Managing microbes in your soil.

Conventional gardening is an input driven system. The accepted wisdom is to apply an unbalanced fertiliser to an unbalanced soil to help sustain a state of imbalance, which will then require constant chemical intervention. This serves no one except the chemical companies.

Success in gardening is more knowledge driven than input driven. Once we accept that there is a direct relationship between nutrition and pest and disease pressure, then we can look to the causes rather than just treating symptoms.

Pride, satisfaction, purpose and passion is what makes gardening a pleasure. Gardening with nature is exciting, and rewarding.  It is simply fascinating!

The most basic requirement for a healthy garden is to have healthy soil.  Healthy HUMUS! If organic carbon (humus) is declining then your garden and its plants will struggle as well.

So what is organic matter, this humus? Soil tests measure organic matter, and a rough organic carbon equivalent is derived by dividing the organic matter figure by 1.7.  In actual fact, the organic matter, as measured on most soil tests, is actually a combination of three different materials – raw organic matter, effective humus and stable humus.

Raw organic matter consists of plant or crop residues, manures and a variety of decomposing  organisms. It has a valuable function and it provides food for microorganisms  but it can create nitrogen lock-ups, as the nitrogen is tied up as protein in the bodies of the microbes doing the work.

Effective humus is the next stage in the decomposition process. This material contains a large percentage of fulvic acid. It is a dark brown, colloidal material which increases cation exchange capacity and reduces the loss of leachable anions. Effective humus provides nutrients to microbes  as it decomposes and it is a storehouse of beneficial microbial metabolites including hormones, vitamins and antibiotic substances. At this point though, it is not a stable habitat for microorganisms.

Stable humus is the completed product. It consists mostly of long-chained humic acids or humans bonded to clay particles. It is now a homogenous material which is resistant to chemical action. The dark brown colour improves heat retention by the seed and it acts like a carbon filter, protecting plants and microbes (and eventually humans) from toxic substances. Stable humus provides long-term nutrient storage and it is the principal of microbial habitat. 

Link : Life Force Home Range 

Good Soil Bugs – Make them feel at home, and make it good enough to eat!

Often referred to as the soil food web, a healthy, living soil will be teeming with microbes, both beneficial and pathogenic (infective; able to cause disease). Including species of bacteria, fungi, algae, nematodes, protozoa, arthropods and earthworms, soil microbes are all vital in maintaining a healthy soil structure.

Often we’ll hear of a garden that is receiving the best of everything but still not thriving, something is just not right. The problem could be lack of beneficial soil microbes. How can this happen?

There are a number of reasons for a lack of microbes including indiscriminate use of fungicides, biocides, herbicides, nematicides or fumigated landscape soils and high salt fertilisers.

Microbe brewing is one way to overcome these problems and is easier than beer brewing. In just 24 hours, in ideal conditions you can brew billions of microbes that will help bring your soils to life!

As with all garden inputs, wear gloves and a breathing mask to ensure you don’t breathe the microbes into your lungs.

Once you have brewed and applied your microbes help create a comfy microbe home with regular composting, add minerals like Soft Rock phosphate and feeding the soils with kelp, fish, aloe, molasses, humic acid and fulvic acid.