WCN Dec e

Continued from Page 17
The sheer tons of green manure that
is produced from her cover crops gets
mowed and deposited out of the centers
on the crotch of the berms. By the time
she harvests, it’s decomposed to organic
matter, into the soil and doesn’t affect
her sweeping. And that’s a very stable
and sustainable future N release.
Her water management practices
keep nutrients in the root zone without
leaching. She does lots of smaller shots
instead of one big one per week, and
the same for her inputs. The amount
of microbiology that has increased
over the years ensures more nutrients
get solubilized and assimilated into
her crops. And it’s all brought up on
rain water in the winter so well or any
surface water is not used to grow it. It’s
taken some work, but her soil biome
and farming system is very efficient.
Improving the Soil
Am I suggesting a farmer cut his
Mycorrhizae and 4-2-2 natural fertilizer
Strong Roots
From the Start
Mycorrhizal Fungi Improves:
• Nutrient Accessibility & Cycling
• Better Use of Available Moisture in Soil
• Transplant Establishment & Survival Rates
PAKS
Re-introduce mycorrhizae and provide
4-2-2 natural slow-release fertilizer
to support healthy root growth during
early stages of plant development.
Yield estimates are an important component in planning for inputs.
applied N next year to 30 units from
250? Absolutely not! But let’s say we
apply two tons per acre of a stable,
well cured compost to our fields this
winter. We plant a cover crop that rain
brings up. All in, we are probably, with
the cost of diesel today, under $150/
ac. If that translates into a much more
efficient and stable soil biome, saving
us nitrogen applications, P, K, Ca, Mg
and S inputs as well as water efficiency,
PAKS
FOR TRANSPLANTING TREES & VINES
how much are we talking about? Let’s
take 80 gallons per acre of UAN-32
down to 50 gallons. At $4 to $5/gallon,
we should be saving $200/ac at least!
And that’s just nitrogen. What if all
the other nutrients, phosphorus and
calcium in particular, become more
efficient? What if we can now save half
an acre-foot of water per acre? On the
westside, that could be another couple
$100 or more depending on where you
are and how much you need to buy.
Let’s take that to another level. Let’s say
you are in a white area like I am and
may be limited to pumping less than an
acre foot of water per year in the future.
A 1% increase in organic matter holds
20,000 more gallons of water per acre in
the root zone! Being that efficient with
water may be the difference between
farming or not.
The government is forcing us to be
more efficient (again) with water and
inputs. The more hands-on we become,
the more efficient we become, may
actually buy us enough time to outlast
the idiocracy of our current state and
federal government. Changing our
inputs from a 50-unit slug to (four) 10-
unit shots will not only save us money
but hopefully ensure more absorption.
Balancing all the other essential nutrients
should dramatically enhance the
assimilation of each. Letting Mother
Nature do some of the heavy lifting
with rain water can help shoulder the
load we are carrying.
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18 West Coast Nut December 2021