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Thought I'd share this with you.
Fungal 'feng shui' designs healthy soils
Wed 07 Dec 11, 11:14am AEDT
By Anna Salleh
Fungi and other microbes can reorganise the structure of soil so it is able to absorb more water and carbon say researchers.
Biophysicist, Professor Iain Young, of the University of New England, and colleagues, report their findings today in the Royal Society journal Interface.
"If you just look at soil without life, the structure is pretty random but life actually makes order within the soil," says Young.
"Bacteria and fungi take on a little feng shui and they can rearrange the soil particles."
Young describes soil as "the most complex biomaterial on the planet".
"In a handful of fertile soil there are more individual organisms than the total number of human beings that have ever lived on the planet," he says.
"The life in soil defines the soil and its function and properties."
Scientists have long known that soil microbes exude glue-like chemicals that bind the soil and change its structure.
Young and colleagues hypothesised that microbes could improve the porosity of the soil, helping the flow of water and gasses, such as oxygen and carbon dioxide.
The researchers first confirmed this hypothesis with a computer model of soil and biology.
Then they tested it with a sample of agricultural soil.
Using high-resolution microtomography, which uses x-rays to visualise the soil in 3D, the researchers compared the pores in sterilised soil with those in soil that had microbes added to it.
"Hey presto, what we found was that the biology was doing a remarkable thing. It was actually increasing the porosity in the soil, particularly fungi," says Young.
The researchers found the soil with microbes had more pores, which were more ordered and connected.
Young says fungal hyphae (filaments) also stabilise the structure of soil, while bacteria exude surfactants that reduce surface tension, making it easier for plants to suck up water from the soil.
"Really microbes are the architects and plumbers of the soil," he says, adding that greater biological activity also increases the amount of carbon sequestered by soils.
Young says the new knowledge could be used to rehabilitate compacted soils and to create 'designer soils' with specific porosity and ability to sequester carbon.
"We've got the beginnings of a new science that allows us to try and manipulate the microbial activity to actually design the soils for the purposes we wish," he says.
Young is also involved with the Cooperative Research Centre for Polymers in designing synthetic biopolymers that mimic biology's ability to improve aeration and water retention of soils.
I have to say that I've become a converted preacher of soil biology after building my garden beds, using the no-dig garden technique perfected by Esther Deans from Sydney in the 70's, and also brewing compost teas to build the microbe/fungi levels in the soil.
But I also acknowledge the benefit of feeding the plant as well as feeding the soil. You can obviously greatly reduce the amount of fertiliser required to grow healthy plants, but I still think the odd spray with organic fertiliser like seaweed and fish still goes a long way to helping plants reduce frost damage and heat stress, as well as allowing the plant to take up some nutrients quickly that may be lacking in the soil.
Just like the science being undertaken in soil biology, they are also performing numerous studies on how quickly and efficiently plants take up nutrients from the foliage of the plants.
I much prefer to offer nutrients via organic input. Not via processed nutrient input which kills or bypasses the soil micro biology.
Never used a fertiliser in my garden and never will. Growth is far in excess of other methods and health is impeccable.
Mulch is the major nutrient source.
What mulch are you using? I really love sugar cane mulch, but it can be quite expensive here in VIC.
Not a good idea to use a straw as mulch in summer. It wicks moisture from your soil and into the air very efficiently indeed. It is better than using black mulch of any sort though.
Even in cases where peeps say it stays moist under the straw, what is not being seen is that is only a small amount of what could be under there and hopefully far deeper into the soil also.
Straw does offer very good thermal characteristics. Howeever in summer it is very importnat that it is covered with a rough course mulch.
Pine bark is compromise.
"wood chip" is water wise but is messy and does not knit together. There is very little nutrition in the wood chip. Its bark, leaves, branches, stems etc that hold the most important nutrient input. The wood chip from the trunks is great for fungi to get into and break down. That is really only of benefit though when combined with everything else from the tree.
Raw mulched up trees is the single best thing that will ever go onto any garden. It's cleaner than pebbles, straw, you name it.
The moisture that stays in the soil is far greater.
So by all means use the straw but cover it with what you get from your tree lopper contractor, better still from an arborist.
http://mulchnet.com/postcode.phphttp://www.soilfoodweb.com.au/index.php ... &Itemid=54Oh and no matter what you have heard or been told about it, ignore it. Use it on the veggie patch and you'll never had as good a veggies and used so little water before.
All you are doing is what nature does but more intensively.
10cm thick is the bench mark for an effective layer of mulch.
Every year or two when you replenish the mulch, you will be inputting a slightly different array of Nitrogen, Potassium, Phosphorus and every trace element there is nearly. It will be delivered to plant roots at the exact rate required and in the exact form your plants need via the full array of soil microbes. It s the ultimate way of making your garden do the maximum for you with the minimum input from you.
Add zeolite to keep all that there in the garden as best you ever can.
On nutrient absorption via the leaves yes this is very true. However what many of the studies don't allow for is what the delivery of those processed chemical fertilisers do the leaf biology.
