
Saving Florida’s Oranges Starts with Soil - jelliclesfarm
https://nationswell.com/fighting-citrus-greening-florida-locus-ag/
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mark-r
This whole thing reads like an ad for one particular product. Given that the
product isn't specific to citrus fruit trees, I'm not sure what relevance it
has.

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dmitrig01
Some folks also report to having success using cover crops to restore soil, to
mitigate the effects of HLB: [http://citrusindustry.net/2019/11/18/cover-
crops-bring-hlb-r...](http://citrusindustry.net/2019/11/18/cover-crops-bring-
hlb-recovery/)

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jelliclesfarm
In CA, we didn’t have even one case of citrus greening breakout . Basically,
we just put quarantines in place for citrus between counties.

That’s one way. Having said that, citrus is a minor crop in CA. Only about
250k acres. That’s tiny compared to almonds and pistachios etc.

Home gardens have citrus and when they don’t spray, disease spreads. County
extensions simply sent people out to detect spread and quarantined counties
and restricted nursery sales between regions. This is one of the times that I
am very proud of CA as USA’s highest grossing Ag state.

Having said that, it’s still a concern. No known remedy so far

~~~
dmitrig01
I believe there are HLB-infected trees in California as well:
[https://www.latimes.com/food/la-fo-citrus-
greening-20190329-...](https://www.latimes.com/food/la-fo-citrus-
greening-20190329-story.html) reports that there are over 1,000 affected trees
as of mid-2019.

I do agree that CA seems to be doing what it can to be combating the disease.

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adatavizguy
Same, but different, for New Orleans which already below sea level is sinking
a few inches a year. [0] Saving New Orleans and the surrounding coastal areas
starts with the soil too. For example, one non profit is paying people to
remove cement to create better drainage for healthier soil underneath. [1]

[0] [https://www.cnn.com/2019/07/10/us/new-orleans-sinking-
into-s...](https://www.cnn.com/2019/07/10/us/new-orleans-sinking-into-sea-
trnd/index.html) [1]
[https://www.urbanconservancy.org/project/fyi/](https://www.urbanconservancy.org/project/fyi/)

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exabyte
I studied engineering/physics and I've dipped into the agricultural field the
past year having developed an interest in it, also observing the operations of
a local organic farm.

It's actually quite fascinating. I'm currently following a course created by
Dr. Elaine Ingham, who is a microbiologist that studies soil biology and has
done some really amazing research. She also worked at Colorado State
University, which can't be a coincidence!

Here's the lowdown of what happens, because we've been getting this wrong for
centuries in agriculture. The nutrients (N, Ph, Mg, K, etc) are bound to
materials in the soil ranging from rocks to pebbles, to sands, silts and
clays. We have been destroying the soil by tilling practices and large
machinery which are creating compaction layers that lead to anaerobic
conditions causing the "good" biology in the soil to die and also preventing
roots from growing to the depth they need. It turns out that the way that the
nutrients become available to the roots of the plant is by means of the
bacteria/fungi breaking their bonds from the previously mentioned materials
(rocks, etc) and then, even more interestingly, they get eaten by higher
trophic level predators who shit out the nutrients in plant available form!

Some fun facts: \- The roots release sugars (photosynthates) into the soil
which attract particular bacteria/fungi based off its needs for nutrients AND
pH requirements (bacteria release substances which raise pH and fungi acids
which lower it, and the pH can vary on the scale of micrometers based off
this)

-Bacteria and particularly fungi (if you haven't studied fungi, go watch Paul Stamets on Joe Rogan, cause they're incredible organisms [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mPqWstVnRjQ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mPqWstVnRjQ)) create symbiotic relationships with the plant, each one feeding and protecting the other.

\- Many tests which tell you your soil is low in nutrients can be complete
bullshit. Extracting agents will yield different results, and if, for example,
you're only looking at soluble nutrients, you're missing the fact that they're
available but just bound up chemically and require the biological activity.

\- dousing your soil w/ inorganic fertilizers are hardly short-term solutions
because 1) if the soil has no structure to it, then they will wash immediately
out with rain and 2) you're literally dissolving salts into the water of the
soil, making the water unavailable to the plant and can stress the plants
more. Sure, they might get a quick dose of nutrients but you're playing a
losing game.

\- there's a whole bunch of other stuff. Elaine's course available on
www.SoilFoodWeb.com, it's a bit expensive, but I find it fascinating and I'm
barely halfway past Ch 2. She basically gives you all the science behind it
and the know-how of how to address the problem yourself, not rely on a
product. She's a total G, it's really fun listening to her and hearing about
the history of her research.
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elaine_Ingham](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elaine_Ingham)

I'm not sure what this Rhizolizer brand is, but I presume it's not far off
from a "tea" made from vermicomposting (i.e., you feed your compost to worms
and they shit out a magical biologically rich and diverse "casting" which you
can utilize to put the healthy biology back in your soil)

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olliej
This seems like an ad/sponsored article, not an actual report

