1
Q
Plant Roots & Exudates
A
- roots don’t grow deeper in dry periods (they shrink)
- roots extend the crown
- new feeder roots grow from outward the crown line, so mulch there
- most nutrient roots are found within 15cm, few up to 46cm, deeper is usually just for water uptake
- only very few trees (>2%) have a taproot
- roots can pump up water from deep and redistribute it in upper soil layers
- exudates consist of carbohydrates, sugar and small portion protein
- plants exude different exudates at different parts of the plant
- to attract bacteria and fungi and trade for micronutrients, and even pre-sysnthesized fats
- economy in the soil: plants produce the sugars from the energy of the sun, then trade that for nutrients and form the soil around each root according to their needs (micro climates)
- this only works in a functioning soil food web with all the members in right proportion
2
Q
Synthetic Fertilzer
A
- Romans killed their soils, tilled 6-12 x a year, brought this to Africa
- like them with European imperialism, western Europe exported its soil degrading agricultural techniques all over the globe
- in the tropics these have a even worse effect than in temperate climates
- industrialization amplified these degrading techniques to be even more degrading
- Haber-Bosch process: turn fossil fuels into NPK
- this lead to increased food production, population growth and soil degradation
- farmers all over the world became dependent on fertilzer and GMO contracts
- synthetic fertilizer are the gasoline to the fire
- synthetic fertilizer are salts that create salt layers, destroy soil food web, compact the soil, and more
3
Q
Soil Food Web - Trophic Layers
A
- First/Basal Layer: living and dead plant material (roots, plant litter, manure)
- Second Layer: organisms that feed on organic matter and exudates: decomposers, herbivores, plant parasites, they store nutrients: bacteria, fungi
- Third Layer: organisms that feed on bacteria and fungi (also decomposers) that make their nutrients available for the plants: protozoa, small nematodes, small micro-arthropods
- Fourth layer: larger micro-arthropodes and nematodes that feed on smaller ones
- Fifth layer: predatory macro-arthropods like beetles, centipedes that feed on smaller ones
4
Q
Soil Food Web - Members
A
- bacteria: fore runners, feed on organic matter, make glues for micro-aggregates. population stays stable throughout progression, bacteria-dominated soil (overpopulation) are weedy soils
- protozoa: consume bacteria and release micro-nutrients, marker for soil health under microscope
- nematodes (predator/root-feeding): regulators that keep populations in check, root-feeding ones can be a problem
- arthropods (micro/macro): consume and shred organic matter, fungi and bacteria, break things down and make them available to other members
- fungi (saphrotic/mycorrhizal/pathogenic): hyphae, mycellium, the complex connector within the soil food web, can digest what others can’t, the biggest carbon sequesters, orchestrate and facilitate all the trading
- plant roots: form symbioses, trade through exudates, change pH around the root area
5
Q
Top Soil
A
- 15-20cm where roots get most of their nutrients, most available nutrients, most connections of the soil food web
- this will tell you most about the quailty of the soil on your site
- never, never mix top soil with subsoil, if you dig it up seperate it and put it back the same way
- plants roots go laterally within this layer
6
Q
Nitrogen cycle
A
7
Q
Nitrogen fixing
A
- rhizobia enter the plan through a infection thread into the root hair that sends out hormones
- plant delivers sugars to the bacteria and the root hair swells to a nodule
- rhizobia cretae amino acids by fixing the nitrogen from the air and the carbon from the plant in an anaerobic reaction
- once the nodule has reached its amino capacity, then the bacteria share it with the plant
- there are other forms os nitrogen-fixing through symbiosis like Frankia bacteria
- most legumes (fabacea) are N-fixing, alder (alnus / Erlen)
- nodules don’t form in a pH >5 (acidic) or in
8
Q
pH
A
- alkaline (>7): bacteria dominant
- acidic (<7): fungi dominant
- healthy soils change and have diverse pHs throughout, depends on many factors, the plants and microbes change the pH according to their needs in different zones (that’s why no till is so effective in soil regenreation)
- above pH 7 = nitrate (NO3-) release (annuals + weeds grow well), chicken manure, vegetative growth, not fruit producing
- below pH 7 = ammonium, reproductive growth (seeds, fruits)
- with different compost teas, pH of the soil can be influenced at different times
- when used at the right time we can increase growth and fruit production
- with succession the soil gets more fungal dominant and acidic (beach alkaline, forest acidic)
9
Q
Nutrients
A
*
10
Q
Hydrophobic soil
A
- cement, concrete, hardpan, etc.
