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Welcome to Our Site!
Who can benefit from this site? Educators, scientists, farmers, builders and contractors, developers, large agricultural concerns, and even the backyard tomato grower -- anyone open to learning about the newest technology used to transform barren soil into fertile crop-producing land.
In this age of food shortages and mass starvation, the world leaders need the information contained in this site. Through networking, we can get the information out that there is a machine which enables the earth to extract moisture from the smallest amount of precipitation.
There are imprinting machines large enough to transform countries and units small enough to work for the average farmer or even backyard vegetable growers.
With a united effort, we can change the current self destructive path of mankind by cooperating with nature to maximize our natural resources.
This is an exciting time. More and more people are waking up to the food crisis we are facing and are stepping up to the plate to do what they can to save our planet -- save ourselves!
Come Join Us!!! |
How the Imprinting Machine Works
During the past two decades, the general specifications for land imprinters were derived from the principles of soil mechanics and the hydrobiotic function of soil imprints. Mechanically, imprints are formed through downward acting forces applied to angular steel teeth. Troughs or indentations are formed through soil compression and shearing, whereas adjacent crests or ridges are formed by an embossing (lifting) process. Thus, the original soil surface lies in a plane about midway between the imprint trough and crest. A 5-cm (two inch) gap around each tooth facilitates these two interacting processes with minimal soil disturbance and compaction.
Imprints are 25-cm (10 inches) long, V-shaped troughs or microwatersheds which funnel resources to the bottom of the vee where they can work in concert to germinate seeds and establish seedlings. Each microwatershed is about 30-cm (one-foot) square in surface area and can hold several liters of rainwater on level ground. This is enough water to germinate and establish one or more seeds or seedlings. Imprints are staggered and separated by 5-cm (two inch) wide dikes at the soil surface for safe storage of rainwater until it infiltrates. The staggering also gives plants more room to develop and better exposure to vital resources including water and light. Imprints that satisfy the general specifications are pictured in figure 1. Such imprints will almost always lead to successful if the seed mix is adequate. Such imprints are stable enough to wait several years for adequate rain to occur in the desert.
Figure 1. Well-formed imprints in the foreground efficiently establish vegetation on severely degraded land. The ripping shanks at the rear of the tractor loosen hard soil spots enough to imprint them.
Imprints that fail to satisfy the general specifications often result in thin and uneven stands of vegetation. Poor design features and their consequences include:
(1) Imprints that are greater than 25 cm (10-inches) long can lead to rill and gully formation.
(2) Imprints that are too widely spaced produce thin stands and cannot store enough rainwater to control water runoff and erosion.
(3) Imprints that are too shallow because of insufficient imprinter ballast do not hold enough water for seed germination and runoff and erosion prevention.
(4) Imprinting roller cores that are too small, diameters less than 50 cm (20 inches), tend to round the crests of imprints due to excessive sliding and shearing actions. This rounding results in excessive tillage, weed seed germination, covering of existing plant litter, and damage to existing vegetation.
Imprint size, shape, spacing, and pattern are designed to maximize resource funneling and the safe temporary storage of rainwater. On level ground, each imprint can hold 3 to 5 liters of water, which is equivalent to 5 to 9 surface cm (2 to 3.5 inches). Imprints are V shaped troughs, the sides of which funnel rainwater and seed to the line at the trough bottom where sufficient water concentration and infiltration occur to effect seed germination and seedling establishment. The bottom of the trough typically forms a shrinkage crack on drying, thereby eliminating the crusting emergence problem often associated with fine textured soils. After germination and emergence, the sides of the trough humidify the microclimate and shield young seedlings from excessive sunlight and dry winds (Dixon, 1995).
The preceding functions of imprints result in much better stands of seedlings, faster growth rates, and higher survival-all relative to various types of drill seeders including no till. The relative benefits of imprinting increase as slope steepness increases and annual precipitation decreases.
The Imprinting Foundation
1616 E. Lind Road
Tucson, Arizona 85719
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