortern climates, it is unwise to grow trees with out a living mulch. Two much rainfall without the natural ground covering, can interfer with this relationship.
It is my hope that mining for rock phoshate be encouraged to support native ecosystem farming. The rock phosphate lasts for years.
Years ago, college soil science classes in Alaska taught that calcium and phoshorous must be in a ratio as well as calicum and magnesium. It was said that ratios mattered more than numbers in chemical fertilizers.

By: Mycorrhizal

Mycorrhizal — Thu, 25 Nov 2010 04:47:01 +0000

This is really good article about Mobilizing phosphorus present in the soil.. We did not know that In many soils phosphorus is naturally present in sufficient amounts it may be chemically locked up and not available for plants..Good job Marcin..

By: Steve

Steve — Thu, 17 Jun 2010 02:34:24 +0000

just to clarify a couple of things included in the article, having been a phosphate researcher….phosphate rocks over time tend to alter towards a stable fluoroapatite or carbonate flurapatite mineral. Initially phosphate rocks can be hydroxyapatite or similar without fluorine (igneous apatite), but such deposits are not large or common, so phosphate rock on the market will probably have fluorine. But it is slow release and perhaps also contain calcite.
Many phosphate rocks contain high levels of certain trace elements such as cadmium, lead, chromium, uranium, (not all of them at the same time) depending on how they formed, and sometimes antinomy, arsenic, selenium, rare earth elements, thorium. You will find elevated uranium and yttrium in all phosphate rock because they bind easily with apatite during and after formation. Phosphate rock formed from seabird guano can have very high levels of cadmium and zinc, but the guano itself has only a moderate enrichment.
In Australia the current phosphate rock from mines south of Mt Isa is high class. It has very low levels of heavy metals, except for moderate levels of uranium – which cannot be avoided, but is good for application as crushed rock.
And btw there are massive recently dicovered phosphate deposits in Mongolia. also very clean, and with low uranium.
Crushed basalt is also a good source of phosphate and also has all the desirable trace elements.

By: Cory Brennan

Cory Brennan — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 20:23:54 +0000

While keeping soil integrity via fungi and bacteria and good soil practices is essential to any sustainable use of land, one often overlooked source of phosphorous is urine. This one resource if properly captured and utilized, could put a huge dent into the problems of phosphorous shortages – the beauty is that it is part of a closed system, where the animals and people who eat the food produced in the system can return phosphorous to the system themselves. Urine is also rich in nitrogen and potassium – an almost perfect fertilizer in many ways.

In Europe, separation toilets are used to access urine to fertilize lawns and farms. China has used humanure and urine for 5000 years to fertilize crop land and it’s traditional practice in a number of other Asian countries as well. Since the way we process urine currently contributes to pollution of our water sources, it makes a lot of sense to create this change. Just think, sewage companies could even sell human byproduct as fertilizer! (not that I want to leave it up to centralized solutions, but realistically in the cities, central sewage systems are likely to persist).

From http://www.energybulletin.net/node/28720

“…urine alone provides more than half the phosphorus required to fertilize cereal crops (Drangert, 1998)….

“However, Drangert suggests a ‘urine-blindness’ has prevented modern societies from tapping into this bountiful source of plant nutrients.

“By diverting urine from the toilet bowl into a storage tank for up to six months, the stored urine can then be reused in agriculture, replacing the need for artificial fertilisers. As a fertiliser, urine is effective and has very low levels of heavy metals (Jansson, 1997).”

By: Jacob Luetkemeyer

Jacob Luetkemeyer — Sat, 25 Jul 2009 14:31:05 +0000

Incredible information. I remember reading through Bill Mollison’s book and wondering why I have never heard anyone discuss fungi when discussing soil ecology.

By: Michelle

Michelle — Fri, 24 Jul 2009 01:28:40 +0000

Thanks that was so informative. Don’t forget you can also raise pigeons for meat!

By: Tanya

Tanya — Thu, 23 Jul 2009 14:25:26 +0000

Wow, Very informative
Thank you