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Showing posts from 2016

Soil Secrets - Biomimetic Soil Ecology - "To Copy What is Life Like"

Soil Secrets -  Biomimetic Soil Ecology - "To Copy What is Life Like" Category of Product:  Pre-Biotic -  A  substances that stimulates the growth or activity of microorganisms (e.g., bacteria and fungi) by creating or supporting a favorable environment.    In this case the environment is soil and the  area close to the plant roots called the  rhizosphere.     1.  TerraPro  -  Tested and Measured doing a molecular characterization down to a sub-atomic level,  under a Commercial Proprietary Information Contract by Los Alamos National Labs with Sandia National Laboratories,   TerraPro  is a carbon rich Macro-Molecular Substance (huge molecules clustered together into Supramolecular groups).  Supramolecular just means that the molecules are highly energized and they self assembled into larger structures where the molecules are not chemically bonded to each other.  In nature the carbon that accumulates on the surface of plant roots, the result of a chemical reaction and

Fixing Soil using Carbon: Can Soil Carbon Sequestering be Encouraged and How Does This Change The Water Management Equation?

By Michael Martin Melendrez, Founder and Managing Member -  Soil Secrets LLC It's common knowledge that the idea of increasing the amount of soil organic matter is generally a good idea.   Its an even better idea if you live in a place on the globe where soils never truly developed a defined zone of topsoil that one can see with the naked eye.  Where I live in the arid Southwestern Chihuahuan Desert the only place we can truly see carbon rich topsoil is where lots of natural vegetation was able to grow over many hundreds of years, depositing organic debris and growing lots of roots that finally decay and contribute to this accumulation of decaying organic matter.   An example of this might be along a creek or river where riparian vegetation is getting enough water.   It's also commonly accepted that soil organic matter (som) increases the soils potential for holding onto water, where its been said that for every 1 percent of increase in soil organic matter you can hold

Soil Secrets

I've been reading up on new ways to access changes in soil concerning the Soil's Biota (the microbes),  who they are and what diversity there is. I've found a bunch of published writings on using phospholipid fatty acid (known as PLFA) as a method of measuring this factor.   Microbial components are expressed as content of phospholipid fatty acid markers specific for each component.   I've attached one article that used this method in measuring the microbial community structure on various sites including one treated with biochar.   Since many of you continue to ask me about biochar this grabbed my attention.  The study found that the site treated with biochar tested out pretty good, so I decided to look at this closer and when I did I found that the amount of biochar used per sq. ft. was 3.5 pounds, 152,460 pounds per acre.   Holly Smolly, can you image using that much TerraPro, how fantastic the results would be? I've attached the paper so you can read it.  I'

SOUTHWEST SOIL HEALTH CONSORTIUM FLYER

Here's additional information on how well TerraPro's organic chemistry benefits agriculture by using vegetation analysis with infrared. These are almond orchards in California. You can easily see that the fields treated with TerraPro have more leaf cover and are needing less water because the soil and biomass temperatures are lower. At our own arboretum in Los Lunas the soil temperatures are 16 degrees cooler than other sites in Valencia County at the same time. The lawn images are one year apart in Merced California.
I'm thrilled to share this Proof of Concept with the world. For many decades there have been products that claimed to fix soil, conserve water in agriculture, help soils retain water, increase carbon in the soil, and make the soil a better place for microbes to live. In recent years Bio Char has become the rage with similar claims of success. However Bio Char can be nothing else other than the cellulose of wood that has burned off the lignin glue that holds the cellulose together as wood. Remember that Cellulose is glucose linked together as a larger complex sugar, so once the lignin is gone, the remaining molecular structure cannot have much of a Mechanism of Action that can change the chemistry or physics of soil. Since Bio Char is lightweight in bulk density its possible that if you used enough of it you could fluff up the soil and change its porosity, therefore increasing the soils ability to absorb water and oxygen. Remember that an acre of sand one foot deep will weigh about

