r/Soil

Will using a heavy application of prepared acid soil amendments (such as Espoma Holly-Tone, Dr. Earth Acid Lovers, etc.) make that soil unusable for corn, tomatoes etc. in following years?
(that is, without doing later pH re-adjustments)

Hello🐣

Im before making a career decision. My concerns about climate change led me to study organic farming in Denmark. The course was a bit of a disappointment and I felt my future prospects are limited so I am looking for my next step.

Im stuck between two paths. I feel interest to study something completely new to me and unrelated to the climate: phisiotherapy. But lately Ive been also feeling the urgency of climate action, so Im thinking to continue studying in the field of agriculture, but more on the science side. I came across the work of Elaine Ingham and the soil food web and I find it interesting, but I am unsure how could this knowledge be applied professionally in a job.

So my questions are:

- Does anyone have recommendations of universities in Europe where I can study soil biology? A distance learning option would be great, but optional (I am also open to anything related to fixing our effed up conventional agriculture)

- What could be my job opportunities if I would specialize on soil health? Unfortunately in my country I mostly see "advisor" job postings of fertilizer companies where the job is to push their product to farmers :s

- Are there any other career pathways where I could help to create a more climate resilient food system?

Thank you for any advice, have a great day:)

I'm a biology student conducting an undergrad thesis on Soil-Transmitted Helminths (STH). I need technical advice in performing the laboratory component of this study from anyone who has expertise in soil research.

So, here's the summary of the procedure:

- collect samples and air-dry for 24 hours.

- sieve through 2.0 mm and 0.125 mm pore size to get 2g.

- place 2g soil in a centrifuge tube and add 10 mL 0.05% polysorbate-80 solution (used to unclump sample).

- centrifuge (1,800 rpm, 10 min)

- discard supernatant

- add 8 mL of prepared 1.20 SG sucrose solution (we used commercially available/market refined white sugar [I was wondering if this was okay]).

- vortex.

- centrifuge (1,800 rpm, 10 min).

- add prepared 1.30 SG sucrose solution to the brim until a meniscus forms.

- place coverslip and wait for eggs to adhere for 5 min.

- add 1 drop lugol's iodine on glass slide.

- place wet underside of coverslip facing down to the glass slide.

- view under microscope.

We performed a trial on this protocol before going to perform it on a larger sample. We observed the following:

- no helminths recovered in collected sample (site = household).

- bubbles found in specimen.

Hello🐣

Im before making a career decision. My concerns about climate change led me to study organic farming in Denmark. The course was a bit of a disappointment and I felt my future prospects are limited so I am looking for my next step.

Im stuck between two paths. I feel interest to study something completely new to me and unrelated to the climate: phisiotherapy. But lately Ive been also feeling the urgency of climate action, so Im thinking to continue studying in the field of agriculture, but more on the science side. I came across the work of Elaine Ingham and the soil food web and I find it interesting, but I am unsure how could this knowledge be applied professionally in a job.

So my questions are:

- Does anyone have recommendations of universities in Europe where I can study soil biology? A distance learning option would be great, but optional (I am also open to anything related to fixing our effed up conventional agriculture)

- What could be my job opportunities if I would specialize on soil health? Unfortunately in my country I mostly see "advisor" job postings of fertilizer companies where the job is to push their product to farmers :s

- Are there any other career pathways where I could help to create a more climate resilient food system?

Thank you for any advice, have a great day:)

I have around 30-40 pots full of potting soil, all organic. I plan to sift the soil and combine them with new nutrients ( bone meal, blood meal, chicken manure, and compost) into a large 57 gallon container. I was also thinking about introducing worms (red wigglers).

The container has a top, and I plan to keep the soil in the container and outdoors until next spring.

I haven’t done this before, so it sounds good, but I am not certain if it is the right way to do this.

Please let me n know your thoughts and if you would add anything else or different.

Thank you!