Agricultural conditions

[gribbon]

Hi there..I can't remeber if posted this subject before, but I can't find it so I'll assume the anwser's no....Does anyone know what type of agriculture suits which kind of soil and what temperatures etc etc....It's a vast subject to cover...does anyone know?

[maikeru]

That's almost too broad of a question to answer... Textbooks, even whole libraries, must be dedicated to this question. In general, it depends on weather and the existing soil in the area. With weather, there has to be sufficient rainfall and temperature to support the crops. With the soil, there has to be sufficient fertility and nutrients in it; it can neither be too sandy or clayey nor too rocky for most plants; nor too acidic or basic; it must have good drainage but not dry out too fast; and usually the richer it is in decayed organic matter (humus), the better it will support crops and withstand the rigors of farming. Many things can be done to augment the soil. And many crops have greater or less flexibility in their requirements. I'd suggest you take a look at this thread for some ideas on what good soil is:

 

http://hypography.com/forums/earth-science/3451-terra-preta.html

 

I've learned a lot from it. I do a lot of indoor gardening at the moment (even though it's the winter, and temperatures outside and in my gardening room are 0-5 C). One thing I can state from my own experience is that if you have very good soil, the plants can survive stress and extremes much, much better, and they will recover quickly without serious loss. I still am growing and harvesting herbs, even when it snows outside.

[gribbon]

Sorry I didn't make it more specific, I went into more deatil last time I think...any help will be appreciated....

 

P.S What did I do to deserve a lousy rating on this thread? :eek2:

[tarak]

Plant growth and development itself is a product/function of its genes and environment.Certain plants are water living(Rice,sugarcane,Corn) and certain plants can sustain dry climates(Millets,date)...Similarly different fruits and vegetables,flowers have specific requirements available in specific agroclimates.Certain crop plants like Tea,coffee are known to grow on mountain slopes(lateritic soils) and certain crops like cotton in highly porous black soils(Vertisols). So basically its a highly heterogenous mix of inputs which effects crop productivity.

Type of soil(sand,silt,clay-proportion in soil),its texture,structure,porosity,water holding capacity,ionic composition,soil flora and fauna,etc... determine soil health.generally loamy soil which has a good mix of silt,sand and clay is considered good for plant growth.

Similarly climatic conditions within plants proximity (micro) and general climate(temparature,photoperiod(sunshine hours and darkness proportion)relative humidity,precipitation(dew,rainfall,snow,sleet etc),etc..influence plant growth.Any imbalance in any of the above conditions leads to sitiations like drought,salinity,waterlogging,etc..which lead to crop losses.

 

 

Agronomy is the branch of agriculture sciences which studies the soil-plant-climate(micro and macro) continuum.There is a classification of different agroclimatic zones for growing different crops for any country(For US visit USDA website).This is based on soil-plant-climate relationships.

[Michaelangelica]

Hi there..I can't remeber if posted this subject before, but I can't find it so I'll assume the anwser's no....Does anyone know what type of agriculture suits which kind of soil and what temperatures etc etc....It's a vast subject to cover...does anyone know?

Far too big a question to answer here

 

Look at the Permaculture Forums.

They may be able to give you advice if you can narrow down the question a bit.

Permaculture discussion forum :: Index

[Cedars]

Is this the thread you were thinking of?

 

http://hypography.com/forums/earth-science/8541-what-type-agriculture-should-we-use.html

 

If so, your focus here seems to be on agriculture in desert/semi-desert conditions in africa.

 

Sahel - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

This helps narrow the focus of the thread some.

 

One problem pointed out in the wiki article is the poor soil of this area.

"Soils in the Sahel are mostly acidic (which results in aluminum toxicity to plants), and are very low in nitrogen and phosphate."

 

This can be compensated for by fertilizer and buffers (bicarbonates I think) to negate the acidity. I am not sure what to do about aluminum.

 

Google "acidic soils" and "food crops".

 

 

The other huge problem is the rainfall of the region. I do not know how deep one must drill a well in this area to hit a water table but here is one link that says between 10 m and 450m in Gambia:

 

Sourcebook of Alternative Technologies for Freshwater Augumentation in Africa

 

Google "water table depth" and "whateverCountryName"

 

The things you could research is how other regions irrigate their arid areas. Looking at the USA, you can see we have diverted rivers (colorado) to irriagate parts of california (there are problems with this also).

 

Google "drought resistant crops". Watch for crops whos temps fall within the specs of the country your researching. Keep in mind some crops do better in heat/full sun than others. Other crops have short growing seasons that may fall within the monsoon periods or close enough that you might be able to get multiple crops of (oats for example). Or Wheat right before the monsoon starts and a quick crop of oats right at the end.

 

*I am not saying either of these would work there, just examples of one type with a longer growing season (wheat) and one with a short growing season (oat).

 

A problem to solve would be Irrigation and evaporation and how to minimize this. So would energy to run pumps. You MIGHT be able to figure out how to use animals to run the pumps, depending on how deep the wells. Another part would be running this at night to minimize evaporation and stress on the animals and rotating teams of animals.

[HydrogenBond]

The best technique in arid lands is hydroponics. This techniques conserves water and allows one to opimize the nutrient value of the water to meets the needs of any type of plant. An easy setup would be manifold type runs of 6-8in PVC piping with holes punched every 1-3 ft. Little plastic net cups and pebbles go in the holes and support the plants. A large pump circulates and aerates the water. A control system moniters and controls the nuitreint and pH levels and suppliments the water loss due to plant respiration. The plants have what they need all the time and grow like weeds.

[HydrogenBond]

The hydroponics approach has many other advantages. Firstly, it does not take heavy machinery to plow the land. Secondly, weeds are never a problem since the soil around stays dry and the cups are too small to worry about many weeds. This means zero herbicides. It is also very low labor, only requiring a techie or two during the bulk of the grow. Planting the seedlings, picking the bumper crops, and cleaning the equipment, will be the only times it will be moderately labor intensive.

 

In arid lands with plenty of sun, one could run the pumps and control system using solar power for additional cost savings. I would also also add tall wooden stakes, with metal crossing wires to support the plants with soft cloth, when ladden with heavy crops. I would also create an electric field between the wire support manifold and metal strips placed along the PVC manifold, i.e, high voltage and low amperage. DC electric fields have been proven to increase yields an additional 10-30%.

 

I used to like designing and playing with hydroponics. One observation I noticed was that when the water was optimize, insects were never a problem. Firstly, the plants are not in touch with any soil, so soil bugs were never a problen. If the nutrients got to far from optimum (I didn't have a control system and often left on vacation) the plants become vulnerable to flying insects. Re-optimization of the water drastically reduced the need for insecticides. It was almost like plants under any stress attract bugs but when running on all cylinders were much less tasty to and stressed by the bugs.

[gribbon]

"Is this the thread you were thinking of?"

 

That was it! Yeah no-one responded to that one but anyway...isn't hydroponics expensive?