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WSH
Today’s Presentation
• Ecological Soil Management of
– Organic Matter
– Soil Tilth
– Bio-diversity
• To achieve healthy soil, healthy plants,
and ecological balance.
A Plant & Soil
Ecosystem Light
Air
Water, etc
Moisture Pollutants
Temperature
Nutrients
Air
Texture pH
Structure CEC
Microbes,
Earthworms, etc
OM = Organic Matter
Mi Nutrients Moisture
c ro
be
s
CEC
tter
ic Ma
an
Org
Soil Air
ure
uct
tr
S
Pollutants
ture
Tex pH
A Simplified Soil Ecosystem
A Good Loam Soil:
50% Solids
45% Mineral
5% Organic Matter
Versus
RAIN
r
ai
H
ot
Ro
Cation Cations
Exchange +++ We are
positive!
Capacity +
++
NO3-
How Can You Get OM Into
Your Soils?
Animal Manures
Composts
Cover Crops
Mulches
Peat Moss
Others?
• Windrows
• Passive aeration
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Cover Crops in the Garden 2008
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Cover Crops:
• Cover Crops: Covers soil when normally bare preventing Johnny’s
Selected
erosion. Seeds
All from
Johnny’s
Selected
Seeds
Cover Crops Qualities for
Gardening
• Cover Crops Uses
– Cover crops, green manures, and catch crops
• Some Types
– Legumes: clovers, field peas, vetch, etc.
– Grasses: winter rye, oats, annual rye, etc
– Others: buckwheat, mustards, sorghum-sudangrass
• Winter Survival
– Winter-killed: buckwheat, oats, sorghum-sudangrass
– Might winter-kill: annual rye
– Survives winter: winter rye, perennial ryegrass, hairy vetch,
white clover, winter wheat
• Will Re-grow after Cutting
– Can be cut repeatedly: annual rye, rye, vetch
– Can be cut at some stages: oats, buckwheat,
Cover Crops in the Garden
Serial planting after onions
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Oats
Buckwheat
Biomass Production
Cover Crops in No-Till Gardening
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Before and
After Cutting
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N-P-K?? ??
pH?? O M
DO YOU KNOW %
What’s In Your Dirt?
Hea
How Much OM Should You
vy
M Add? s??
etal e nt
s?? u t ri
r o n
Mic
Take a Soil Test and Use Soil Test Recommendations
Don’t Fly Blindfolded!
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Soil Test
Report
• Soil Test Results
• Recommendation
– Limestone
– Nitrogen
– Phosphorus
– Potassium
• Management Info
• Who to call
Create Great Soil Tilth
Make and Maintain Soil Structure
University of Nebraska-Lincoln
Cornell University
• Compaction:
– Surface crusting
– Surface compaction
• Symptoms Purdue University
– Standing water
– Stressed plants
– Erosion
Making Soil Structure:
• Improves: drainage, air exchange, moisture
holding capacity, root penetration and seed
germination!
• Lowers bulk density and reduces erosion!
• It ameliorates natural textural properties!
In Soil Organisms:
Decompose plant and animal residues SMB
releasing nutrients and making humus
Change nutrients to plant available forms
Improve soil structure and tilth (thru 1)
Improve plant nutrition (thru 1,2, & 3)
Diverse populations increase biological
stability and balance
resistance to system degradation
resilience or “the bounce back” factor
Create self-sufficiency (Emergent
properties)
internal system nutrient cycling
beneficial mutualistic organism relationships
SMB
internal system pest population management
and disease suppression
Disease Suppression Mechanisms
• The process of OM breakdown from OM additions: compost,
cover crops, manures, etc.
• Antagonists
– Bacillus, Entrobacter, Trichoderma, Streptomyces,
Pseudomonas, and more!
– Single strains are not as effective as mixtures of microbes!