2016 International Oak Society South West Tour

On September 23 through September 29th members of the IOS joined Michael Melendrez, member and guide  on a tour to Southern New Mexico mountains that contain oak woodlands.  They've expressed their gratitude in this letter that we would like to share with you. These images were from a hike we did into the foothills of the Organ Mountains near Las Cruces

These are the non cation nutrients

In the red column are the nutrients called Anion, which have a negative charge opposite of the Cation nutrients.  The soil has a negative charge of various strengths called the CEC or Cation Exchange Capacity.  For example sand has a weaker CEC than clay therefore clay can hold more Cation nutrients than sand. However the negative charge of soil will repel the nutrients that already have a negative charge, the Anions in the soil therefore cannot hold onto those nutrients. TerraPro however can hold both Cations and Anions by having the Mechanism of Action of a Chelation Overlay.

Don't Miss Out! Our Largest Sale For The Entire Year

One of our Chinquapin Oaks

This is a Chinquapin oak that came from us about 10 years ago. Its planted in the desert near Farmington New Mexico.  This tree was grown from seed collected by us from the Capitan Mountains, a native New Mexican population of that species. Its one of the best adapted large shade trees for the urban areas of the high desert areas of the Southwest.
This is corn I grew in Bosque Farms in order to harvest the corn as silage and then turn the silage into compost.  I treated my side of the field with EndoMaxima (the Soil Secrets Mycorrhizal product) and TerraPro (the Soil Secrets Humic Acid product)  while the field right next to mine did not get Soil Secrets.   Both fields historically were amended with 30 tons of dairy manure per acre per year, resulting in high levels of soil nitrogen.  For that reason on my side of the field I did not apply nitrogen while the other side was fertilized with N.    What's important about these images is the pink showing up on the bottom foot of the corn stem which indicates nitrate accumulation.  This is indicative of the plant being under stress.  Both fields were identical in soil type and irrigation, with the only difference being Soil Secrets on our side.   Our side shows little to no nitrate accumulation which I believe is proving that our protocol of Molecular Biology is helping to

New Dealer

Soil Secrets has another new Dealer offering our products to Agriculture. The Dune Company of Yuma Arizona and the Dune Company of Imperial Valley California Many good things are happening to New Mexico's fast growing Soil Ecology company called Soil Secrets LLC.  From its humble beginnings as a compost and soil amendment company manufacturing products   sold   through its parent company the Trees That Please Nursery in Los Lunas and a dozen other retail nurseries and retail stores in New Mexico, Arizona and Texas, to  developing the best molecular biology products in the industry.  Soil Secrets is  now known for being the industry leader when it comes to fixing soils and our products are requested by mine reclamation engineers, design build contractors and the world of agriculture.  Soil Secrets has taken the terms Humic Acid and Mycorrhizal fungi and perfected the quality and efficacy of those products to a standard never seen before.  The Dune Company is now on board with S

Proof of Concept Testing On Saline Sodic Soil

Last summer we did some Proof of Concept testing at the New Mexico Consortium labs, determining if the Supramolecular Aromatic Chemistry coming from the Humic molecules in TerraPro provided a Mechanism of Action in fixing or controlling sodic saline conditions.  The tests went well and with positive results, however there were a few steps that got missed or left out that I'd like to get some measurements on, so Anna and I will do a repeat of a similar tests using our new lab in Los Lunas.   I'm hoping that Kevin Devine and Stephen Gomez, both highly qualified professional chemists can help me do some test and measurements once the grow out phase is completed.  I collected 20 gallons of soil from this spot near Socorro New Mexico where even the native salt grass was beyond its tolerance and could not grow.  You can see the salt grass growing close to the collection site but not on it.  I've taken the soil back to the lab, will send samples off to a lab for a pr

Where is Soil Secrets? Latest News

Our Founder and Owner of both Trees That Please and Soil Secrets Michael Melendrez is in big demand as a soil health teacher.    He covers how the dynamics of soil really works, covering everything you need to know to understand how plants get water and nutrition out of the soil, why you should  not use soil acidifiers on alkaline soil, and how we can use a Pre-Biotic combined with a Pro-Biotic approach to building healthy soil.  Last week he was in Alamogordo New Mexico talking to Master Gardeners and a large crowd of Southern New Mexicans.  Next week he will be talking in Yuma Arizona  and in the Imperial Valley of California, teaching professional farm agronomists how we can fix farm soil using biomimicry doing the same Pre-Biotic Pro-Biotic process.  Some of the largest independent ag fertilizer company's in North America are now using Michael's Soil Secrets products to accomplish the job of fixing the natural process of soil. 

