Re: organic matter in soil and mulch was: information needed
- To:
- Subject: Re: organic matter in soil and mulch was: information needed
- From: M* T*
- Date: Mon, 30 Aug 1999 03:48:38 -0400
Well, Donna, just about any soil will benefit from additional organic
material.
Organic material loosens up clay soil so that it drains better, warms
faster and has better texture, permitting plant roots to travel through it
farther and easier; it helps hold water in sandy soils so the water doesn't
simply drain right through, taking nutrients with it.
Organic matter in the soil encourages that prime gardener's buddy, the
lowly old earth worm, who does many wonderful things to soil including
leaving its very rich castings about to enrich it.
Organic matter feeds the soil microbes who turn it into nutrients that
plants can use.
Just about any organic matter helps, but well rotted is best for digging
into the soil, as the microbes who digest carboniferous material tie up the
nitrogen in the soil while they are doing it, causing plants to often
exhibit chlorosis (yellowing of leaves).
Mulches have many benefits - they help keep soil from drying out, keep the
soil temperatures a bit more moderate (cooler in summer / warmer in winter)
and organic mulches decay, creating humus plus they feed earthworms who
drag bits into the soil. They will also suppress weeds to some extent
(depending on how deep the mulch is and what the weed is) and make it
easier to pull the ones that do germinate and grow, since soil will stay
looser under mulch (if not trodden on and loose to start with) since rain
doesn't compact the top layer as it does bare earth. You always want to
make sure that your soil is good and moist before putting on an organic
mulch or it can act like a wick and draw water out of the soil instead of
helping it stay in.
If you are talking about bagged stuff, I'd go for bagged composted cow
manure and composted fine bark mulch myself. I'm not a huge fan of the
bagged humus, but if that's all that is available, it's better than
nothing....seems expensive to me for what you get in a bag. Plus, I've
found that having a few chunks works better for me than really fine stuff -
which bagged humus is...but, I've got solid clay soil which needs some
rough material to help loosen it.
I have one berm of imported soil that looked marvelous but turned out to be
basically silt - highly organic, but very fine - turns to solid concrete
when it gets dry...lifetime project trying to incorporate more texture into
it...
If you're just talking materials, rotted leaves are very good; rotted wood
chips or sawdust are also good when they get to the really black point.
Compost is very good. Composted manure is marvelous...just about any kind
except dog and cat.....pig tends to be a tad on the smelly side.....sheep
and rabbit don't have to be composted as they are cold manures (think I'm
right here), but cow and horse manure need to be composted or they can burn
plants. Poultry manure is very hot and very rich...must be composted, but
great stuff if you can get your hands on it...does come bagged, but pretty
pricey tho' a little goes a long way. Or, they can be dug in fresh if you
don't plan on planting right away. You can also use fresh manure as top
dressing - greedy feeders like roses love it, but most comes with a full
compliment of weed seeds, which hot composting will kill (most of).
You can dig in shredded leaves before they are rotted, but you can have
some chlorosis as they are carbonaceous...soil will be happy, earthworms
will be happy, but your plants might not be happy initially. If you do use
unrotted leaves, you can add a high nitrogen fertilizer, like bloodmeal to
help offset the lack thereof during the rotting process. Only problem with
bloodmeal is that any carnivores in the area will be certain there is some
juicy tidbit buried, if they can only dig deep enough to find it..and they
will have a ball trying to locate it to the detriment of any plantings you
make.
You can trench compost weeds, spent plants, trimmings and kitchen waste
(dig trench, fill with organic debris, put soil back on top and wait a year
or so for it to rot) if you have no place for a compost heap.
I have made a lot of "top" soil out of subsoil and organic matter over the
years...that's the difference between them; one has organic matter and the
other doesn't (very simplistically put).
The amount you need to add is a tough call without seeing your soil...and
like most things, I do it by "eye" and by "feel". But, if I wanted to make
topsoil out of clay subsoil to fill a bed, I'd mix about 1/2 to 1/3 organic
material by volume (say a wheelbarrow load of "mix") with the subsoil and
use the "mix" for the top foot of soil in the bed. The amount of organic
material to subsoil sort of depends on what the subsoil is like...really
lousy clay gets more organic material that only semi-lousy clay. Or,
another way to say it is a wheelbarrow of organic material for about every
12 square feet of bed (3' x 4'), spread on top of the soil and dug in
(mixed well) at least a foot or one spit deep (the depth your spade or
digging fork can go in one pass). Lordy! It's hard to describe something
when you do it by eye!
It is really hard to add too much organic material to soil.....
Hope this rambling actually answered your question:-)
Marge Talt, zone 7 Maryland
mtalt@clark.net
Editor: Gardening in Shade
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----------
> From: James & Donna Davis <dsdavis@intop.net>
> Date: Monday, August 30, 1999 3:37 AM
>
> People
>
> I need some advice !!! I have a flower bed that is mostly sandy red
> clay soil, what is the benefit of adding humas and mulsh or humas
> and cut up oak leaves or just plain humas maybe a little manure
> just to make it interesting
>
> tell me what is the best combination or what
>
> Donna in NE Mississippi zone 7
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