| What we have created with tillage and very limited vegetative cover (corn & soybean monocultures), is a soil that easily binds nutrients in unavailable forms, and is greatly prone to leaching. Whereas the original, native vegetation would've had hundreds of species and would have something growing anytime it wasn't completely frozen. This high degree of vegetative cover (nearly everything was used) in the native ecosystem, most of it highly reliant on mycorrhizae, allowed nutrients to shuffle between the plants (via dying roots, and via mycorrhizae) with less contact with the soil. Hence, less chance of being 'fixed' by the soil clays. It was also a lot less 'leaky' -- far less leaching, etc. Edit: See attachment for a more detailed discussion.
Edited by mhagny 4/14/2013 20:21
Attachments
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 Pinnacle e-letter Mar 2013 v3 _includes graph, pics_.pdf (1620KB - 328 downloads)
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Cover crops to increase P & K
