Re: Re: CULT: clay... organic & solarization

Linda,

>........unless maybe
>solarizing preferentially shifted that patch of dirt to fungal
>decomposers instead of bacterial ones.  Right before I retired 2 years
>ago, I read some research that indicates fungal decomposers (more
>abundant under mulch) tie up more organic matter in aggregates than
>bacterial ones do.  But that's just a wild guess & doesn't seem
>plausible.  Were the two beds treated identically otherwise - same
>moisture, temperature, amount and type of organic matter, cultivation,
>shade, sun, tillage depth, plants, texture, surface mulch (rocks, weeds,
>clods, plants, or intentional mulch)?

They were pretty much treated the same (I don't measure, just start dumping
sacks of material and then spading it in).  They are also the same kind of
bed.  They are 25-30 apart.  On the hill that slopes south and west where
file cabinet size boulders have an outcrop on the slope.  They are the basic
foundation of the hill and are a limestone layer formed from the bed of an
ancient sea (so filled with neat little fossils.  Above that foundation is
hard red clay filled with sandstone rocks, stones and what appears to be
quartz type pebbles of the type found in river beds in varying amounts.
Some areas have little gravel, some a lot.  These particular beds are carved
out between the limestone.  The crevices between can be quite deep or
shallow, but if I can pry out the rocks in between with a pick or bar, and
usually I do if I can move the rock, then they have enough deep clay to make
a bed.  That clay alone is gummy and slick when wet.  It goes from that to
brick hard with about a 1 second break between the two.  I had a small,
prox. five sq ft area already planted with irises in one.  I extended that
bed to about 20-22 ft long and it's probably 6-8' wide at the widest point.
But I immediately planted back the irises in that bed.  The other bed is the
same thing, only a bit bigger and I did use the solarization on it.
Visually and from a tactile standpoint, I couldn't tell the difference in
the clay I was working with.  I did them one after another so was using the
same dumpee material.  The difference in how the soil has acted subsequent
to the solarization between the two beds is apparent.  I think it did
something beneficial, but don't know what or why.  I wish it weren't so much
trouble and I stayed farther ahead in getting beds prepared.  I'd do it more
often.  Here, though, almost nothing is done straight and level.  It is
always snaking around the contours of a slope or incipient gully.  Not to
mention the near constant wind.  Makes solarization more difficult.  Just
for the record, I used clear, UV plastic and during the summer our temp got
above 100F for much of the time period.  I had soaker hoses under the
plastic to keep adding moisture.  No telling how hot those limestone
outcroppings got.  They get about like asphalt under normal conditions.  It
was all left in place for more than two months or more.

Donald Eaves
donald@eastland.net
Texas Zone 7b, USA

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