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The Problem with Western Soils in Agriculture and in Urban Landscaping: Here's a Solution

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The Problem with Western Soils in Agriculture and in Urban Landscaping:  Here's a Solution

Water is a growing concern in the arid West and it's a problem that will never go away.   This paper addresses two situations that contraindicate the efficient use of water in both urban landscaping and in agriculture, particularly where irrigation is essential.


Soil Compaction:

The first problem I'll cover is the compaction of soil.  This prevents water from  penetrating to an adequate depth, allowing roots to also grow deep, therefore providing plants with a greater contact zone with soil, where water and element nutrients can be found and sequestered.  Compaction also causes a problem with roots rotting due to the soil being airless (anaerobic).  Like us, roots and the beneficial microbes of soil need oxygen in order to survive and function properly, so compacted soils limit the functionality of roots and all the beneficial soil microbes.  Soils can also be made anaerobic by amending them with organic matter that easily decays.  This happens because the process of decay consumes oxygen rapidly causing the soil to spoil as it turns anaerobic.   Adding organic matter to either water or to soil increases the BOD (Biological Oxygen Demand) caused by the microbes of that environment attempting to break down the caloric value of the organic matter, which requires oxygen.  If the soil is extremely porous, providing rapid water percolation, then high soil organic matter is not a big deal, but in compacted arid region soils where the soil is collapsed, dispersed and compacted, it may not be a good idea to amend the soil with compost, peat moss, animal manure or other forms of easily decayed organic matter. 


Soil Salinity:

The second problem limiting plant health is the increasing salinity of both our soil and our water, a problem across all western regions of agriculture and urban areas where fossil water or effluent water is used for irrigation.  Soil also becomes increasingly saline (salty) because high analysis acid based fertilizers are often used.    Fertilizers have a salt index, meaning they contribute salt to the soil!  So soil salinity increases because we irrigate with water that can be saline, or high in TDS (total dissolved solids), we have high evaporative loss of our soil water, and our soils are often compacted, preventing us from flushing the salt out of the soil by irrigating with lots of high quality water.  And in areas where waste water effluent is has been implemented it’s causing major salinity accumulation which can only cause a bad situation to get worse.  Western soils are vulnerable to salinity accumulation because our water quality is not excellent and our evaporation rate is high, so the longer we irrigate and the longer we fertilize the greater the soil salinity becomes!    As times continues the practice of irrigating with poor quality water and fertilizing with high salt index fertilizers, we shall first experience the symptoms of salinity by seeing the burning or dehydration of the foliage, and we shall see the collapse of the soil caused by the dispersal of the soil clay particles as the salt accumulates.  This increases the compaction of the soil!   Dispersal of clay is literally a collapsing of the structure of the soil causing it to seal, become hard and anaerobic, and inhibits water percolation.  In addition, salinity will also inhibit water uptake into the plant as water will move in the wrong direction trying to equalize the concentration of dissolved solids in the liquid.  If the concentration of dissolved solids (salts) is greater in the soil water than it is in the plants vascular water then water will leave the plant and go into the soil, attempting to equalize the concentration gradient of the water. 


The symptoms of dispersed collapsed soil are easy to diagnose by simply probing the soil to see how hard it is.  You can use an inexpensive moisture probe for doing this.   A photo provided in this paper shows a moisture probe used by a Phoenix Arizona Landscaping Co., which has been monitoring a park sports field turf area in Phoenix after using the Soil Secrets products,  TerraPro and EndoMaxima.   TerraPro is a unique formulated product made by Soil Secrets which contains a bio-identical "organic matrix" of Humic molecules that function as supramolecular.  Because they have this molecular characteristic they are capable of assisting plants with water uptake, even under saline conditions.  They are also capable of helping the soil particles re-arrange, un-compact and form a macro-aggregate structure.  When TerraPro is applied on a turf area such as a sports field or golf course, even when high percentage Nitrogen, Phosphorus and Potassium fertilizers has been used, you will often see the performance of the grass improve.  This is probably due to the improved water uptake into the vascular system of the grass and since water is an essential part of the chemical equation of photosynthesis, the grass gets greener. 






