Berlin Organic Topsoil Generation

Used in

• Chapter 5 Making Ground

In the Numbers

Ground for a household

The rows that check it

• 11 confirmed
• 2 amended
• 1 unresolved
• 1 marked for safety

• G6 amended Safety Char made hot from dirty feedstock concentrates heavy metals and carries carcinogenic PAHs; EBC-Agro limits Pb <120, Cd <1.5, Cu <100, Zn <400, Ni <50 mg/kg, 16 EPA PAHs <6 mg/kg; …
• G13 amended Brandenburg soils are Pleistocene glacial sands, Arenosols, rated 25 to 40 Bodenpunkte; the scale runs 7 to 100, set by the Reichsbodenschätzung of 1934, with 100 at the Magdeburg …
• G16 confirmed Last spring air frost about 8 May, first autumn about 22 September, about 137 frost-free days; hard ground frost ends about 5 April
• G17 confirmed Groundwater recharge has fallen by up to 40 % since 1980
• G20 confirmed VDLUFA humus ledger: cabbage and vegetables −1,000, potatoes and roots −760, winter rye −280, grain legumes +160, clover-grass and vetch +600 to +1,400 kg humus-C/ha/yr; one Humus …
• G21 confirmed Thünen study: organic rotations up to 39 % clover-grass and legumes against 11 % conventional, reaching similar humus levels
• G22 confirmed Sand's organic matter oxidises faster than in any other German soil because of free air between the grains
• G35 confirmed Raw char immobilises nitrogen; charge by co-composting at 5 to 15 % of volume (absorbs ammonia) or by soaking in diluted urine; field rate 10 to 20 t/ha on sand (1 to 2 kg/m²), …
• G37 confirmed Blue lupin fixes 150 to 180 kg N/ha, about 80 % Ndfa, peak about 110 days after sowing, taproot 2.5 to 3 m, 70 to 100 plants/m², acid sand pH 5.0 to 6.8; white and yellow lupins …
• G38 confirmed Winter rye plus hairy vetch sown by mid-September; winter cover cuts N leaching 39 to 54 %; crimp at rye anthesis and vetch full bloom in late May, before 50 % anthesis it …
• G39 confirmed No mustard or oilseed radish before brassicas; clubroot spores 10 to 20 years; 4 to 6 years between brassicas, 3 between potatoes
• G42 unresolved Brandenburg sand mostly pH 5 to 6.5
• G44 confirmed Deficiency signs: N yellowing from the oldest leaves, P purple and stunting, K scorched margins on mature leaves; potash on sand leaches and >90 % of soil K is locked in feldspar, …
• F15 confirmed Humus ledger figures (cabbage −1000, potato −760, rye −280, lupin +160, clover 600–1400; −75 kg floor)

In the Index

Soil and compost The field and the rotation Berlin and Brandenburg