Background of Billions

If you think the roads are crowded on the 4th of July and the malls are unavoidable on Black Friday, think about the number of microbes present in a teaspoon of healthy soil. The number would be about 60 billion, give or take. That is almost ten single organisms for every human currently on this earth.

Healthy soils, as in the words of Jeff Lowenfels, are “Teaming with Microbes.” However the key operative word is healthy. Healthy soils require certain components and capacities such as a source of nutrients (organic matter), cation exchange capabilities, aggregate structure for roots to penetrate, and most importantly, host plants that can support this background of billions of microbes.