- needs to be cut/ripped and filled with organic matter, so it doesn’t wash out
- might need constant watering the first season
- introduce humidity through swales, earthworks
- rippers with compost tea injectors because the clay will seal up right after opening the soil and plant trees/plants with roots to break it up
- bad soil might need to be plowed once to break the layer of compacted salts, anaerobes, etc. to then innoculate it with the right microbes
11
Q
Aeration
A
- we want much aeration, easy to compress loam
- no heavy machinery
- no animals trampling
- broadfoarks, Yoeman plow, chisel plow
- aerobic bacteria
- easy for roots to penetrate
- critters need oxygen
12
Q
Soil Ethics
A
- use less land
- build soil
- conserve healthy soil
- build with soil
- use legumes & cover crops
- make good habitat for insects & worms
- innoculate with beneficial bacteria (rhizobia, EM) and fungi (EnM, EcM, AM)
- create windbreaks
- reduce compaction
- restore nutrient cylcles (include humanure)
13
Q
Reading landscape
A
- soil depth: if you know tree species present. juding by their specific growth (height), you can tell if soil is shallow or deep
- water: wet spots, depression area, where plants are congregating, etc.
- pH: knowing the pH preferences of certian species
- compaction: knowing plants with certain roots (ex. dandelion in compacted, bahia grass in loose soil)
- minerals: certain plants can indicate minerals, lack of nutrients can be observed in plants
- fire: see for burned areas, affected soil life
- frost pockets: less activity in colder months
- drainage: are there wet areas?
- overgrazing: very short plants, superficial layer of compaction
- animal activity: observe for burrows, attacked trees, trampled plants
14
Q
Vermicompost
A
- worm castings = worm manure, dark brown, nutrient rich structures, innoculated by useful bacteria
- stimulates plants growth and reduces pathogens
- creates healthy environment for useful bacteria
- red wigglers: eisenia fetida
- do research before you introduce new worm species, some earth worms might be invasive
- worm tea ≠ worm leachate (what drips out of worm compost)
- worm tea: take worm castings, suspend them in sack to water and aerate it a certain amount of time (aerobic)
- 0,5 - 1 kg vermicompost for every 20 l water (generous)
- aeration depends on temperature of liquid but never more than a couple of days, use aeration pump (aquariums)
- use chlorine-free water, as it kills beneficial bacteria
- worm tea can be diluted if needed
- worm leachate: has not necessarily gone through worm digestion, so it can contain harmful/pathogenic microbes
- worm leachate needs to be diluted 1:10 ratio and aerate that solution for at least 24 hours to be used safely, test on few plants first
- if you have a lot leachate, might be a sign for too much moisture
15
Q
Vermicompost - Applictation
A
- test the soil: nutrients/trace minerals and toxins, universities and state might offer these for cheap
- no hot peppers, onions, garlic, bones and citrus for vermicompost as they ususally take longer (worms don’t like them)
- worms need lots of ventilation (holes!)
