Did you know that even the soil gets sick, too? This may be due to people’s overuse of inorganic fertilizers and pesticides on crops. What better way to heal the soil than using what nature has already provided for us: green manures.
Yes, you read it right! Not all manures are from animals. Unlike animal manure that we know as a yucky, smelly, sticky poop, green manure is a plant grown and used to improve soil quality based on organic matter and nutrient content. Green manures can be used in two ways: in the in situ method or as green leaf manure.
In order to explain this better, let’s have doing the laundry as an example for these two ways. Imagine the soil as your dirty clothes, the stains and dirt as the infertility of the soil, the green manures as your own detergent, bleach and water, and you—the washer—as the farmer.
The in situ method
In the in situ method, green manure crops are grown in a field before cultivation. You fix the sick soil by planting these green manures directly on your fields. It is like doing your own laundry manually. You remove all the stains and dirt from your clothes to clean them up so you can use them again. This can be done directly by washing thoroughly, scrubbing, and leaving it soaked in water with bleach and detergent to further remove the stains. Like in the in situ, when about half of the green manures are flowering, these will be cut, buried under the soil and left to decompose. Like the bleach which removes the tough stains in your clothes, green manures have beneficial organisms, such as nitrogen fixing bacteria to make the soil healthy again.
These bacteria use the energy released by decaying plant tissues for rehabilitating processes. There are many processes that happen during this decomposition.
One of the processes is called nitrogen fixation. It is called such because it repairs the nitrogen content in the soil which is essential for plants.
The green leaf manure method
The method of green leaf is different from in situ manure. This method grows crops in live fences or on barren lands. The leaves will be cut and bundled. It is then transported to farms and then mixed into the soil. It will be left to partially decay before planting the main crops. It can be compared doing your laundry using a washing machine and then switching to manual soaking to further remove the stains.
An example of green manure crops used in this method is banago (Thespesia populnea). Banago can be found along the seashores in the
Green manures are better than inorganic fertilizers because it rehabilitates saline soils. Saline soils have too much salt content. Too much salt in soils could badly affect the crops. Green manure also produces greater soil fertility, and improves the soil for healthier crop production and reduces risks to soil health.
It stimulates the growth of beneficial microbes found in the soil. It also serves as food for earthworms. Yes, those creepy, crawling worms are beneficial. Earthworms are important because they help in the decomposition process. Most of all, it is cheap and readily available. Try digging a nearby moist soil, you’ll most probably find a worm or two.
Although green manure has many benefits for the plant industry, it is still not
practiced by all farmers. It is because “green manuring” is more labor intensive than when using inorganic fertilizers. The method also need large amount of green manure crops. Moreover, the nutrients that will be produced here only become available after the decomposition process that last for two to three months.
But people, look at the difference that we can make if we use green manures. Besides the fact that we can be able to help feed millions of earthworms in the entire planet, we can be able to help cure Mother Nature!
Using organic fertilizers can help reduce the carbon footprints that we leave behind us. So now I may see you raise you’re eyebrows. What the heck now is carbon footprint??
To make it simple, carbon footprint is the carbon that we directly or indirectly release in our daily activities. We produce carbon footprint just by driving or riding a car, buying a new cellular phone or buying groceries, etc. These carbon footprints are some of the many causes of global warming or the heating up of the Earth’s average temperature.
Green manure is a gift from Mother Nature. She has given us a good alternative for better crop production. All we have to do is use it, improve it, and benefit from it. But it is not all about us. Stopping the use of inorganic fertilizers can help reduce pollutants in the environment.
Repair nature. Think organic!
Reference:
Vakeesan A., Nishanthan T., & Mikunthan G. (2008) Green manures: Nature’s gift to
improve soil fertility. LEISA. 24(2), 16-17
This article was a requirement for DEVC 122 Science Reporting - Blog (1st sem 09-10).
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