Phoenix Arizona Landscaping Co., water savings demo project on a park sports field. You can see that the right hand side of the field is noticeably greener than the left hand side.   Photo was taken 2 months after treatment with both TerraPro and EndoMaxima mycorrhizal inoculant.  



The image of the soil moisture probe picture is about 4 1/2 months after the treatment in January of 2014.  On the TerraPro treated side of the field the moisture probe was easily pushed 6 inches into the ground.  On the non treated side, the probe would not penetrate more than a half inch before bending the probe.  The results of this test have convinced the company to invest in a larger commercial probe for continued testing.





Salinity Test on Driscoll's Raspberries. Driscoll Strawberry Associates, Inc.   Field on the left was not treated and was typical of fields being impacted by the increasing salinity levels of the farm water and soil. 





 







 Field on the right was treated with the Soil Secrets TerraPro product and salinity damage was decreased.  














The photo below shows the treated field on the left and the control untreated field on the right.  The reddish tinge on the right hand side untreated field is the burning of the foliage from the salinity! 




by Michael Martin Meléndrez



What grows green grass and Healthy Crops in Western Soils?

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Often our western soils have a problem with many of the 42 essential elements of plant nutrition being inhibited by the alkaline chemistry of the soil.  This simply means that the elements such as iron, zinc, copper, calcium, etc, etc, etc, are cemented into the matrix of the soil by way of a precipitation reaction called concretion.   This is where the term ‘Concrete’ comes from, where the mineral elements are not soluble with just water.  The process of getting these elements available for plant uptake requires a “solutioning” of the elements from the concreted soil, which is provided by the supramolecular chemistry of the organic matrix of humic molecules, and by the mycorrhizal fungi that are hopefully also present.    It’s one of the Mechanisms of Action for the Humic Molecules and the Mode of Action for the Mycorrhizal fungi. 


Another limiting factor is the availability of nitrogen in the form of amino acids, caused by a slow or weak Soil Food Web.   The SFW is the Terrestrial Biosphere of Micro-organisms and soil animals of all sizes, which all contain protein.    The largest most abundant part of this terrestrial biosphere should be coming from the cycling of mycorrhizal hyphae as they are constantly being replaced.   It’s been reported that the individual hyphae of mycorrhizal fungi only function for 5 to 7 days before they are replaced!  The cellular tissues of the hyphae have huge amounts of protein, which breaks down into amino acids, which accumulate in the soil and eventually get picked up by functioning hyphae of other mycorrhizal fungi and delivered to the plants as a major source of the nitrogen budget needed by the host plant.  Much of the protein organic substances of the cycling microorganisms also gets consumed by the grazers of the soil (other microbes) where the caloric value of the protein is used to multiply into more microbes.  

   

This is where we screw up in landscaping or farming, when we supplement our crops or urban landscapes with high analysis fertilizers rather than find a way to instigate a better functioning Soil Food Web.  Sure plants can use the 16% (plus or minus) analysis of nitrogen found in such products, but the best way for a plant to get nitrogen is by way of up-taking amino acids from the soil’s biosphere and not from acidified high salt index fertilizers.   The high analysis fertilizers don’t provide a protein caloric value to the soil microbes and most of the nitrogen never gets used by the plant as it’s too easily lost.  The result is a feast-or-famine-cycle!


Here’s another way of looking at the situation.   The plant needs the nitrogen in order to build important proteins and enzymes (also proteins), which is the same reason why we animals also need protein, for the nitrogen.  However what we really need are the amino acids, which are the molecular building blocks of protein and which on a molecular scale contain the nitrogen.  Think of it like building a brick wall, where the wall is the protein and the bricks are the amino acids.  It’s better and more efficient for a plant to build the wall with bricks that already exist rather than to need to manufacture the bricks before it can build the wall.   This is how Nature’s molecular biology of plant nutrition and soil building works, so for us its prudent to apply bio-mimicry as our method of growing any urban landscape or farm crop than it is to just crank the N-P-K into the fertilizer system.  


