mikep
Member
- Location
- Arse end of Surrey, UK
I bave come to the conclusion that you cannot add om to the soil you can only grow it.
The soils with the highest om are bogs where the conditions are anaerobic follwed by acid soils so lack of air and low PH prevent decomposition. Consider the typical farming scenario in that a ley is ploughed up and ususally has its PH 'corrected' before being brought into arable. This starts the rot literally which is then exacerbated by high input low biological return crops so you are onto a downward spiral.
Manure may be added and usually ploughed so the cycle continues and as is the way you have selected for a carbon hungry soil fauna. This is the problem, how to add carbon in a semi anaerobic way. It must be by roots to be effective and not by tuber types which rot and let lots of air in. The chemical make up of the roots is also probably a factor i suspect that roots higher in silica may decy at a slower rate but its only a thought.
The quickest way would be by LOW INPUT deep rooting crops be they forage or cash. High inputs just stoke the fires in the soil and get the wrong fauna going. Some soils take abuse much better than others and can take more of the high input system but most will decline to a resting level of about 2%.
If you think that everything above the soil is worm food and everything below soil food i dont think you can go wrong.
The soils with the highest om are bogs where the conditions are anaerobic follwed by acid soils so lack of air and low PH prevent decomposition. Consider the typical farming scenario in that a ley is ploughed up and ususally has its PH 'corrected' before being brought into arable. This starts the rot literally which is then exacerbated by high input low biological return crops so you are onto a downward spiral.
Manure may be added and usually ploughed so the cycle continues and as is the way you have selected for a carbon hungry soil fauna. This is the problem, how to add carbon in a semi anaerobic way. It must be by roots to be effective and not by tuber types which rot and let lots of air in. The chemical make up of the roots is also probably a factor i suspect that roots higher in silica may decy at a slower rate but its only a thought.
The quickest way would be by LOW INPUT deep rooting crops be they forage or cash. High inputs just stoke the fires in the soil and get the wrong fauna going. Some soils take abuse much better than others and can take more of the high input system but most will decline to a resting level of about 2%.
If you think that everything above the soil is worm food and everything below soil food i dont think you can go wrong.