- drainage for excess water/humidity
- in the beginning slowly integrate food scraps, no oil
- couple of slices of/hollowed out watermelon helps migrating the worms for harvest
- prevent your vermicompost from frost in winter
16
Q
Vermicompost - Worms
A
- hermaphrodites
- can double their population every 90 days
- 2-3 months to become adult
- baby worms hatch after 3 weeks
- worms can process multiple times their own weight in optimal conditions a day
- can process 0,25 - 0,5x their weight of fresh food waste
- moisture 70-80%
- 12 - 26°C
- food source: straw, shredded newspaper, organic scraps, egg shells
- need lot of oxygen, bulky bedding (toilet paper rolls, leaf litter, etc.)
- keep them in dark environment, no direct sunlight
17
Q
Fertilizer vs. Soil Microbilogy
A
- 80% of the soluble nutrients are lost and drained into rivers
- bacteria of the soil food web recycles all the nutrients from decaying organic matter and from unsoluble minerals that are present in every soil
- from NPK (50’s) to 42 essential elements (2010)
- the more we know the more elements and diversity and different nutrient cycles will be discovered
- let mother nature do it the way she came up with it for millions of years
18
Q
Building Soil
A
- mycrorrhyzal fungi
- innoculate the bare root systems when you plant trees, then mulch with wood cuttings
- innoculate seeds: coat them by soaking them in water and then dust them in myco-powder or soak them in compost tea
- crop rotations
- cover crops, nitrogen fixer in between cash crop
- might not be necessary if you use polycultures, cut & drop and feed the soil food web
- green manure
- cover crops, chop & drop, can also till it in, then cover it with earth to speed up the composting process
- green manure holds the space that weeds would take over usually
- usually used in off-season to not interfere with cash crop
- soil building crops
- C4 plants that give back lot of carbon if chopped & dropped
- hemp, corn, sugar cane, sorghum
- cowpeas: fix most nitrogen and carbon (work well with corn)
- compost
- hot compost, vermicompost, compost tea
- thermophilic compost produces pathogen and weed seed free compost
- introduce healthy compost and organic matter and the life in the soil will spread and build soil further and further away from the original compost
- vermicompost usually free of pathogenic microbes due to worm activity, but weed seeds are not affected and can still germinate, has increased volume compared to thermophilic compost
- compost tea
- suspend high quality compost in microperforated bag to infuse the organisms into the water
- then aerate and feed it (the food will determinate if it will be bacterial/fungal dominant apart from the type of compost used in the beginning)
- then spray it
- sprayers to be cleaned directly afterward, otherwise bioflim will clog it
- as the food source runs out after a certain time even while aerating it, the tea will turn anaerobic, don’t leave it for too long
- nutrient accumulator & mulch plants
- certain species that produce lots of plant material to mulch with and/or accumulate nutrients from deeper layers to the top soil layer where members of the soil food web can cycle them and make them availabale to the plants
19
Q
Effective Microbes (EM)
A
- mix of facultative microorganisms that digest the organic matter
- raise insects for adding chitin as fungal food nad chitin-digesting bacteria
- allows to (pre)digest products that normally wouldn’t be digested (or very slowly) like bones meat
- material + EM (sealed with bokashi) -> bury it and plant after 2 weeks on top of it
- enhance the behavior of indigenous microorganisms soil and water
- kick-starter: create great environment for aerobic helathy indigenious microbes and are eventually consumed
- used to purify water, improve soil, enrich aquaculture systems, invigorate animals, help plants grow
20
Q
Korean Natural Farming
A
*
21
Q
Compost Tea
A
* 24h/23°C, 36h/21°C, 42h/18°C, 48h/15°C
- take a food grade plastic barrel
- draw in a small hole for the compost mesh (carabiner)
- use a mesh bag, fill it with x good or x mid-quality compost
- add in a bubbler which end is a round “pipe ring” wit holes that releases air from the bottom of the barrel
- fill in x l of water
- can add 250ml liquid kelp (bacterial or fungal?)