Michael M. Melendrez

Managing Member of Soil Secrets LLC 



Salinity Issues in the California Almond Industry:

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The images below were taken by Soil Secrets Dealer David Hilton near Modesto California.  The site is Aaron's Cook Ranch, a significant almond producer in the State of California.  In recent years the Almond production industry has been impacted by increasing salinity of the soil, caused by drought and poor quality irrigation pumped ground water.  Summer of 2013 was particularly destructive to the crop, with many farmers losing trees and even removing orchards that are failing.  

The Cook Ranch treated 20 acres using 600 pounds of TerraPro per acre banded 4 to 6 inches wide on top of the drip irrigation line.  TerraPro is a soil conditioner containing as an active ingredient a novel bio-organic matrix of supramolecular humic molecules.  The trees were also foliar sprayed with an AGGRAND organic nutrient product to provide essential nutrition while also avoiding adding additional salinity via a standard fertilizer.  I'll write another blog on the protocol used with the AGGRAND nutrition program on this trial.  

In addition to the treated fields showing no salt burn on the foliage when compared to the control fields,



the almonds on the treated field are continuing to mature



and not prematurely crack open. 



David also tested the porosity (softness) of the soil by pushing a round 30 inch foundation stake



into the soil of the control and the treated fields. 

In the control fields he could not penetrate the soil with the stake, but in the treated field the soil had grown mellow and soft where he was able to push the stake in 18 inches. 



Below is he written report to Bob Geyer and John Miller, Soil Secrets Associates provided by David Hilton on the progress of this trial. 

  

"I went last week to Aaron's cook ranch, I took a 30'' round foundation stake and with one push it went 18 inches into the soil that was treated with Soil Secrets TerraPro product, the almonds looked great, no salt damage on any leafs and the new wood is doing I think awesome." 


From: David Hilton


Sent: 7/21/2014   




Michael M. Melendrez

Managing Member of Soil Secrets LLC





Soil Health Video - the Arboretum Tomé Open House 2014

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Follow us on the Journey to Better Soil Health! 

Enjoy this video filmed during our Annual Arboretum Tomé Open House this year in Los Lunas, NM. Listen to invited speakers Rudy Garcia and Clarence Chavez from the USDA NRCS office.


The Arboretum Tomé in Los Lunas, New Mexico shows that growing healthy trees and plants is possible with the help of soil experts. Understanding the type of soil you have, and how to work to improve it, is the subject of the talks by two of New Mexico's soil experts. An important video to watch if you want to understand soil and how to heal or fix it, so you can grow healthy trees, plants, flowers, and healthy vegetables in your garden.


Watch the video by clicking on the following link:


We hope you enjoy this video!

Michael Martin Meléndrez
Managing Member of Soil Secrets LLC
505 550-3246

TerraPro Treated Vineyard in Baja, Mexico Vineyard Reduces Water Usage

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Control vines on the left, TerraPro treated vines on the right. 


Water savings on treated vines is the farmer was able to reduce irrigation frequency to every 12 days compared to every 4 days on control vines. Site is in Baja Mexico.


Michael Martin Meléndrez

Managing Member of Soil Secrets LLC


505 550-3246

What is Soil Secrets All About?

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What is Soil Secrets?

A company that provides materials that will instigate, 
improve and support a healthy soil ecology. 




  Learn more about Soil Secrets By visiting our Website at:



TerraPro Helps with Sugar Content and Water Conservation on Pomegranate Orchard in Mexico!

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TerraPro has helped with sugar content and water conservation on a Baja Mexico Pomegranate farm. Here are a couple of photos of the Pomegranates s on the San Vicente Ranch.



Brix are at 17.5 even on the ones not yet red. D
egrees Brix (symbol °Bx) a measure of the sugar content of an aqueous solution. More Pomegranate Fruit then last year 


and they are watering every two weeks instead of once per week.


Very happy farm engineer. They pick usually Pomegranates at 18 Brix. 


For more information about TerraPro please visit our website at:

http://soilsecrets.com/products-view/terrapro/



Michael Martin Meléndrez

Managing Member of Soil Secrets LLC


505 550-3246

Improved Nutrient Uptake and Water Conservation provided by Soil Secrets TerraPro product.

