No Fertilizing

“No chemical fertilizer or  prepared compost.

People interfere with nature,  and, try as they may, they cannot heal the resulting wounds.  Their careless farming practices drain the soil of essential  nutrients and the result is yearly depletion of the land. If  left to itself, the soil maintains its fertility naturally, in  accordance with the orderly cycle of plant and animal life.

If nature is left to itself, fertility increases. Organic  remains of plants and animals accumulate and are  decomposed on the surface by bacteria and fungi. With the  movement of rainwater, the nutrients are taken deep into  the soil to become food for microorganisms, earthworms,  and other small animals. Plant roots reach to the lower soil  strata and draw the nutrients back up to the surface.

If you want to get an idea of the natural fertility of the  earth, take a walk to the wild mountainside sometime and  look at the giant trees that grow without fertilizer and  without cultivation. The fertility of nature, as it is, is  beyond reach of the imagination.

Cut down the natural forest cover, plant Japanese red  pine or cedar trees for a few generations, and the soil will  become depleted and open to erosion. On the other hand,  take a barren mountain with poor, red clay soil, and plant  pine or cedar with a ground cover of clover and alfalfa. As  the green manure enriches and softens the soil, weeds and  bushes grow up below the trees, and a rich cycle of  regeneration is begun. There are instances in which the top  four inches of soil have become enriched in less than ten  years.

For growing agricultural crops, also, the use of  prepared fertilizer can be discontinued. For the most part, a  permanent green manure cover and the return of all the  straw and chaff to the soil will be sufficient.”

Source:The One-Straw Revolution (Masanobu Fukuoka, October 1975)