– Antibiosis
– Nutrient competition
– Parasitism
– Induced systematic resistant- plant vaccination (less
common)
• Doesn’t suppress all diseases: some easy, some
hard
• Lasts about 6 months
This Is Who!
SMB
fungal-jungle.blogspot.com
SMB
www.profileproducts.com
& SOIL
DFW
Interesting Relationships!
Population control for nematodes and fungi
SMB SMB
SMB
DFW Captured
Nematodes
DFW
Parasitized
Nematode
DFW
Sucker Disc
DFW
DFW
Immature
Mites
Phoretic
Nematodes
DFW
Plant - Microbial Relationships
Rhizobium and Legumes: Mutualism
SMB
Plant - Microbial Relationships
Ectomycorrhizae Mycorrhizal Fungi Endomycorrhizae
www.profileproducts.com
Brady
and
Weil, SMB
2002. Brady
and
Weil,
2002.
SMB
fungal-jungle.blogspot.com
SMB
Plant to Plant
Mutualistic
Relationships
Brady
and
Weil,
2002.
& SOIL
DFW
• Stability
Create Functional Biodiversity
Provide Diverse Food: Organic Matter
Add Organic Residues
Add Manure or Compost
Grow Cover Crops
Provide Diverse Habitat
Rotate Crops
Grow Cover Crops
Plant Mixtures of Species
Interplant, Under-sow, Companion Plant, Polyculture
Add Compost
Use Mulches
Plant Biological or Ecological Islands; Habitat and Food For
Beneficial Organisms
Bio-strips, Flower Strips, Beetle Banks, Strip Insectary
Intercropping, Vegetative Corridors, Hedge Rows
Selective Weeding
Reduce Tillage, Bare Land, and Chemical Inputs
Change Tolerance Levels for Pest
Use Integrated Pest Management
Rotate Crops
• To breaking pest cycles: insects, weeds, diseases
• To manage nutrients
• To reduce erosion
• To build Soil OM
• To improve yields
ATTRA
Biological or Ecological Islands www.sare.org
www.attra.org
www.sare.org
www.sciencemuseum.org.uk
Syrphid Fly Parasitic Wasp
www.sare.org
NCSU-IPM
NCSU-IPM
Lacewings NCSU-IPM
Refugia or Conservation Head Lands
www.ukagriculture.com
www.sare.org
NCSU-IPM
Hedge Rows as Habitat
www.sare.org
University of Idaho
USDA/NRCS/NAC
Vegetative Corridors
Wind Shelter Belt
National Corn Growers Association
Spined Soldier Bug
DFW
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Ground Beetles
DFW
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Beetle Banks: Britain
http://www.orc.govt.nz/
www.snh.org.uk/
Ground Beetles
and other
Predatory Beetles
DFW
Intercropping: Living Mulches
www.sare.org
www.omafra.gov.on.ca/
www.dereila.ca NCSU-IPM
Bigeyed Bug Minute Pirate Bug
Rover Beetle
Resources
Start with the Soil.1993. G. Gershuny. Rodale Press.
Building Soils for Better Crops. 2000. F.R. Magdoff
and H. van Es. Sustainable Agriculture Network.
Handbook Series Book 4.
Managing cover Crops Profitably. 2007. Sustainable
Agriculture Network. Handbook Series Book 9.
Manage Insects on your Farm: A guide to ecological
strategies. 2005. M.A. Altieri and C.I. Nicholls with
M.A. Fritz. Sustainable Agriculture Network.
Handbook Series Book 7.
The Rodale Book of Composting. 1992. D.L. Martin &
G. Gershuny. Rodale Press.
Tales From The Underground. 2001. D. Wolfe.
Perseus Pub
SARE
Resources
Î A Whole-Farm approach to Managing Pests.
Sustainable Agriculture Network.
SARE
Î Farmscaping To Enhance Biological Control. 2000.
R. Dufour. Appropriate Technology Transfer for
Rural Areas.
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The End