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An Albuquerque Metro Soil Ecology company, Soil Secrets LLC has invented the ability to manufacture a bio-identical soil molecular substance that can improve how soil supports vegetation.  Improving the crop or landscape plant material improve its ability to get water out of the soil.  Improve the soils ability to store water for longer periods of time.  Improve the drought tolerable limited of any landscape or crop.  And last but not least improve the vegetation's ability to get mineral nutrition out of the soil.  With the Western States drought impacting both agriculture and urban landscaping, this material can be a game changer in how we manage what we do on farms, in our personal yards and with large public sector landscapes such as parks and sports fields.  It’s all about fixing, the Bio Geo Chemical processes of the soil’s ecology using bio mimicry so that the soils natural biochemistry and terrestrial biosphere of microbiology are working properly.  Using the brute force of adding bulk organic matter such as compost and animal manures will not achieve this goal as easily, effectively or as affordably as TerraPro’s bio-mimicry by Soil Secrets.  TerraPro is cost effective, easy to apply and provides long lasting sustainable benefits!


First it must be understood that the structure of the soil is of critical importance and when soil lacks a good macro aggregate structure it’s difficult to expect or achieve healthy roots of a plant, or healthy soil microbiology.  Both need drainage, oxygen and porous soil to grow in.  Also the macro aggregate soil can hold more water than a soil that is collapsed.   What achieves this process of causing soil particles to aggregate is complicated and involves molecular biology with some Quantum Physics provided by the powerful organic matrix of carbon rich molecules that Soil Secrets calls “Supramolecular Humic Molecules” which are the active ingredients of TerraPro. Some may refer to these molecular substances as humic substances or humic acids, but those terms are too generic and don’t describe accurately the whole story.  Soil Secrets secured Commercial Proprietary Information Contracts with several laboratory facilities, both public and private, including Los Alamos and Sandia National Laboratories, to provide Deliverable information down to a sub atomic level on who these molecules are, how do they work and the success of formulating them as part of a manufacturing process so that they can be provided in huge quantities by Soil Secrets. 


Here are some photos demonstrating just a few of the hundreds of benefits that TerraPro can provide a soil, a farm, or an urban landscape.  The vineyard photos were taken at the San Vicente Ranch in Baja, Mexico in late August of 2014.    


This first image below shows how TerraPro's  Supramolecular Humic Molecules corrected the structure of the clay soil at our research site in Los Lunas New Mexico, where the soil was a highly alkaline collapsed saline and sodic clay soil.   

This is a common problem in irrigated agricultural regions of the world, where salts from the water and from fertilizers have collapsed the soil structure!   This is significant because when soil has poor structure it also is more prone to disease pressure.  It will also not absorb water or air, inhibiting good health of plant roots.   With poor soil structure of clay, water  will sit on the surface until its lost to evaporation.  In the meantime it also seals off the soil from oxygen which contraindicates healthy root function of most plants.  It also decreases the amount of water the soil can store and keep available to the vegetation.   On a global scale we must remember that over 40 percent of the worlds agriculture is performed where the climate is dry and irrigation is required, and the soil’s health is at risk because of conventional agriculture practices.    In which case we need to be able to maximize every drop of water.  

Non treated control  & treated vines side by side:


The photo above shows a control field on the left that was not treated with TerraPro’s supramolecular humic molecules.  On the right is a line of vines that were treated, showing vigorous growth.  In addition, the treated vines only need watering every 12th day, while the control still requires watering every 4th day or else they come stressed.


TerraPro Treated Field:


This photo above was taken of a field that was treated in Spring of 2014 with TerraPro.   Harvesting for making the grapes into wine is underway and the grower and wine maker are extremely happy with the results. 


Non Treated Vines


Compare the abundance and size of the grape clusters as well as the color of the leaves on the control (non treated) vines above to those in the image below. 


