Re: [compost_tea] Mulch

From: <soilfoodweb_at_aol.com>
Date: Wed, 9 Mar 2005 23:20:56 EST

 
 
Is this the e-mail you wanted?
 
Elaine
 
 
 
In a message dated 3/3/2005 11:59:18 P.M. Pacific Standard Time,
wilddog_202_at_yahoo.com writes:


Dr E You remember the question/answer session you put
me through to make me tell you my year round program
for building my soil. At the end I had a program. I
had a program which was, get to that 1in active area
and from observation found it took 3-5 years to get to
what apparently can be done in a year with the burlap
(interbay). I'm going to this trouble because I'm
proud of my observation skills and the fact that I
figured out so much without th help of formal science.
I'm still learning a lot from you and others and don't
discount that at all.

Interbay Mulch

There has been much posted on the forums about a
soil building method known as Interbay Mulch. It is a
method developed by a site coordinator at the Interbay
P-Patch in Seattle and has recently been featured in
an article in Organic Gardening. The P-Patches are a
large network of very well run Community Gardens. It
is catching on quickly in other P-Patches but the
folks at Interbay used the system for a full season
before it started being adopted elsewhere.

The Interbay Mulch is the use of a layer of burlap
placed over the top of various organic material that
you pile up on top of soil. Organic matter decomposes
much faster on top of the soil than it does if tilled
in as long as it is covered and kept moist and dark.
The byproducts of this process enrich and feed the
soil under it in some very interesting ways.

A few years ago a four day course on soil ecology
was held at Oregon State University. This course was
attended by one of the Interbay site coordinators and
the idea of Interbay Mulch occured to him while
driving back to Seattle.

The OSU microarthropod expert, Dr. Andy Moldenke,
said in his presentation that 90% of all soil
organisms live in the top inch of the soil. Dr. Elaine
Ingham of SoilFoodweb then said in her presentation
that plant health and productivity depends on that
biological activity in the soil. These two bits of
information inspired the concept of using a burlap
"cover" to create a deep,dark,and damp "litter layer".

The Interbay Mulch attempts to expand the
conditions in that biologically active one inch litter
layer to 6, 12, or even 18 inches. The idea is to
recreate and magnify the natural conditions that
produce rich, fertile soil. The use of damp burlap
(coffee sacks are readily available in the Seattle
area but purchased burlap can be substituted) proved
to be the ideal material for enhancing the biological
activity associated with the humus production.

Depending on your soil needs, and the amount of
organic material you have access to, you would build a
mulch 6" to 18" deep.

Mix the materials well and wet them down. Cover
over this with the burlap. The burlap should also be
damp. You could soak them in a large barrel (they will
be HEAVY) or water over the "hump" with a sprinkler
until everything is nice and damp. Monitor the pile
for moisture content and water if any materials are
dry. Decomposition comes to a halt when materials dry
out. The mulch will probably be reduced to 30% it's
original height when it is finished and will have
turned into a rich, dark and most importantly
biologicaly active humus.

The breakdown/decomposition time will vary
depending on your zone and the time of year you build
your mulch. Expect 4-6 months on average before you
can move the burlap aside and plant.

This has been compared to a long-known method of
soil building known as "sheet composting" and, more
recently, "Lasagna" gardening. While there are
similarities in these methods and some common
benefits, the Interbay approach differs in that it is
proven to be a faster and more effective means of
producing a large volume of rich humus as well as a
rich diversity of bacteria, fungi, protozoa,
beneficial nematodes, microarthropods, and worms.

The Interbay method actively seeks to create
conditions that culture the maximum populations of
beneficial soil microorganisms thereby achieving the
maximum benefit from the inputs.

Interbay Mulched soil, according to the lab that
tested it, is "uniquely active".

Living soil is successfull soil! And best of all,
it's free!

What is the purpose of the burlap?

