FORMATION OF HUMUS
Soils with a humus content of 2% are now considered high-quality farmland. What accounts for the remaining 98 percent? Depending on the soil type, organisms contribute approximately 8%, plant and animal remains approximately 5%, and air and water approximately 15%.
Thus, the remaining 70% of soil mass is purely mineral in origin. The mineral component of soil is the result of rock decomposition and erosion. The dissolution of these components is carried out by lithobionts, which act as intermediaries between stone and life. The term "lithobiont" was coined by Raoul H. Francé and means "those who live on stone."
Lithobionts are the microbes that start the humus formation process. They create a living substance from a nonliving mineral. On the basis of this process, living matter, earth, plants, animals, and humans can begin to build in stages.
The formation of humus is a biological process.
Humus content of 8-10% is found only in soils with optimal structural tilth. Untouched soils in primeval forests can only reach 20%. Because a tropical jungle cannot use up all of its organic waste, it must store humus. All forests accumulate humus, but true humus stores emerge only after millennia. Previously, humus accumulations known as chernozem (Russian for black earth) could be found in Ukraine.
Except for leguminous plants and untouched forests, almost all plant communities consume more humus than they produce. In a strict sense, each harvest and each growth of cultivated plants results in a loss of humus. No mineral fertilizer can replace the humus that has been lost. Because they can use their own discarded leaves, both deciduous and mixed forests can produce their own humus. Humus is only produced in deciduous forests and on undisturbed land in nature, without human intervention.
MANURE AND HUMUS
Before it can be used for fertilization, manure must be converted into humus.
Why is this the case? Microbes in the soil prefer the decomposition of pure cellulose to the disintegration of animal excrement, which causes anaerobic conditions in the intestines. Unfortunately, previous generations did not recognize this fact.
Manure was simply buried in the field rather than subjected to aerobic decomposition. Rotting anaerobic matter remains an alien element in the soil for a long time after it is introduced in this manner. Specific rot microbes disintegrate the manure, while the soil microbes that live under aerobic conditions are driven out. The issue of whether anaerobic or aerobic microbes predominate, and thus whether rot or decomposition occurs, is critical for plant health.
The following example demonstrates how little humus is produced when manure is used: if 400 quintals (roughly 88,000 pounds) of stable manure is applied to each hectare of soil (on light soils), half of the manure can be found after half a year, a fifth after one year, and practically nothing after two years. The organic matter in the soil is rapidly consumed and assimilated, and it is then mineralized without the formation of humus.
Typical manure cultivation has been practiced in Germany for the last 200 years. If manure cultivation were effective, German soils would be very rich in humus. But this isn’t the case. Manure is only the remains of the substances that served the animal as nutrition. All the highly nutritive proteins, carbohydrates, fats, and so on that were produced by the plant have been taken away from the soil, and what remains is poor in nutrients.
Despite these flaws, the practice of spreading manure is still widely practiced. Here's an example: a renowned child specialist wanted to know whether fertilization affected the quality of vegetables grown for babies and young children. How did he go about doing it? He investigated the effects of: a) just manure; and b) manure plus mineral fertilizer. As a result, vegetables grown solely with manure were not only inferior, but also harmful to human health — many of the children in this group were diagnosed with hypochromic anemia.
The report on the effect of stable manure on vegetable quality even mentioned humus-fertilized soils. Such erroneous beliefs about humus persist. Researchers appear to have overlooked the fact that manure is a rot product containing poisonous substances such as indole, skatole, putrescine, and toxic phenols, and that the quality of manured soil is bound to be toxic.
WHAT EXACTLY IS HUMUS?
The question is, What exactly is humus?
" is a difficult question to answer. If asked, a German layperson would most likely consult the Brockhaus Encyclopedia. He'd find the following definition: "Humus is a black-brown matter in the topsoil produced by the putrefaction of vegetable and animal matter." Humus is high in carbon and generally acidic due to the presence of humic acid. It increases the soil's water storage capacity and produces carbonic acid, which disintegrates minerals."
"Putrefaction of vegetable and animal matter produces humus, a black-brown matter in the topsoil."
Plants can receive final forms of plasma (matter that has not decomposed to the state of mineralization) up to a certain molecular weight, according to research. The plasma is then incorporated into their systems. This brings us back to the previously mentioned cycle of living substances.
Humus cannot be considered a real substance, but rather a process — a formation — composed of a plethora of constantly changing factors. The living substance factor must be considered in order to define humus. All living things are subject to the law of harmony, also known as the law of balance. We are all too familiar with the consequences of disturbed soil harmony, which is required for normal soil life. "Harmony equals balance through well-functioning regulatory systems in the soil," one could also say.
Humus and soil follow the same natural laws as all other living things. Modern agriculture, on the other hand, refuses to work in the same way, and the consequences of ignoring these laws can be seen in our ailing fields with depleted soils and damaged structures, as well as in our disease-prone cultivated plants. Dead soils deteriorate into barren desert land.
Humus could not be analyzed using traditional chemical methods until recently. Chemical investigations required the use of acids, bases, and salts, but these substances destroy life and its functions. The former humus' structure and capillary system were not revealed by incineration.
Nothing would have been discovered about the organisms, how they related to one another, or the harmony in which they worked if this capillary system had not been known.
The relationship between carbon and nitrogen provides one key to determining the value of humus. Carbon/nitrogen ratios in highly fertile soils should be 10:1. Biological investigations, on the other hand, are far more interesting because they deal with the living environment, and in order to gain an understanding of the world of small creatures, one must study the symbiosis of living communities.
THE COMPLEX OF CLAY-HUMUS
True humus formation would be impossible without minerals. Because of their electronegative properties, clay and humus colloids can pick up the bases in the soil, hold them tight, and absorb them. As a result, clay and humus are commonly referred to as an adsorption complex.
Humus, as the clay-humus complex — that is, as the living organic matter in the soil — also acts as a buffer. Nutrients are only supplied to the plant when they are required, making an overdose impossible. Plants growing in humus-deficient soils, on the other hand, absorb more nutrients than are required for plant matter accumulation when mineral fertilization occurs. Organic fertilization can be viewed as an energy-saving measure because it reduces unnecessary consumption.
We should keep in mind that humus (which our forefathers referred to as the "Primeval Force" of soil) is not matter, but rather a biological performance. This type of performance is unique to Mother Earth and cannot be found anywhere else.
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