There is a heap of research funding going into man made controls for plant growth and manipulation (such as GMO) and a tiny fraction of the comparative funds going into permaculture, organic farming and gardening, sustainable agriculture practices etc.
There is a myriad of life on the leaves themselves. Using soluble fertilisers destroys that. All soluable fertilisers are extremely inefficient. some studies finding the nutrients available to plants for minutes only. what a waste of money. Most importantly though is they are salty. That is what makes them soluble.
Compost teas and all natural organic nutrient inputs will set a person free from all the crazy merry go round cycle of constant problems with lawns, gardens, plants trees, everything you will think of.
You would be far better off using a straw from a local source rather than paying for it to be carted half way across the country just so it can go around your veggies. That is a huge amount of carbon miles on that straw.
Simon Pawley has written this. He is a well accomplished and educated sustainable landscaper. Have a browse of his website, there is some gold there that many others will not share.
http://www.sustainableoutdoors.com.au/mulching/Free and cheap mulch that is actually the best you can get.
http://mulchnet.fortix.com.au/learn_aboutmulchAnd this from a very highly regarded Western Australian, John Colwill.Calls himself a plants man but that is a very modest tilte for his qualifications and contributions to Australian Horticulture. He is also a former Gardening Australia presenter.
http://plantsman.com.au/page2/files/Mul ... ething.pdf
If you guys want a "low maintenance garden" you are all doing it wrong for goodness sake.
All I see day after day is facepalm landscapes that are condemning the owners to a lifetime of struggle, water and costs that will never see a return on the investment. There are many who will say they have a fantastic garden. I think if they did the maths on what they have done and were aware of how inefficient the fertilisers, soils, potting mixes and mulches they are using were they might see that they could have an incredible landscape on a fraction of the cost and most importantly on a tiny fraction of the work.
Fertilisers do have a place if I am to be forced to say it. In other words to keep those with influence happy. They should be used as a supplement every few years if a particular problem can't be resolved using organic means.
Fu,
Can I ask if any forms of Bentonite clay is okay to mix in the soil? I got one that has very small stones (like corn sizes) type cat litter than the more finely grounded down clay of the black and gold cat litter version.
I'm scared if I put down the more stoney ones that it may not change the structure of the soil.
They absolutely can.
I'm getting sick and tired of the crap being thrown around in reference to soil amendments. The information I give you guys is completely impartial. The problemns and confusion occur when commercial interests come on here and confuse you guys leaving a great deal of damage to the work many do to improve gardening standards. It's not like new home owners aren't confused enough.
I really dislike the "urinating" in peoples pockets that goes on in the landscape and garden industries because the the homeowner never wins and ultimately in a changing industry a great deal of damagge is being done to the long term changes needing to be made.
There a number of forms of bentonite available, but you know what, who gives a stuff because any of them are going to major permanent positive changes to any new landscape for the eternity of the landscape. Sure some are better than others but the point is use them. What ever suits your budget. Clay cat litter can be attapulgite or sodium bentonite. Cattle feed additives can be calcium bentonite. They all do a great job.
I use sodium bentonite and calcium bentonite depending on what I could source. This is also done by the best in the business of sustainable landscaping.
If someone is saying one is better than another then you are reading a sales pitch not impartial information.
Thanks for that Fu. John Colwill's study was really interesting. I'm looking using course pine ,mulch after reading that. It's become impossible to get the other two better options down here atm.
http://www.ozbreed.com.au/articles/chunky_mulch.htmlHave a look at the link, fine mulch is not as good as Fu may want everyone on this forum to believe....
What an odd accusation. Fu has never said fine mulch is good. In fact the reverse. What a very odd thing to say. He's a big advocate of chunky mulches. It seems you've not even read the posts by Fu on this thread and others at all. Makes me wonder what your purpose in posting actually is. The link you provided doesn't actually give a lot useful information and certainly nothing that isn't already in this thread.
Most odd for a one off, new poster. Are you trying to advertise something?
I'd say you are spot on kexkez .. just ignore it!
The reason I am a new poster is because I have read the forum, and don't agree with the fact that tree lopper mulch is a good mulch. I really don't want to cause any problems but I just think that people need to be informed about other options, instead of the biased attitude found on this forum. Nothing against Fu either, I appreciate his knowledge.
There is no problem with you disagreeing with another poster and their suggestions. The concern is when you claim someone is recommending something that they haven't and which they have in fact suggested is not ok. This wasn't a good way to present yourself to a forum in your very first post. Spreading misinformation about what someone has said doesn't not make you appear to be here to help. Hence my comment.
IN this thread Fu only posted links to 2 other items of information. One study by John Colwill which mentions the chunkier mulch and the other which is about Mycorrhizal fungi. He didn't himself say anything about mulch in this thread.
While you are very welcome to your own opinion this is not an appropriate thread in which to put forward your comment. It would be great to have some more garden/landscaping advice from some knowledgeable folk.
This thread is about soil amendments not specifically about mulch and your posts are off topic.