background preloader

Soil & Calculations

Facebook Twitter

Fundamentals of ecology. Teaming with Microbes: The Organic Gardener's Guide to the Soil Food Web, Revised Edition: Jeff Lowenfels, Wayne Lewis: 9781604691139: Amazon.com: Books. Soil Food Web Course. Soil as Carbon Storehouse: New Weapon in Climate Fight? by Judith D. Schwartz: Yale Environment 360. 04 Mar 2014: Analysis by judith d. schwartz In the 19th century, as land-hungry pioneers steered their wagon trains westward across the United States, they encountered a vast landscape of towering grasses that nurtured deep, fertile soils. Today, just three percent of North America’s tallgrass prairie remains. Its disappearance has had a dramatic impact on the landscape and ecology of The world’s cultivated soils have lost 50 to 70 percent of their original carbon stock. the U.S., but a key consequence of that transformation has largely been overlooked: a massive loss of soil carbon into the atmosphere. According to Rattan Lal, director of Ohio State University’s Carbon Management and Sequestration Center, the world’s cultivated soils have lost between 50 and 70 percent of their original carbon stock, much of which has oxidized upon exposure to air to become CO2.

Rattan Lal A look at soil brings a sharper focus on potential carbon sinks. heavily focused on curbing emissions of fossil fuels. Global Carbon Emissions | CO2 Now | Current CO2. Global CO2 Budget 2013 GlobalCarbonProject.org posted data for the 2013 Global Carbon Budget on November 20, 2013. Key findings are listed here: *Global emissions due to fossil fuel alone are set to grow in 2013 at a slightly lower pace of 2.1% than the average 3.1% since 2000, reaching a level that is 61% above emissions in 1990 *Growth rates for major emitter countries in 2012 were 5.9% (China), −3.7% (USA), −1.3% (EU28), and 7.7% (India). *The 2012 carbon dioxide emissions breakdown is coal (43%), oil (33%), gas (18%), cement (5.3%) and gas flaring (0.6%). *Atmospheric carbon dioxide levels increased in 2012 at a faster rate than the average over the past 10 years because of a combination of continuing growth in emissions and a decrease in land carbon sinks from very high levels in the previous two years. * Dr.

*Key Sources: GlobalCarbonBudget.org CDIAC 2013 Global Carbon Budget Data for the Global Carbon Budget 2009 CO2Now.org | Download >>> Global Warming : Feature Articles. Earth has experienced climate change in the past without help from humanity. We know about past climates because of evidence left in tree rings, layers of ice in glaciers, ocean sediments, coral reefs, and layers of sedimentary rocks. For example, bubbles of air in glacial ice trap tiny samples of Earth’s atmosphere, giving scientists a history of greenhouse gases that stretches back more than 800,000 years. The chemical make-up of the ice provides clues to the average global temperature. See the Earth Observatory’s series Paleoclimatology for details about how scientists study past climates. Glacial ice and air bubbles trapped in it (top) preserve an 800,000-year record of temperature & carbon dioxide. Using this ancient evidence, scientists have built a record of Earth’s past climates, or “paleoclimates.”

As the Earth moved out of ice ages over the past million years, the global temperature rose a total of 4 to 7 degrees Celsius over about 5,000 years. Global Carbon Emissions | CO2 Now | Current CO2. Watering Calculator. Many of us overwater our plants and lawns. But now, figuring out how much water your lawn and garden really need is easy with the Watering Index and Calculator.

Get started by using the calculator below to create a customized watering schedule. Then use the Watering Index daily, weekly or monthly to adjust your schedule. The Watering Index is updated daily. You could save as much as 1,000 gallons a month by watering your plants only as much as they need. The Watering Calculator is a tool that estimates the correct amount of water to give your landscape or garden every week. It has been designed to give you a schedule for the maximum amount of water which your plants or lawn may need each week of the year. The calculator has been simplified by using average numbers for weather, plants, and soils within zip codes of the urban Southern California area. How to use the Watering Calculator: Answer the questions below for each area of your yard. Where Does My Water Come From? Clearwater's drinking water comes from a groundwater source called the Floridan Aquifer. This aquifer is one of the major sources of groundwater in the United States and underlies all of Florida, southern Georgia, and small parts of adjacent Alabama and South Carolina.

Clearwater customers use about 11.5 million gallons of potable water daily. Approximately 60 percent is pumped from 31 city- owned and operated groundwater wells; the remaining daily demand is supplied by water purchased from Pinellas County Utilities. Each day, Clearwater's Water Division produces a safe, dependable drinking water supply that meets or exceeds federal and state water quality guidelines.