TerraPro Treated Vines:



Michael Martin Meléndrez
Managing Member of Soil Secrets LLC
 
Albuquerque's Soil Conditioner Source
505 550-3246
www.soilsecrets.com





Changing from GMO to Non-GMO Natural Soy, Experiences from Denmark.

TerraPro and Protein Crumblies Really Work!

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September 24, 2014


TerraPro and Protein Crumblies really work!  Please read the testimonial below:


“Two years ago my soil was poor and it showed in my vegetable's leaf color. After using Soil Secrets for 2 seasons my soil now looks like a moist chocolate cake. As for my vegetables; I just returned from the country fair where having made 12 entries I came home with 11 blue and 1 red ribbon.

K. Gibson


A Gibson

Snowflake, AZ




Michael Martin Meléndrez
Managing Member of Soil Secrets LLC
 


Albuquerque's Soil Conditioner Source
505 550-3246

www.soilsecrets.com

TerraPro Treated Vineyards In Baja, Mexico

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The attached video was taken in Baja, Mexico in a wine-growing region on October 6 of 2014.   It shows, in the distance, on the left side of the road, a field of wine grapes treated with the TerraPro product of Soil Secrets. To the right of the treated field and across the road is a field not treated.





The TerraPro treated field on the left in the photo below clearly shows a healthier greener color, compared to the untreated field to the right side of the road.


The grapes produced also reflected the same benefit of using TerraPro. The other mode of action that was seen on the treated field versus the untreated field was the penetration of the irrigation water being applied by drip. The water was more easily penetrating into the soil creating a larger wet spot versus the untreated field where the water was puddling on the surface and not so easily percolating. This explains why the farmer was able to stretch the irrigation frequency from every fourth day to every 12th day when the field is treated with TerraPro. 


Michael Martin Meléndrez
Managing Member of Soil Secrets LLC 


Albuquerque's Soil Conditioner Source
505 550-3246
www.soilsecrets.com


Effect of Mycorrhizal Fungi On Seed Germination

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The following is a study performed by Avery Diercks, son of our General Manager Anna Forester, where he performed an inoculation study using Mycorrhizal fungi. 

Here's some information derived from his study.  

The first image below shows the site where native soil was collected near Santa Fe, New Mexico during a good monsoon season with abundant native grass production.  


The next two photos show seed germination, both samples had the soil sterilized to try and eliminate any indigenous mycorrhizal fungi present in the collected samples.  

The photo below shows germination of seed that was inoculated with EndoMaxima prior to sowing in the sterilized soil. 



The next photo below shows germination of seed that was not inoculated with EndoMaxima                                                        prior to sowing in the sterilized soil. 


The two images show germination after 3 days, with the EndoMaxima inoculated seed showing a clear advantage in speed of germination over the seed not treated with mycorrhizal spores. 


The above results are shared with the permission of Avery Diercks.


EndoMaxima, a product of Soil Secrets, contains over 3200 spores per gram of a Gomus (VAM) species, a generalist that can inoculate the majority of plants on Planet Earth.  At 3200 spores per gram (1,450,000 per pound) EndoMaxima is the only mycorrhizal product on the market that can effectively work in agriculture because it offers enough spores per gram of product that it will get enough down per acre to work.   Lower spore count products cannot achieve this benefit as too much product must be used per acre, which the seeding equipment cannot handle as it bulks out the seed and throws off the calibration. With extremely sensitive calibrated seeding equipment we are capable of increasing the spore count density to even higher levels!  


Michael Martin Meléndrez

Managing Member of Soil Secrets LLC



Albuquerque's Soil Conditioner Source
505 550-3246

www.soilsecrets.com

SEE YOU AT THE WORLD AG EXPO 2015

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WORLD AG EXPO 2015



FEBRUARY 10-12: TULARE, CALIFORNIA

John Miller and Bob Geyer will be helping me exhibit Soil Secrets LLC 
at the World Ag Expo in Tulare, California on February 10-12.  

Soil Secrets Exhibit will be located in Building C Booth #3015.



We'd love to talk with you so please stop by the booth!

We look forward to seeing you there!



