Sustainable Winegrowing With Vineyard Team

50-million-year-old reserves of humified organic matter are a substance called lignite. It is commonly known as brown or soft coal, a substance usually equated with energy production. Researchers at the Technical University of Dresden have found that this very old, carbon rich plant material has the same building blocks as humus – the organic matter reserves found in soil. Virginia Corless, Chief Growth Officer at Novihum Technologies, explains how reacting lignite with nitrogen has created a new soil amendment to improve nutrient retention, water storage, and the vitality of the microbiome. While the greatest benefits were expected in sandy soils, it turns out that a small percentage of clay like what would be found in a sandy loam, creates a beneficial interaction. One long-term trial of Novihum found that after 17 years, 90 percent of the original application was still in the soil. References: 53: Producing Compost and Carbon Sequestration (Podcast) 72: Soil Microbes and Nutrient Availability (Podcast) C