Pinellas County Utilities receives drinking water from Tampa Bay Water, a regional water supplier, which in turn becomes part of the water supplied to the residents of Clearwater. Organicgardening. Nutrient Cycles: Nitrogen. Climate of Florida. The climate of the north and central parts of the US state of Florida is humid subtropical. South Florida has a tropical climate.[1] There is a defined rainy season from June through September, which are the months most at risk of landfalling tropical cyclones.

Thunderstorms lead to several lightning-strike deaths per year statewide. Florida is one of the most tornado-prone states in the United States. During mid summer, dust emanating from Africa affects the state. Between October and May, Florida is often dry. The Gulf Stream running through the Florida Straits and off the Florida East Coast keep temperatures moderate across the southern peninsula year round, with few extremes in temperature. Pressure[edit] Wind[edit] Over the entire year, winds average out of the north across the panhandle and near Orlando, out of the west at Gainesville and Jacksonville, and generally out of the east elsewhere. African dust outbreaks[edit] Winter[edit] Three "hardiness" zones exist. Summer[edit] Fog[edit] Assessment Phase | A Permaculture Design Course Handbook. Assessment Phase: Quick Summary 4. Holistic Site Analysis Checklist – the client/ land interview with an analytical perspective. Decipher or interpret needs of the client and gain insight into the site’s context from the assigned sheet.

Use it to help catalogue observations and research. Not every bullet will be used. 5. Create a Base Map – include names, date, north indicator, location, key, scale, and anything that cannot be changed.Sector Analysis Overlay – map wild energies such as sun, wind, pollution, etc. 6. Analysis of Flow Overlay – map water flow, traffic flow, wildlife, and/or frost. Assessment Phase: Detailed Description and Examples 4. Headers include: To access the whole sheet click here please: Holistic Site Analysis This sheet is meant to give you guidelines for how the constant analysis process is done. 5. Permaculture Base Map Sector analysis- mapping of wild energies (in the form of an overlay with the following analysis of flows) Permaculture Sector Analysis Sector analysis.

DIY Permaculture Landscape Design: Using Sectors to Plan for Sustainable Living. Permaculture landscape design takes account of the energies and forces affecting a design site through sector analysis. Prevailing on any site are powerful energies, both potentially beneficial and destructive: wild energies such as wind, sun, fire, water and even wild animal flows and views potentially impact your property. Once they are accounted for, with proper placement of design components they can be channeled for special uses, encouraged, minimized, blocked or deflected to conserve site energy, aesthetics and resources.

How do you account for site energies? The key is observation! In most cases such energies will not be fully appreciated on a single visit to the site. The information collected is then represented on a schematic sector diagram of the site. Simple commonsense then dictates how this sector information influences the configuration and placement of elements within the appropriate zones in the design. The wild energies shown as sectors on our diagram are: Understanding Astronomy: The Sun and the Seasons. To those of us who live on earth, the most important astronomical object by far is the sun. It provides light and warmth. Its motions through our sky cause day and night, the passage of the seasons, and earth's varied climates. The Sun's Daily Motion Multiple-exposure photo of the setting sun, showing that it follows the same diagonal path that a star would, as seen from a mid-northern latitude.

This photo was made on June 21, when the sun set considerably north of due west. On any given day, the sun moves through our sky in the same way as a star. But as the weeks and months pass, you'll notice that the sun's motion isn't quite the same as that of any star. Moreover, the location of the sun's path across the sky varies with the seasons, as shown in the computer-generated image below, which shows the eastern sky, viewed from a mid-northern latitude. The sun's path through the rest of the sky is similarly farther north in June and farther south in December. The Seasons temperate zones . "Get a Straight Answer" 325. Tapping Atmospheric Electricity I would like your views on a proposed new Atmospheric Power Generation (APG) technology. A device containing a large numbers of radioactively treated needles in an electron emitting device is elevated into the atmosphere by an airship, and is connected to a ground-based power converter through a conductive tether.

Electrons are drawn from the ground, flow through the power converter and tether, and are emitted into the atmosphere by the needles. The voltage field drawing electrons from the needles is the atmospheric voltage gradient, and the current flow is affected by air conductivity at the applicable altitudes. It has been proposed that the maximum amount of power we would be able to extract from the atmosphere globally will be limited by the total power normally residing in positive ions within the global atmospheric circuit.

We would be very appreciative if you would share any of your thoughts on any of the questions and possibilities above. Reply. Soil pH Basics | Florida Master Gardener Program. Soil pH is a measure of the acidity or alkalinity of the soil. Homeowners and gardeners alike are interested in soil pH because it affects the growth and quality of landscape plants. Florida Soils and pH On the pH scale, a value of 7 is considered neutral. pH values less than 7 are acidic, and pH values greater than 7 are alkaline. The median soil pH for Florida soils is 6.1, which is characterized as slightly acidic.