Letter from beyond satisfied farmer!

Here is a letter from a beyond satisfied farmer  to our Soil Secrets Distributor John Miller. 05/08/16  Soil Secrets Distribution and AgGrand Dealer John Miller, President SPEC International, Inc. 13952 N. Oracle Rd. Tucson, AZ 85739 Dear John, As a small farmer in the Arizona desert, I have to commend you and your great recommendations on applicable growing products for my farm. If you will remember a year ago or so I was talking with you about my small citrus trees that I had just planted in the Winter. I really thought I had done a poor job of planting they were very thin and weak, you had mentioned to me about using your Terra Pro product on the base of my trees. I had purchased a tote from you earlier and saw amazing results in my vegetable gardens, but I had not considered using it on my trees. I simply sprinkled about a pound around the tree well of each tree, didn’t think much about it for a few months. In that same conversation you mention

Bare-Root Craze

The season is here! Trees That Please is now excited to announce the availability of our Bare-root Fruit Trees! Our large varieties and high quality options of bare-root fruit trees, at the best price possible, make for an exciting season for fruit tree lovers, and the beginner to advanced gardeners.  During the midwinter season, while the fruit trees are dormant, the trees are uprooted from the fields and shipped to our retail nursery. As a result of the trees winter dormancy, the root systems remain intact and healthy during this process; allowing you to expand your garden at the lowest prices of the season.  Planting bare-root fruit trees in the dormant season will allow you to prune and train your tree to be the particular shape and size you desire. Planting dormant bare-root fruit trees allows for a stress free environment while your tree adapts to its new soil.  Bare-root fruit trees are one of the easiest ways to include food bearing trees into your garden.          

"Microbes Rule"

  Michael Martin MelĂ©ndrez Facebook Link "Microbes Rule"  At one time Soil Secrets like everybody else attempted to fix the many problems of soil by using products such as compost, compost tea, compost extracts, worm castings, bio-char, molasses, and the list goes on. However with microbial labs now getting into the act and working for hire providing the ability to look for the DNA footprint of microbes, along with gene sequencing, we can now create products and protocols that have turned a "square wheel world into a round wheel." We can now produce exactly the correct microbes that are needed to solve the many issues of soil health and plant nutrient uptake, particularly in agriculture where increasing salinity is inhibiting the uptake of plant nutrients. Check out the list of the Soil Biota that we are currently working on providing our farming and landscaping clients. At the moment we are waiting for final approval by all the government entities

SOIL SECRETS LLC EXHIBITING @ IECA SOIL AND WATER CONFERENCE

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Winter Yard Chores, Planting Trees and Fixing Your Soil

Winter is an excellent time to plant your new shade and fruit trees, as long as the ground is not covered with ice, snow or frozen solid.  That's most of the time for clients living in Albuquerque and Valencia County's. It's very important to also  make sure the tree was grown locally, as only then will it be best adapted to the seasonally changes and  winter cold.  Since Trees That Please is the only retail nursery in the Albuquerque market that grows its own trees, so we are your best option.  Also, during the dormant winter months its easy to transport a tree, as you don't need to worry about protecting the plant as you buzz down the freeway.  For making your soil the best soil possible, use the exclusive product of Soil Secrets called TerraPro.  This product is rich in the right stuff that will make your soil the best soil, as its full of Nature's miracle substance called Supramolecular humic chemistry.  There's nothing else you can buy that has thi