Sunmark Environmental is an Oregon-based soil and native plant restoration company that manufactures PermaMatrix -- a breakthrough soil amendment product containing biochar and a suite of microbes, beneficial fungi, humic compounds, and recycled organic elements. PermaMatrix is used to restore soils where the life has been pounded out of them. For example, the City of Portland recently used PermaMatrix to bring life back to soils after Occupy Portland campers left and after a recent waterfront park festival.
PermaMatrix is typically applied using standard equipment, a hydroseeder. PermaMatrix is a biocarbon innovation that revives the “living skin” of earth’s soils, loading restored soils up with active carbon and promoting vibrant plant life.
And it all started with a seed! As a native seed company Sunmark Seeds knew there had to be a better way to insure seed and plant survivability and sustainability besides dumping more chemical fertilizers on the soil. Trying to dominate natural systems with inorganic fertilizers always seems to backfire, and leads to nitrate leaching, rising water temperatures, and dead zones in our oceans. It was time to think differently, time to cultivate what works using the principles of biomimicry, and allow nature to do the work of restoring disturbed soils. PermaMatrix® Biotic Soil Amendment addresses these issues and kick starts sustainable plant growth on disturbed and depleted soils.
PermaMatrix stems from the combination of two words: permaculture and matrix. Permaculture is the practice of permanent agriculture using perennial and self-sustaining agricultural systems that mimic the relationships found in natural ecologies. Matrix is a group of things combined to create another. The matrix in PermaMatrix is formed through the biological interactions that create and embed specialized structures in disturbed and depleted soils.
Establishing a native vegetative cover is imperative in restoration, and utilizing natural nutrient recycling just makes better sense. PermaMatrix uses a natural balance of organics, fiber, microbes, biochar and mycorrhizae to restore soil carbon in its most active form. PermaMatrix not only increases soil carbon levels, but improves water retention, drainage, soil tilth and nutrient retention. We don’t go out and fertilize the forest, yet it has survived for eons utilizing this natural balance of Carbon and Nitrogen. The science is here, getting back to a sustainable restoration model is important, and it can be done more economically and with a smaller footprint!
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