Manik;
The only way to get the Carbon content of the soil up is to add a Carbon
source. Tea may add nematodes (questionable) or may add fungi (equally
questionable), but unless you add carbon of some sort, you will revert to
your current position. Your best bet is to add a thin layer of compost.
Repeat in a few weeks.
To address the compaction layer at depth on a clay soil is virtually
impossible. You may do so for a short while by using a corer or chisel or
subsoiler, but it will probably revert to the current position in a short
while. Its probably leading to ponding of water on the soil surface. I'm
afraid there are few ways of addressing that without tiling, adding sand or
shaping the soil surface so water runs off. Turf is generally not deep
rooting, so you cannot rely on turf to solve your problem. Clay tends to
form an anaerobic layer below the soil surface. Its difficult soil to work
with.
My opinion.
SS
From: compost_tea_at_yahoogroups.com [mailto:compost_tea_at_yahoogroups.com] On
Behalf Of cpp_rj
Sent: 27 July 2011 05:59
To: compost_tea_at_yahoogroups.com
Subject: [compost_tea] Re: Farming Nematodes
Essentially what I'm after with this question... I have a client who has
turf. The soil which he's growing has a compaction layer (nearly concrete)
at 8 inches below. He's growing on a very clayey material. He's also been
bagging his grass clippings, removing the carbon from his turf.
I'm convinced, and reinforced by SFI, that the bacterial numbers are far too
high for his plants. The fungi are dormant, but there. Nematode numbers are
low, and 6% mycorrhizal colonization. There needs to be an increase of
carbon in his turf, either through leaving the grass clippings, importing
compost or a couple inoculations of tea and humates. The goal here is to
wake up the fungi, who are dormant from the lack of food. But within this,
the quickest route to seeing results is to have the fungal nematodes start
the cycling. Bacterial as well... but they're already there. Unfortunetly, I
haven't had my tea tested for biological activity, so I don't know what
we're applying. I do know the SFI assay of all the compost we're using. And
the other issue that I have to deal with on a daily basis... is not being
able to feed my tea much, as I'm at 7,000 feet above sea level. I do check
for dissolved o2, and have consistant positive readings.
I'd love to go out to the woods, where the mushrooms thrive, and essentially
take samples of the soil for inoculating our compost. This has its own
issues, but could be a good way to do it. I've heard of the bucket idea,
from Elaine... but it's almost essentially the same as just adding the hay
to tea, keeping it aerobic of course.
Thanks for all your responses, I'm glad to see we all are so passionate
about this feild.
Manik
Received on Wed Jul 27 2011 - 19:04:43 EDT