Florida soils can vary widely in pH. Soil and Nutrients Landscape plants may exhibit nutrient deficiency or toxicity symptoms as a result of soil pH. Determining Soil pH Soil pH can be determined by sending a soil sample to the University of Florida Extension Soil Testing Laboratory. For more information on how to properly take a soil sample, see the EDIS publication,“Landscape and Vegetable Garden Test Information Sheet.” Choosing Plants for Your pH Most common landscape plants tolearate a wide range of soil pH. Changing Soil pH 1. 2. Summary Like this: Like Loading... Using Coffee Grounds in the Garden. Used coffee grounds make good soil amendments.

That's the buzz among gardeners lately. But what do your coffeepot's leftovers really add to the soil? To find out, sent a batch of Starbucks' used coffee grounds ― the company gives them away for free ― to a soil lab for analysis. Turns out the grounds provide generous amounts of phosphorus, potassium, magnesium, and copper. They also release nitrogen into the soil as they degrade. Dig or till them into the soil to a depth of 6 to 8 inches.

Use of Starbucks coffee grounds in amending mineral soils up to 35 percent by volume coffee grounds will improve soil structure over the short-term and over the long-term. The nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium "guaranteed analyses" would be as follows for the coffee grounds: 2.28 percent 0.06 percent 0.6 percent The pH or reaction of the coffee grounds is considered slightly acidic and in a favorable range at 6.2 on the pH scale. Nearly all potassium and all magnesium are in the available forms. South Florida Soil: As (nutritionally) Poor As Dirt. December 3, 1993|By DANIEL P. RAY Special to the Sun-Sentinel To Lewis S. Maxwell, author of several books on Florida gardening, our soil is good for one thing: "It holds the plants up. " Based on a variety of poorly drained sands, low in organic nutrients and subjected to high rainfall, South Florida soil has earned a reputation for making gardening difficult.

"People from the North come down and say our soils are sand, nothing to them," says Al Will, Broward Community College botany and horticulture professor. "And they're right. If dirt held a beauty contest, South Florida's soil couldn't even hope for a Miss Congeniality award. "You do have to work a little harder if you want to grow your choice of plants," says professor Gerald Kidder, a soil specialist for the Soil and Water Science Department at the University of Florida in Gainesville. This lowdown on dirt begins with a warning.

South Florida's soil has something in common with the people who walk on it. Humic acid. Humic acid is a principal component of humic substances, which are the major organic constituents of soil (humus), peat, coal, many upland streams, dystrophic lakes, and ocean water.[1] It is produced by biodegradation of dead organic matter. It is not a single acid; rather, it is a complex mixture of many different acids containing carboxyl and phenolate groups so that the mixture behaves functionally as a dibasic acid or, occasionally, as a tribasic acid.

Humic acids can form complexes with ions that are commonly found in the environment creating humic colloids. Humic and fulvic acids (fulvic acids are humic acids of lower molecular weight and higher oxygen content than other humic acids) are commonly used as a soil supplement in agriculture, and less commonly as a human nutritional supplement. As a nutrition supplement, fulvic acid can be found in a liquid form as a component of mineral colloids. Formation and description[edit] Chemical characteristics of humic substances[edit] Compost tea atricle by ct guy from icmag.com | MMJ the only way. Ch02. 1. How soil is destroyed Contents - Previous - Next Soil is a complex mixtureSoil teems with lifeOnly a fraction of land is arableErosion destroyed civilizationsThe worst threat is erosionBad farming encourages soil lossRainfall energy variesWhy some soils erode easilyOrganic soils soak up water"Invisible" erosion takes tollGullies climb uphillHow erosion reduces yieldsEroding soil affects water resourcesWindblown soil endangers landPoor management degrades soilSoils degrade through waterlogging and loss of nutrientsSome countries poison soils Why should the leaders of countries today commit their governments and their people to the hard work and expense of a national programme of soil conservation?

The answer is that soil takes many years to create, but it can be destroyed in almost no time at all. Soil is a complex mixture Soil covers most of the land surface of the earth in a thin layer, ranging from a few centimetres to several metres deep. Soil teems with life The worst threat is erosion. Improving Garden Soil: Milk and Molasses Magic - Organic Gardening. Help - Gaisma. Guatemala, Guatemala. Sun path.

Solar azimuth angle. Fungi Perfecti - Fungi.com. Wood Ash in the Garden. CSS Reference: azimuth. Azimuth. Help - Gaisma. How to Prepare a Beneficial Microorganism Mixture. Soil Amendments. Calculators. Calculate: A Compost Calculator and Quick Conversions | Harvest Power. What are plant micronutrients? How many plant micronutrients are there?