Transcript Document

Ross Farm
Betsy Ross
Ross Farm – Granger, Texas
October 3, 2011
Texas Recycling & Sustainability Summit
Ross Farm Goal: Nutrient Rich Foods
Better Soil, Better Life
Healthy (alive) Soil =
Healthy (vigor) Plants =
Healthy (nutrients) Beef =
Healthy People!
3/27/2016
2
Can’t Do This On Grass in Texas?
www.rossfarm.com
No burning
 No synthetic fertilizers
 No herbicides
 No insecticides
 No hormones
 No corn – ever!
Real Hard Without
Life in the Soil…
What is compost?
• Aerobic decomposition of a mix of organic matter
• Thermal compost:
– Heat minimum 131 F (55C) for3 days to kill weed seed,
pathogens, pests
– But NOT HIGHER than 155 – 160 F (70 C) so beneficials
NOT killed
– Turned whenever too hot because too hot means lack of
oxygen, loss of N, S, P, build acidic conditions
• Worm or Vermi-compost (cold composting)
– Worms turn the compost, kill pathogens, pests
• Static compost
Compost Standards
• Measured in fresh compost, expressed per gram dry compost
• 15 to 30 or more µg active bacteria /g dry weight compost
• 150 µg (fungal compost) to 300 or more µg (bacterial compost) total
bacteria /g dry weight compost
• 2 to 10 µg or more active fungi /g dry weight compost
• 150 (bacterial compost) to 500 or more (fungal compost) µg total
fungal biomass/g dry weight compost
• Hyphal diameters on average 2.5 micrometers or greater
• 50,000 or more protozoa per gram dry weight compost
25,000 or more flagellates
25,000 or more amoebae
50 - 100 ciliates. Higher numbers indicate anaerobic conditions
resulting from compaction, water-logging, discontinuities in soil
• 20 to 100 BENEFICIAL nematodes per gram dry weight of compost
Compost Tea Definitions
• Actively-Aerated Compost Tea – brewed water extract
– Active, total bacteria, fungi, protozoa, nematodes (sp vs #s)
– soluble nutrients from the compost
– aerobic (O2 above 6 ppm) vs anaerobic (pathogen growth, loss of
nutrients, toxins)
– with or without added foods to grow beneficials
• Non-aerated Compost Tea – variable results
• Compost Extract – no brewing time
• Compost Leachate – no brewing, few organisms removed
• Plant tea – compost not involved
– bacteria, fungi from plant surfaces, aerobic or anaerobic
• Manure tea – compost not involved
– anaerobic (pathogens present, 90 to 120 day rule required)
•Put-to-sleep teas – loss of species, minimal activity
Life Above Ground!
Life Below the
Ground!
Must Have
Good Compost!
An Overview of
Managing Our
Eco-Systems
©Sustainable Growth Texas LLC,
design by Joyce Hankins
Too Often We Manage the Trophic
Levels Independently and Out of
Order…
©Sustainable Growth Texas LLC,
design by Joyce Hankins
How We Add Life to Soils
Bio-Augmentation (Add Biology)
• Hopefully Good Top Soil
• Add Good Compost
• SGTx Liquid Compost Extract (LCE)
– Good Compost
– Good Vermicompost
– Good Humus
• Brew Activated Compost Tea
(ACT)
– Good Compost
– Good Vermicompost
– Good Humus
• Selected Bio-Inoculants
• Cover Crops…
www. soilsalive.com
www.sustainablegrowthtexas.com
Differences LCE & ACT
Aerated Compost Tea
SGTX Liquid Compost
Extract
Make Larger Quantities
Longer Response Time
Active & Dormant
Organisms Extracted
(lasts longer in the
field)
Original Recyclers
• Soil Food web insures fertility – they recycle the
elements and make them available to plants!
–
–
–
–
Nitrogen into nitrates
Phosphorus into phosphates
Boron into borate
etc
• Soil food web digests/breaks down wastes, then
food building microbes begin to build living
organic matter, store up nutrients in mass by
growing plants, changing basic elements so they
can be absorbed into plant roots.
Wow! Is this possible?
Let’s Go Check Out this Job
Opportunity… before we spray.
More Clues: Hard Winter
Got a Earthworm – but…
Clue: Grubs
Clue: Fungi Present?
The Job – this acreage
Lets Make an Application… 5-24-10
• Put out 20 gallons/acre
of LCE plus
– dry micronized fish;
humic acid, kelp,
molasses, biozome,
SGTX probiotics, trace
minerals, phosphorus,
proprietary biological
inoculants.
May 27, 2010
Lets Make another Application…
11-18-10
• Put out 20 gallons/acre
of LCE plus
– dry micronized fish;
humic acid, kelp,
molasses, biozome,fulvic
acid, trace minerals,
phosphorus, proprietary
biological inoculants.
– Used blend of composts
from different suppliers
Which Soil Do You Want?
Let’s Take a Look Nov 2010
Cows Look Good
Dung Beetles & Micro Arthopods
Progress with Organic Matter
Six Months and a Little Rain…
• Bastrop County
• Large Cattle Grazing
Operation
• Sand Land?
Let’s Look at the Numbers
5-10-10
11-10-10
Total Exchange
Capacity (CEC)
4.23
8.29
pH
5.90
7.40
Organic Matter (%)
1.27
2.53
Sulfur (ppm)
15
13
Mehlich III
22
Phosphorous (lbs/a)
103
Calcium (lbs/a)
1064
(62.7%)
2250 (81.39%)
Magnesium (lbs/a)
84
(8.28%)
179
(10.79%)
Potassium (lbs/a)
82
(2.49%)
164
(4.00%)
Sodium (lbs/a)
53
(2.7%)
25
(0.79%)
Erosion Control
Detention Basins - Parks
6 Months Later
MUD 230 Houston, Tx
The Right Microbes…
Soil Food Web, Inc.
Bare Parent
Where Do Most of
Material
Invasives Fall on
100% bacterial
this Chart?
Conifer, oldgrowth forests
F:B = 100:1 to
10000:1
Deciduous
Trees
F:B = 5:1 to 100:1
Cyanobacteria
True Bacteria
Protozoa
Fungi
Nematodes
Microarths
F:B = 0.01
Soil Foodweb Succession
Fungal : Bacteria Ratios
Match Below Ground with
Above Ground
Shrubs, vines,
bushes, cotton
More natives
F:B = 2:1 to 5:1
“Weeds”, Johnson Grass
- high NO3
- lack of oxygen
F:B = 0.1
Early Grasses
Bromus, Bermuda
F:B = 0.3
Mid-grasses, clovers,
vegetables
F:B = 0.75
Late successional
grasses, row crops,
Native plants
F:B = 1:1
Here Is Our Paradigm
• Nothing Bad in Mama
Nature
• Everything Has a
Purpose/Reason
• Everything out of ground
returns to ground
• Mama Nature Moves
Energy Via Food
Chain/Trophic Levels
• Air, Water, Food and Shelter
All Necessary Below Ground
as well as Above Ground
Recyclers… Give Us the Good Stuff So We Can Do
A Better Job Everywhere. After-all, its About LIFE!
Thanks.
Betsy Ross and the teams from:
Soils Alive
Sustainable Growth Texas, LLC
Betsy Ross Grass-Fed Beef
©Sustainable Growth Texas LLC,
design by Joyce Hankins