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By Design
P
roductive soils are teeming
with beneficial bacteria,
microorganisms, fungi, and
living organisms like earthworms.
These complex components are
all vital to maintaining a healthy,
sustainable soil.
To support living organisms in soils,
there must be a balance of air and
water pores so these organisms can
drink and breathe, but there also must
be food, supplied from decomposed
organic compounds, that organisms
can feed on. Thriving organisms in
productive soil are responsible for
turning new organic compounds back
into decomposed organics that plants
and microorganisms can eat.
On construction sites, there is rarely
living, productive soil available for
re-use on the site. Soils that have been
disturbed, moved, and stockpiled
quickly become ‘depleted’, void of
organic matter and living organisms
that are vital to sustaining plant life
and maintaining the cycle of organic
decomposition. There are very few
options for architects, builders, and
developers when it comes to selection
of soil on these sites.
Designers are often left to work
with local sands, rocky terrain,
and disturbed depleted soils on a
regular basis, and are expected to
grow championship-quality grasses,
regardless of the site conditions.
Typical practices of adding fertilizers
and biostimulants on depleted soils
prior to planting vegetation are a good
start to help plants grow and thrive,
but a critical missing component is the
organic and biological living organisms.
Profile Products has been an
environmental solutions provider and
a leader in the golf industry for years,
manufacturing products ranging from
Profile Porous Ceramics to improve
root zone mixes on greens and tees,
to fiber mulches for erosion control
and vegetative establishment. The
importance of soil modification led
Profile to develop a growing line of
Prescriptive Agronomic Formulations,
a selection of products that can be
added to a site to modify pH, jump
start new vegetative growth, or provide
critical biological nutrients to the soil.
Recognizing this deficiency of ‘living’
organisms in depleted soils, Profile
Products recently introduced its
newest innovation: ProGanics™ Biotic
Soil Media. ProGanics is best described
as a sprayable, soilless, horticulture
growing media. The product is applied
through a hydroseeding machine and
can be mixed with fertilizers and seed.
ProGanics is comprised of renewable,
thermally refined bark/wood fibers,
seaweed extract, humic acid, biochar,
and beneficial endomycorrhizae: all
critical components of productive
living soils.
“We are excited to introduce a
breakthrough technology that is not
only an environmentally-friendly
product, but will regenerate depleted
soils without using a product like
peat, which is harvested from fragile
wetlands and is becoming difficult to
obtain,” said Joe Betulius, vice president
of marketing for Profile Products.
Soils on a construction site are
difficult to improve, but ProGanics
accelerates the development of
depleted soils that have low organic
matter, low nutrient levels, and
limited biological activity—bringing
these soils back to life. Builders and
contractors often find themselves
on sites where topsoil is simply not
available, especially if a job site is
remote and spreading topsoil becomes
an expensive proposition. While
ProGanics is not a direct replacement
for quality topsoil, it is a worthwhile
consideration on these more
challenging sites, on which ProGanics
can provide a growing medium that
will help plants grow and survive.
Soil
|
Joe Betulius
Uncover the secret to
battling depleted soils
EXPERT VIEW
Innovative new products can help golf course architects
and superintendents bring depleted soils back to life