Tagged: soil microbiology

The Soil Under Rooibos Cannot Tell It Is Farmed

Someone sequenced the soil bacteria under wild rooibos and under a farmed field nearby. No significant difference turned up, which unpicks a tidy sustainability claim.

The Red Bush Changes Its Own Soil, Then Changes It Back

Nobody fertilises a rooibos field. The plant grows in famously hungry soil by striking a daily bargain with bacteria that live in its own roots, one it renegotiates every morning and, by the record's own reading, lets lapse every night.