Humus

I have been picking up the book Dirt by William Bryant Logan, lately.  I wish this book had walked into my life a little bit earlier than a few weeks ago, but it hasn't and it is probably because it was written when I was five.  

I am not all that far in, but I thought I would share a little about humus because I'm inspired.  Not hummus, what you can eat, but hUUmus ( \ˈhyü-məs\) the stuff below your feet.  (I should suggest that you can eat humus, I suspect all of us have.  I've consumed much of it throughout my life.) 

This terribly complex and "imperfectly understood" medium is one of the many factors I find soils so fascinating.  Humus is basically the organic material (see last post) within the soil, but it really is the "deeply altered, black organic matter."  Or as my soils/ag professor said, "the very dead." 

Now, there is the living component to a soil profile: plant roots, fungi, microbes, nematodes, earthworms, voles (large animals), ect.

These things do die eventually and they enter a category known as the dead.  The microbial life takes advantage and breaks the dead material down into what most folks know as detritus or dead.  This dead material is not really humus at this point.  It is too young.  Humus typically has a 10:1 carbon to nitrogen ratio.  The dead has a much higher ratio at this point.  Different microbes and acids in the soil denature the molecules further.  After a couple years the dead might enter the category of the very dead depending on where in the world it is located. 

Humus happens to be a material that has great influence on soil health, but little is known about it.  Humus molecules are a lot like snowflakes by what Logan reports.  Each molecule is different from the ones that were studied before it.  Challenging?  Marvelous--yes. 

Within the humus dimension there is a category of the very very dead.  This is the humic acids and molecules that have been around for ten thousand years or more.  When I see a field blowing soil I think there goes the ancient material to somewhere new. 

Humus provides all of the benefits I listed in the last post about organic mater, plus more.  This diverse and complex material that is beneath our feet provides soil biota, and ultimately us, with almost all nutrients necessary for life.  A study was performed where 1 lb of sand adsorbed 1/4 lb of water, while 1 lbs of humus absorbed 2 lbs of water.  Humus is extremely charged. 

George and I discovered that an increase in organic matter by 1% will hold 16,500-18,000 gal of water/acre.  By doing this most water issues in the west could be solved. 

I'll end with that. Thanks for reading my rant.