Stella’s got some good points.
Many have found evidence that earth was once, one huge land mass Pangaea around 250 million years ago, they also speculate that ther had probably been other land masses before Pangaea but that fact that all the continents were once one huge land is the point.
It wasn’t till continents started to drift that then formed the oceans and land masses or biology and weather, that we live on today. Oceans and weather have not restricted us humans and IMO we should use what we can, when needed, & most importantly responsibly!
nature is limited, restricted, by the existing biology and weather patterns.
I agree stella but I also agree that
Nature, makes the most APPROPRIATE(balanced) soil for a given area, based on the existing biology and weather patterns.
This doesn’t mean we/humans (part of nature) cant or shouldn’t help the existing biology.
Nature uses what ever she can from its limits/restrictions/existing biology and this IMHO is what life is all about.
I remember reading an article on rock dust. It explained that places like Europe, north America, and Russia have such rich soils simply because the land have been renewed; I think it was ten times in past million years. From climates changes, ( the end of ice ages) when the ice melts it grinds the crust of the earths surface and leaves behind fertile pulverizes rock dust.
But places that were close to the equator couldn’t be covered by ice, so we labeled the land as unfertile for certain crops. BUT still nature adapts and native plants found in these area’s thrive by looking for every last drop of certain elements.
The article goes on with failing to gain fertile land with synthetics but the point was that adding rock dust from other countries is what PROPERLY changed the fertility of the so called unfertile soils.
All we had to do is asked our selves what would Mother do??
Using what we got to the best of are knowledge is what , Nature our mother, our the teacher, the land, the ocean has been trying to show us. We owe everything to our planet, galaxy, the universe and everything that comes with it.
Places like the desert shouldn’t have golf courses and some places should be preserved for other forms of life but people do live in deserts, think of the Middle East. When I had drove to Vegas, I remember looking out my window thinking to my self, why not grow here? Why not build solar panels here?
Some of the greatest agriculture technologies actually originated in deserts, and still to this day people live ther.
To me its when people abuse good things that causes unbalances and crap hits the fan. Destruction of habitat, oil/gas production, unsustainable agriculture projects, etc.
Earth, life, energy is diverse and we can learn a lot from the diversity we see among us.
Golf course IMO don’t have to be so darn bad for the environments, I think things like AACT, guano, foliar spraying, IPM, rock dust (glacial, volcanic) can change the way we make nice golf courses or ball parks.
Young land masses like Hawaii are rich in volcanic minerals; I see nothing wrong with using these rock dust to help build soil. My home California is actually right next to a super volcano, so im sure volcanic minerals are no stranger to my soils biology (are any ones to honest).
But like A_S and HG I do see wrong in how its shipped and I am always concerned on how its obtained/mined.
But IMO a little goes a long way, this is why I use products that are made up of a little of everything. I look for products with good reps and good people behind it, people that arnt trying to abuse something great. Instead they are trying to use every organic, natural element to make a product worth using in small amounts.
Chitin can be found in cell walls of some fungi, and any thing with a exoskeleton or any thing who eats these, lots a lots of alternatives. Guano high in N doesn’t just add N, look at what they eat and where the guano comes from. Bats that eat insects have chitin in there droppings, guano sits in caves (rock minerals) and insects among other live forms live and die and dissolve in the guano. Guano shouldn’t just be looked at just for NPK value it does much more then that. You want inoculants, humus, humus acids, rock minerals, nutrients from fruits/oceans, etc guano is as diverse as the species of bats and birds!
Again I am a avid organic gardener and the soil is the soul of my passion. Ther for I don’t fertilize much and many of the products I buy, advice the me (the buyer) not too.
This a ACT thread and AACT, top mulching with compost/organic matter(green manures) is my main method of feeding my soil.
Adding ingredients from far places is done responsibly to best of my knowledge & IMO worth it.
If as a whole we push to change the way we fuel vehicles of transportation, then most wouldn’t stress on goods from afar