- bacterial dominant: molasses
- fungal-dominant: fish hydrolysate, chitin (insect frass, husks, dead insects, decomposed mushrooms)
- you can increase chitin-digesting bacteria and then spray them onto pests
- dilute compost tea 1:4 with water before you spray it (ex. 200l Fass = 800l Endmaterial)
- after each brew you have to remove and sterilize the biofilm from barrel, tubes, mesh and bubbler (IMPORTANT!) otherwise you can innoculate your new batch with old anaerobic biology
list of fungal/bacterial food: http://www.compostjunkie.com/compost-tea-recipe.html
22
Q
Building a hot compost pile
A
- cut fresh green manure with an european scythe (green plant material before seeding that contains enzymes and fresh plant sap, can also be dried)
- 1/3 dead brown/carbon heavy plant material (straw, branches, etc.) + 1/3 manure/nitrogen heavy material (kitchen scraps)
- layer them: carbon/brown layer first on the ground, then green layer and then nitrogen/manure layer
- when distributing the layers make sure break it up well and not leave any chunks (aeration + surface area)
- add little bit extra nitrogen to the core area so it heats up there
- water the pile until water leaks out at the bottom
- if no manure available comfrey leaves, nettles, legumes, and even fresh-cut lawn grass can act as a substitute
23
Q
Berkeley method (Raabe)
A
- carbon-to-nitrogen ration should be 30:1
- bacteria use carbon for energy and nitrogen for proteinbiosynthesis
- green material (nitrogen): fresh grass clippings, manure, alfalfa meal, comfrey, vegetable waste, green prunings
- brown material (carbon): straw, cardboard, dead leaves, dried grass, paper
- right recipe when you get immediate heat (thumb rule same amount of brown and green material)
- optimal heat: consistently 60 - 70°C (measure daily with a thermometer)
- material need to be cut/chopped into small pieces to allow great surface area to catalyze the reaction of the bacteria (use shredder /chipper or run over with lawn mower)
- optimal size 1,5 - 4cm
- pile needs 50% humidity (material clumps and might drip a bit when you squeeze, but no water running out)
- layer of coarse (bigger) material on the floor to let air in, then layer shredded green and brown layers on top of each other (while mixing them a bit) and water them after each layer
- pile needs to be turned every other day when maximum temperature is reached (leave space next to the pile!)
- composting is trial and error: make many piles with different ratios and see which works best
- the turning tends to break up mycellium, so the product is usually bacterial-dominant
*
24
Q
Berkeley method - sequence
A
- day 1: assemble pile and water and cover with tarp
- day 2-3: wait, first low-temp psychrophilic, then mid-range mesophilic bacteria and finally after 48h pile should have heated up to 45 - 70°C
- if it doen’t heat up it’s either too dry (water more), too wet (add more material to soak up excess water) or lacks nitrogen (add nitrogen-rich material when you turn on day 4)
- day 4 - 5: turn the pile for the first time once it reaches 70°C
- day 6 - 17: turn pile every other day once it reaches 70°C
- day 18 - 19: harvest your compost
- if it smells like ammonia add carbon rich brown material like saw dust
25
Hot Compost (Elaine Ingham)
* 54 - 60°C
* 15 days
* turning at least 5 times
* use a round chicken fence to keep the pile in place
* start with coarse brown material at the bottom, don't compress so it can aerate the pile from below
* then add manure layer, then green layer, then brown and so on
* if you have manure richer in nitrogen (like chicken manure) add more carbon to get the right ratio)
* in the middle of the compost heap add the inner part of the manure heap
* water the pile until water leaks out
* completely cover the chicken fence with tarp
26
John-Su Composting Bioreactor
* fungal dominant
* doesn't need to be turned
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?time\_continue=1072&v=MuW42tFC4Ss&feature=emb\_title](https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=1072&v=MuW42tFC4Ss&feature=emb_title)
27
Throw Sow after Chop Drop
* after collecting the green manure for the composting you now have an area freed of weeds that can be planted with certain plants to build soil (5 cousins)
* time the sowing right before the next biger rainfall
* then throw the seeds so they are distributed equally
* go over the area again with the scythe to make the seeds fall to the ground and to give them some addiotional mulching
* Amaranth: fast-growing (C3/C4), pollinator-friendly
* Cowpeas: the fastest growing nitrogen fixer