Michael Martin Meléndrez
Managing Member of Soil Secrets LLC

505 550-3246
www.soilsecrets.com

Merry Christmas!

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Merry Christmas!


Soil Secrets Wishes You A Merry Christmas!

Soil Secrets LLC 
Albuquerque's Soil Conditioner Source

TerraPro Fixing Toxic Soil Chemistry

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Michael Martin Meléndrez
Managing Member of Soil Secrets LLC
 
Albuquerque's Soil Conditioner Source505 550-3246
www.soilsecrets.com

EndoMaxima® Preferred By Contractors!

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EndoMaxima®is preferred by contractors due to its higher spore count and competitive pricing.


EndoMaxima® is a  Mycorrhizal concentrate  designed for agriculture, landscape construction, sports-field construction, mine reclamation or erosion control projects. EndoMaxima is a concentrate of spores representing a generalist Glomus species that is global and which works with plants that can associate with an Endo (VAM) type mycorrhizae.


A contractor came in to Trees That Please Nursery to purchase endomycorrhizae that had been required by the architect for a landscaping project. When presented with the pricing for our EndoMaxima product he stated that it seemed expensive compared to his regular source. 

Victor, our Soil Secrets Operation's Manager, overheard the conversation and suggested that was because of EndoMaxima’s higher spore count per pound of product. Victor is usually working behind the scene mixing, packaging, and labeling. The contractor asked for details.



We showed him that Soil Secrets EndoMaxima® product was guaranteed to contain at minimum 1,450,000 viable spores of Glomus intradices per pound! Curious he called his regular store source for mychorrhizae and asked about the spore count. He explained to us that he had been buying 15 pounds per acre of this competitor’s mychorrizae product to meet the landscape architect’s requirement.


After he gathered all the facts he determined that EndoMaxima® was the better product. 

EndoMaxima® was better due to its higher spore count 
and he could save money because he only needed to buy one pound per acre instead of 15. 


To learn more about EndoMaxima® visit the Soil Secrets website at:



Soil Health And Changing Soil Compaction

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Soil Secrets is a Soil Ecology company.  You cannot grow a healthy landscape or a healthy crop without the soil's ecology also being healthy and soil compaction 
is a major obstacle to healthy soil. 


The following story exemplifies how Soil Secrets has the technology to fix soil compaction problems using the biochemistry of Nature, the Humic molecules.   

Our competitors offer Humic Acids in some form or another, with many claiming to be unique formulations.  However if you don't know the molecular description of the molecules involved, it's impossible to modify them in a beneficial way.  It’s important to understand that outside of Soil Secrets, Humic Acids have never been isolated (purified) for the objective of identifying each molecular fraction and describing the molecules, or proving what the chemical properties are of these molecules.    The methods used by commercial or university soil labs for Humic Acid analysis are crude non-standardized base extraction techniques that can only give us an approximate percentage of the Humic Acids in the sample.  


However molecular research has been done on the naturally occurring Humic molecules of soil, performed to provide Soil Secrets Deliverables containing this information.   This research contains the only molecular descriptive research on the so called Humic Acids providing Soil Secrets with ownership of this information.    The research with the deliverables was performed under contract with the Los Alamos and Sandia National laboratories under a “Commercial Proprietary Information Contract” an exclusive non discloser contract with Soil Secrets, with femtochemistry services provided by SUPRACHEM, Inc., turning the National Labs analysis work into useful information for Soil Secrets.  As a result of this research we now understand what the Mechanism of Action is of these molecular substances and what makes our “bio-identical” molecular product unique and different from the Humic Acids products commonly provided in the industry.  


One of the hundreds of Mechanisms of Action these molecular compounds have is that they make the soil a more livable habitat for everyone concerned, from roots to beneficial soil microbes.  This in turn improves the water and nutrient uptake of the crop which improves the health of the crop and most likely the yield.  Obviously if you could improve the penetration of water into the soil by lessoning the compaction of the soil, that would be a good thing, because as water can percolate you also improve the diffusion of oxygen into the soil.  All roots and all beneficial microbes need oxygen and water so a multitude of benefits are pulled along as you accomplish un-compacting the soil.  This process is accomplished by fortifying the soil with these bio-identical humic molecules, accomplishing something that no other organic soil amendment can accomplish using the same amount of technical material and applied on the surface using the same technique.   

