There is a lot more to his work than adding minerals. For me the most important aspect to his work is the revelations about inherent regional differences in soils that are largely a result of historical climate. Also I believe all his writings can be accessed for free on Steve Solomon's site in australia.

As you know, Walters who created Acres USA was an Albrecht disciple. I have found Walter's book on weeds to be the single most useful book or any writing on agriculture that I have seen. Walters gets pretty far out there both in that book and other books (his Ecofarming is a great read as well), and Albrecht's work is of course quite dated, but their knowledge and work was immense and very important, IMO.

Thanks, pnbrown, I'll follow up on Steve Solomon's website.

Would you suggest a more recent source for information on soils? This one caught my attention some time back because I had the same opinion about mineral depletion from overuse of the same fields but I'd like to read the part about regional differences, too.

Thanks again!

Some soils had more minerals here in the US before the 'white man' tilled it. Phosphorus especially was lowish in the poorer soils.
Ed Faulkner, the 'crazy' guy who wrote Ploughman's Folly had two follow up books. On the third book he was experimenting on his northern Ohio farm/gardens by adding zero inputs from outside...not even manure [from on or off his property and not even earthworms somebody brought to him. His experiment hoped to prove that by stirring in the crop residues [this was important to him] that the organic matter would make such a soil synergy that existing soil minerals would be utilized and no fertilizer would be needed.

After 4 years he claimed it was really working pretty well. I wish that there was a fourth book to know the end of the matter more.

Here is a link that might be useful: Book three access

Albrecht was important and in some areas a pioneer, but many of his works are for intellectual curiosity and historical record at this point.

There is so much better, and more accurately proven, research done past his career (which ended in the late 1960s).

Soil science has advanced greatly since his era...both in understanding interactions as well as the tools to research and measure these interactions.

If you're looking for how to improve or predict inputs to your soil, you need localized information. There is no one-size-fits all soil solution...there are only regional approaches based upon your native soil...mineral soil parent types and their state of weathering/size, the organic matter type/content, environmental pressures upon them (temperature, moisture, wind, etc)...

This post was edited by nc-crn on Thu, Mar 27, 14 at 18:02

Agreed.

I'm interested as much for intellectual curiosity as I am for my own garden. In my one soil science class back in the mid-70's, it was not nearly this involved and now I want to understand it better. What do you recommend, pc-crn.

Wayne, Thanks for the reminder about Faulkner's books - I have always meant to read them. Starting with book three, just for the heck of it.

Right off the bat, I think we can safely say that his zero input method to produce typical truck crops is something likely to succeed only in a cool humid climate in modestly silty/clayey soils. In such situations the soil is capable of storing large amounts of nutrients and moisture and so modest harvests can be maintained pretty indefinitely. In different soil/climate suites most likely shrub and tree crops must be included to achieve any kind of sustainability.

The book I have found most useful is "From the Soil Up" (1984), also in the Acres USA catalog, by Paul Schriefer, who was a farmer. Of course the really modern awareness is the role of soil biota, and I don't know a single place to go for this. Perhaps Elaine Ingham has a book, I have often heard her talk to the issue. To my mind it all stems from the discovery that plants expel into the soil a goodly portion of the photosynthates that they have used much energy to produce. One you're there, a huge field of study opens up. One aspect is that some mineral applications might be a waste if the appropriate soil biota that converts the minerals to plant-usable form are absent. Regards, Peter.

This is a fantastic discussion, thanks!

Here is a link to the Soil Biology Primer co authored by Dr. Ingham.

Here is a link that might be useful: Soil Biology Primer