* Buckwheat: phosphorous pumps, steal nitrogen from cowpeas causing them to increase their nitrogen fixation
* Daikon Radish: phosphorous accumulators and nitrogen scroungers, biological tillage
* Sorghum: more resilient than corn, attracts pollinators, creates lot of biomass, C4 grass
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?time\_continue=236&v=9mD6DUiMPec&feature=emb\_title](https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=236&v=9mD6DUiMPec&feature=emb_title)
28
Restart a cold compost
* first: turn it so it gets aerated, and stop anaerobic processes
* add manure and green materials again (nitrogen is lost after a while)
* old compost = brown material
* make sure there is good aeration and check time and time again while mounting up the new heap
29
Vermicompost - Start a heap
* look for a shaded, secured area
* build them a home: cardboard box, punch in many holes, fill it up with green plant material
* then start to acustome them to other food like kitchen scraps or card board
* you can use worm for digesting all you waste paper trash
* cover the "worm house" with more grass cuttings so they are secured, but still protected
30
Terra Preta
* tropic soils are usually not very rich, as the incredible growth doesn't really give time for soil to be sequestrated but is used up immediately
* indigenous tribes added a mixture of charcoal, bone, broken pottery, compost and manure to the over periods
* this led to this high concentration of charcoal, microbial life and organic matter
* layering the charcoal with soil and the use of P. corethrurus (Amazonian worm) played important role in creating Terra preta
31
Soil Food Web - Protozoa
* single cell organisms
* flagellates, amoebas (strictly aerobic) and ciliates (indicators for conditions becoming anaerobic)
* below 4 mg O2/l not even ciliates can strive and will encyst or go dormant
* move on films of water on soil particles and aggregates
* 5 - 100x larger than bacteria
* larger consume bacteria and smaller protozoa
* some amoeba can digest hyphal strands
* digest bacteria and fungi and release excess nutrients in soluble form (accessible for plants)
32
Soil Food Web - Nematodes
* non-segmented miscroscopic worms
* very diverse: depending on species they feed on bacteria/fungi/protozoa/smaller nematodes or omnivores
* some can be pathogenica as they are root feeders (anaerobic conditions)
* act as population regulators, play important part in the soil food web
33
Soil Food Web - Arthropods
* invertebraes with exosceleton and legs
* insects, ants, arachnida, mites, scorpions, etc.
* macro arthropods (e.g. ants)
* micro (e.g. mites) mostly feed on bacteria, fungi
* depending on size feed on smaller arthropods, protozoa and nematodes
* create soil structure (macroaggregates through digestion) and increase microbial activity through shredding
* some are pests as they feed on plant material (aphids, mites)
34
Soil Food Web - Earthworms
* till the toil without oxidizing it and help thereby with water infiltration
* aerate and create tunnels where roots and soil food web members strive
* feed on anything that fits their mouth
* increase microbial activity (great source for compost tea)
* surface (epigeic), upper soil (endogeic), deep soil (anecic)
* indicators for healthy soil
35
36
Nutrients & Minerals
* P: bird manure, unlocked by fungi, gathered by roots of certain plants, part of sedimentary/igneous rock
* K: vermicompost of kitchen scraps and yard waste (up to 11x more K than in normal compost)
* N: manure, nitrogen-fixing plants, green plant material, bacteria
* every soil contains all of these macronutrients
* with a helathy soil food web they can be made available in needed quantities
37
Hugelkultur
38
Making EM
* yeast: kombucha
* PNSB: worm castings
* lactic acid bacteria: rice wash-water
* EM:molasses:water (1:1:20) (+ 1 tbsp. bioceramic powder/sea salt, only to extend not in first mix)
* room temperature, dark room, wait 7-10 days
* pH needs to drop to 3,5 - 4 (to kill of pathogens)
* use clean chlorine-free water (best from a intact river ecosystem)
* unsulfered molasses: allows for fast microbe growth (fish takes longer to brew)
39
Charging Biochar with EM & Bokashi
* different mixtures depending on what you want
* secret of terra preta: mixture of charcoal and organic material
* ratio 1:1 (biochar:organic material)
* just addid bichar to the soil woul make it soak up nutrients and compete with the plants
* organic material: compost, weed bran or other organic (brewery waste), dried organic cow manure, worm castings, insect husks, farm waste (IMO), ...