The compaction study was performed by Don DeBoer who works for Mid Valley Agriculture Services, Inc.,  in California.  The grower is Charlie Gragnani wearing the gray vest in the following pictures and the guy in the green jacket is Don DeBoer.  




The guy sticking his finger in the dribble line is Richard Holappa, R & D for AGGRAND a natural fertilizer company.  



The best way to appreciate what this tests shows is to imagine a block of concrete versus the same size block of sponge.  Which one can absorb water with greater ease and which one can hold more oxygen?  Obviously the sponge!


The Experiment Method:  600 pounds of TerraPro was compared to 1500 pounds of TerraPro, applied per acre by dribbling the product on the surface near the drip irrigation line.  

Product was applied in the spring season of 2014.  Compaction of the soil was measured using a probe with a psi gauge, pushing the probe into the soil to a depth of 3 feet. 

  


Soil was probed at various locations under the dripline of the tree giving us a range of psi values. 


The Experiment Results:    600 pounds of TerraPro per acre changed  the psi from its original 300 psi down to 75 - 120 psi.  Using 1500 pounds per acre the compaction dropped to a low of 50 psi.  One can only imagine how this will impact the salinity and soil health of the soil as oxygen and water can more easily penetrate the soil.    

The photo above (3rd from top) shows the dribble line of TerraPro still obvious months after applying the product, so you can see how it was put down.  It was not broadcasted evenly and it was not incorporated into the soil, yet it still worked changing the soil compaction, while the control untreated areas remained at 300 psi.



More on improving soil compaction with TerraPro's supramolecular Humic molecules:

The following images were taken in Los Banos, California on the Steve Sloan farm, where the psi of the soil was tested on areas treated with TerraPro and on fields freshly ripped. The first image below shows the machine used to dribble the TerraPro onto the field next to the drip line.  


This next image shows Don from Mid Valley testing the soil psi. 


The areas freshly ripped measured 75 psi and the areas treated with TerraPro measured 5 psi.  

Michael Martin Meléndrez
Managing Member of Soil Secrets LLC
505 550-3246








Soil Secrets Exhibits At World Ag Expo!

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The World Ag Expo is the largest agriculture conference in the world 
with over 100,000 in attendance. 


Soil Secrets is now being used on some of California's largest orchard farms.




Michael Martin Meléndrez

Managing Member of Soil Secrets LLC 



Albuquerque's Soil Conditioner Source
505 550-3246

www.soilsecrets.com

You're Invited To A Presentation By Michael Melendrez At The Angel Fire Rotary Club Meeting on February 25, 2015!

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When:  Takes place on February 25, 2015 from 12:00 pm to 1:00 pm


Where:   In Angel Fire At Hail's Holy Smoked BBQ


Who:  Michael Melendrez // 

http://soilsecrets.com/




Michael’s company is based out of Los Lunas and is called Soil Secrets. 


What Soil Secrets does is develop organic fertilizers that help New Mexico plants and trees become drought resistant in a cost-efficient manner. The company is a great NM business story because they sell their products nation-wide. Michael Melendrez is the owner and a Rotarian himself. He will talk to our club about how it’s like building a small business in NM as well as how to combat the effects of droughts and how his products help with that.



A great meeting to invite a friend to!


Additional Information at:



What are Real Humic Acids? sub-title: What are Supramolecular Humic Molecules?

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They aren’t just dead decaying organic stuff.  


Humic molecules of soil, often called Humic Acids, are self-assembling structures resulting in bigger structures.  Self-assembly is all about individual parts coming together on their own to build precise things.  The final shape of the bigger structure is called a Supramolecular substance which Nature has programmed to be completely repeatable.  The material science of Supramolecular chemistry is based upon a response to Thermal Energy that’s part of the molecular characteristic of each molecule involved.  The molecules themselves are a ‘Anabolic’ (to build) product of soil chemistry, which is the opposite of composting and soil organic matter which are products of a  ‘Catabolic’ (breaking down) process. 