Here is a list of benefits attributed to the
burlap cover:

1. Maintains the optimum dark, moist conditions
prefered by most decomposer organisms.

2. Encourages colonization by, and reproduction
of, soil organisms as well as the microorganisms
associated with compost and those introduced with new
materials. Using the burlapped system, the
biodiversity and abundance of life in finished humus
is extremely high according to the analyses done.

3. Protects from driving rain and minor
freezes. Burlap, if dried out, will absorb a lot of
rain before letting it gently pass into the mulch.

4. Burlap covers the mulch but, also acts as
host to a multitude of fungi and other organisms,
performs an important habitat role.

5. Protects worms, etc from birds. Birds
consume a huge quantity of worms. In an Interbay Mulch
worms reproduce and populate without predation.

6. Burlap covers the mulch but is permeable
enough for required oxygen to reach all parts of the
system.

The materials used to create an effective pile, or
"Humps" as they are called, can be gleaned from a
number of sources. Almost any organic material can be
utilized and it has been shown that the wider the
variety of inputs you can use the richer the resulting
humus will be. People who have done this have been
very creative in finding sources of suitable
materials.

A few of these include:

* Yard waste and grass clippings
* Shreaded newspapers
* Spent grain from breweries
* Coffee grounds from Starbucks
* Vegatable waste/trimmings from greengrocers
* Used floral arangements
* Pulp left over from Juice Bars
* Shredded fall leaves
* Composted manure

The ingredients you use to build the "Humps" can
be fine tuned to produce specific conditions and soil
chemistry depending on what type of crop you wish to
grow in each bed. i.e. using some pine needles to
prepare a bed for more acid loving plants.

To make the whole idea fun and interesting the
latest version of the recipe was modelled after a
local juice bar menu.

INTERBAY MULCH" RECIPE

Enough burlap bags to cover the area you are
developing. (2 layers work better than one).

* Basic Recipe (Just a guideline. Mulchers are
encouraged to be creative): 50% leaves 50% fresh
garden debris (put any seed heads in compost bin)

* Supercharged: Add one wheelbarrow of young
or unfinished compost per 100 sqare feet of area.

* Supercharged plus: Add one bucket of leaf
mold per 100 sq. ft of area.

* Nitrogen Boost: Add fresh grass clippings,
carrot pulp, espresso grounds, wine pressings,
seaweed, spent grain, composted manure.

* Mineral Boost: Add fresh seaweed, eelgrass,
glacial till, granite dust.

* Calcium Boost: Add egg shells, ground oyster
shell.

* Carbon Boost: More leaves, rotted sawdust,
rotted straw, dryer lint, rotted burlap

* Energy Boost: Add "green" materials (low
C:N) such as kitchen waste over the winter to increase
worm density.

It has been noted that, over time, Interbay
Mulched soil can generate up to 750 lbs. of available
nitrogen per acre per quarter from the nitrogen
cycling activity of the micro and macroorganisms
living in it.

CAUTION:

One user points out that in some areas this
process may attract scroungers. Skunks, raccoons and
such looking to make a meal of the worms and other
critters working to break things down under your
"Humps'. This can be annoying as well as messy. You
could place a layer of chicken wire over the burlap
and pin it to the ground but critters can be
determined if they sense an easy meal is to be had.

If you need to build humus and tilth, and aren't
plagued with four legged scroungers, it has much to
offer as it utilizes materials that might otherwise
wind up in the waste stream and ultimately landfills.

=====
Butch Ragland
Conflict is as addictive as
cocaine, alcohol, cigarettes,etc
I'm sorry to report that
cooperation is not








Elaine R. Ingham
Soil Foodweb Inc., Corvallis, Oregon
Soil Foodweb Inc., Port Jefferson, New York
Soil Foodweb Institute, Lismore Australia
Soil Foodweb Institute Cambridge, New Zealand
Laboratorios de Soil Foodweb, Culiacan, Mexico
Soil Foodweb Inc., Jerome, Idaho
Soil Foodweb Inc., South Africa








Received on Thu Mar 10 2005 - 00:05:27 EST

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