* boakashi is a way of fermenting waste (especially hard to compost materials like meat and bones) with EM making them biovailable and culture the useful microbes
* mix 15l of water with, 180ml of compost tea and 180ml of molasses for a 23kg bag of weed bran with equal parts of biochar
* add that to the dried biochar-organic mix and mix everything thoroughly (biochr will soak a lot)
* mix until everything is moist (not soaking)
* ferment in anaerobic environment for 21 days
* after the fermentation its ready to use
*
40
Bokashi
* Japanese fermentation technique for kitchen waste
* allows to innoculate hard to digest compost like meat and bones
* if you then burrow it with biochar/bokashi mix fermentation will continue thanks to the EM and they will turn to readily available food for plants soon
* plant plants on top of burrow
* mix EM with and food scraps and let ferment for 21 in anarobic conditions
41
Biochar
* charcoal created by pyrolysis (burning without oxygen)
* incredible surface area through all the pores, this is where biological life can thrive
* can retain big amounts of water and nutrients (7x its weight) from run-off
* carbon-negative 3:1
42
Making Biochar
* make a staple from dried sticks in a pyramid kiln
* light them up from the top
* light it on the side from where the wind is coming from
* it will burn now with (almost) no smoke
* will create a bed of coal
* put a new layer of sticks on top (ca. 20cm)
* it will start burning from the top again (oxygen from below goes up to the upper layer)
* last layer: let it burn a little longer until it's fully carbonized
* kill the fire with water (possibly innocultated)
* reuse that water for your plants
* use leaf vacuum from Stihl to collect and granulate the coal from the kiln
43
Composting with biochar
* adding granular biochar to the compost will help retain nitrogen which usually gets fully consumed in hot compost
* also speeds up the reaction thanks to the additional surface
* biochar:compost (1:10)
* adding a tube system with holes that blow air for 2 minutes every hours leads to less need for turning, protect it from clogging with steel mash, put it deep enough do it wont get damaged when turning
* monitor compost with thermometer and moisture meter
* add new to the left side side, then turn to the right side and harvest from there
44
Wood vinegar
* pH 2,7 - 3,1
* natural pest control and preventive measure
* byproduct of pyrolysis
* depneding on usage in different dilutions 1:1000 to 1:50
* add 80ml to x gallons and a tiny bit of soap (acidic base)
45
Tilling
* breaks up the soil and oxidizes everything, exposes it to UV light
* breaks up fungal strands, kills all of the higher cellular microbes and arthropods and worms apart from bacteria
* bacteria gets even more food and has no regulators anymore so the soil becomes fully bacterial dominant
* aerobic bacteria creates alkine glues
* so only the nitrifying bacteria work converts ammonium (NH4+) to nitrate (NO3-)
* weeds love nitrate
* fungal-dominant = NH4+ / bacterial-dominant =NO3-
46
Hot Compost - Details
* Actinobacteria (not good, anaerobic): white ashy layer tells you its time to turn the pile now
* no molasses in tea when you want fungal-dominant tea
* fungal foods: humic acid (rinse water through your compost), fish hydrolysate (not heated!!!), chitin + chitosine
* bacteria to eat up toxins
* in the beginning when there is no soil add bacterial dominant teas, then the fungis