When dealing with the world of Soil Ecology and the Mechanism of Action provided to soils and the living systems of soil by the Supramolecular Humic Molecules, the series of words Supramolecular Self-Assembly sounds very complicated, but it represents is fairly simple concept.  Nature is a force of constant change and movement, where the wind blows, water flows, oceans have tides and molecules move.   When some molecules get larger they have the ability to stick to themselves allowing them to form larger assemblies of molecules that are not bonded to each other but do stick to one another.   Unlike the pieces of a puzzle that are also not stuck to one another, you must manipulate the pieces to put the puzzle together.  Not so with Supramolecular molecules, which will self-assembly without an outside influence, programmed by Nature.   The pieces of a puzzle, or the bricks of a house must be manipulated to put into place, but molecules with enough ‘Thermal Energy’ can move and be sticky enough that they will stick together forming larger and larger structures.    As the molecules get larger and larger, the force that allows them to stick together also gets larger and larger.  The larger the mass of the Supramolecular Humic structure the more powerful and effective it is in doing amazing things in the soil.  This is why the concept of a Fulvic acid molecule is flawed, as that substance is supposed to be a very small molecule!  Like building a house, if the bricks could move and stick together, then the house could spontaneously self-assemble.  If we could make bricks by controlling where to put  ‘Force Constants’  the bricks could self-assemble into functional structures, which is the notion of Supramolecular large molecules that self assembled spontaneously.    However just like the pieces of the puzzle or the individual bricks, the molecules of Humics must first be manufactured, either by Nature’s soil ecology or by Soil Secrets LLC.  This happens well enough in a healthy soil ecology, but in disturbed soil or fields of agriculture the precursor chemicals needed to build these molecules are most likely not available.  This is why fortifying the soil with them can provide huge benefits!   


When dealing with Soil Ecology, Agriculture and Horticulture, we are dealing with living systems that Nature has perfected with trial and error over the eons of time.  Living systems are the prototypical example of Supramolecular assemblies where individual cells will self-assemble.  When they divide they will self-assemble.  Encoded on the genome is the information that allows the cells to spontaneously assemble into functional entities.  So learning the rules of self-assembly is what science clings to, in defending and explaining evolution.   Through trial and error different molecular structures formed,  some which gave function and some which did not.   In the case of Humic molecules, if the individual molecules or the resulting larger Supramolecular Humic Substance failed to have function it would have no Mechanism of Action (benefit) to our soil’s ecology.   It’s not a perfect flawless system as there are often mistakes made where the larger self-assembled structures have either no function or in the case of biology may result in a disease caused by a miss-folded event.   


I’ve taken the time to explain the amazing science behind the bio-identical humic molecules of TerraPro, to help all of us appreciate what they are.  It explains the phenomena behind the dramatic reduction in soil compaction measured by Don DeBoer of Mid Valley Agriculture Services on a pistachio orchard in California (see our blog story: http://www.soilsecretsblog.com/2015_01_01_archive.html) where penetrating 3 feet deep with a probe calibrated to measure the psi of the soil a reduction in psi was seen dropping from 300 to 75 in half a year.  At a psi of 300 the probe could only penetrate 1 inch but after treating the fields with 600 pounds of TerraPro per acre and waiting half a year the psi dropped to an average of 75 and the probe could penetrate 3 feet with only 75 pounds of applied pressure.  This exemplifies the power of Supramolecular Humic Molecules as I can’t think of anything else that can make that big of an impact on over 12 million pounds of earth using only 600 pounds of technical material.    Think of all the water savings that could be had on urban landscapes across the Western States  if water and oxygen could penetrate the soil 3 feet deep.  Imagine the impact on irrigated agriculture globally if the soil’s porosity could absorb water and manage its use slowly.  This is the potential of TerraPro’s supramolecular chemistry.


Michael Martin Meléndrez

Managing Member of Soil Secrets LLC

Albuquerque's Soil Conditioner Source

505 550-3246


www.soilsecrets.com


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