Bayou Preservation Association

Building Healthy Soils

Do’s and Don'ts

by

John Ferguson, M.S., P.G.

Why do we want healthy soil?

• Supports soil life (soil microbiome)• Bigger & stronger root systems• Reduces erosion• Less weed and insect problems• Bigger and better-quality fruits & vegetables.• Larger and more vibrant flowers• Faster growth rates• Plants requires less water & other resources• Sequesters carbon • More tolerant of drought and floods• Lower costs• Healthy soil = healthy plants = healthy people

Two basic rules for healthy soil:

• As in medicine “Do no harm”

–What harms the soil?

• “Let food be thy medicine”

–What feeds the soil?

SOIL TEXTURE

• SAND

• SILT

• CLAY JUST DIRT

What is a healthy soil composed of?

• Mineral (sand, silt, clay particles)

• Nutrients (minerals - major, minor, micro)

• Soil biology (fungus, bacteria, protozoa, etc.)

• Organic Matter (25% by volume or 8% by weight is ideal for most plants)

What is Soil?

What harms the soil?A Few Don’t’s:

• No products with salt

• No toxic chemicals

• No artificial fertilizers (chemically salts)

• No dyed mulch, bark mulch or other cheap mulch

• No municipal water

• No sewage sludge products

• No Spent Mushroom Substrate (aka Mushroom Compost)

• No Genetically Engineered plants or products (GMO’s)

11/19/2019 San Jacinto, Houston Texas 11

Salt as a

herbicide

Roots Will Not Go Deep

Salts Lead to Compaction

Cheap Mulch (Raw wood)

Cheap Mulch (Raw wood)

Slide courtesy of Randy Lemon

Cheap Mulch = Low Quality = Lots of Problems

• Sickly Yellowing plants (C:N >500:1)

• Poor growth rate (if they do not die)

• More Insect and disease problems

• More water required

• More fertilizer required

• Just looks bad

Is it really economical?

What feeds the soil?The DO’s:

• FEED THE SOIL – Healthy soil is alive

• Only use good quality compost

• Protect the soil surface (Only use good quality mulches like Aged Native Mulches)

• Only use good quality organic fertilizers

• Re-mineralize the soil

• Use rain water, well water, pond water

• Only use products that feed the soil

• Use organic products (pesticides, fungicides, herbicides)

Organic matter creates humus

Native Mulch

• Only use mulch from “Ramial Wood” – (Laval University and Canada’s Department of Forestry)

• Aged or composted works best (feeds the microbes

that create soil structure)

• Nutrient rich (energy and minerals)

• Made from recycled brush and limbs

• Increases organic matter (Sequesters carbon)

• Feeds earthworms

• Prevents Erosion

A topsoil with a 3% organic matter

content by weight can have a 60%

porosity. If filled with 35% air and 25%

water it can hold over 120,000 gallons of

water in the top 18” per acre and the

subsoil can hold even more!

A great topsoil can have over 8% by

weight (25% by volume) in organic

matter.

Healthy Soil and Roots

• Healthy soil encourages root growth

• Root exudates feed microbes

• Microbes produce soil glues that prevent erosion

• Roots sequesters carbon

• Roots help create healthy soil

• Roots require mycorrhizal fungi for maximum growth

• Roots help stabilize soil

St. Augustine roots have the genetic potential to grow 12 feet deep!

Re-mineralize the soil!

Benefits of Remineralization• Provides slow, natural release of elements and trace minerals.

• Increase the nutrient intake of plants.

• Increase yields and increases Brix reading.

• Rebalances soil pH.

• Increases growth rate and diversity of microorganisms.

• Increases earthworm activity.

• Speeds up formation of the humus complex in soil.

• Prevents soil erosion.

• Increases the water storage capacity of soils.

• Increases resistance to insects, disease, frost and drought.

• Increases nutrient density of food crops and enhances the flavor.

• Sequesters carbon more efficiently.

• Reduces weed problems.

• Makes organic fertilizers work more effectively.

Plants and microbes are like people they need micro-nutrients.

Pollution Control: Common pollutants

degraded by soil biology and plants using compost

• polynuclear aromatic hydrocarbons found in creosote.• chemicals such as carbofuran insecticide (carbamate family) and simazine herbicide (triazine

family)• pentachlorophenol, dioxins, cyanides, TNT, DDT, creosote, and coal tars.• biodegradation of PCB and TCB, and BaP (PAH)• pentachlorophenol (a wood preservative more toxic than CCA), dioxins, cyanides, DDT, TNT

(explosive), creosote, and coal tar.• Explosive propellants (WC860 and H5010) contain nitrocellulose, nitroglycerin,

dibutylphtalate, calcium carbonate, dinitrotolulene, diphenylamine, potassium nitrate, sodium sulfate, graphite, tin dioxide.

• hexachlorocyclohexane (HCH)• alachlor, metolachlor, and 2,4,D• CE (trichlorethylene- used to degrease parts)• Explosive’s 2,4,6,-trinitrotoluene, hexayydro-1,3,5,-triniro-1,3,5-trizine, octahydro-1,3,5,7-

tetranitro-1,3,5,7-tetrazocine• Chlorophenol, PAH's (1-octadecene; 2,6,10,15,19,23-hexamethyl-tetracosane,

phenanthrene, flouranthene and pyrene) and Aroclor 1232• mineral oil and grease, diesel, JP-4, gasoline and anti-freeze• almost any hydrocarbon based material

A FEW EXAMPLES

Traditional Hydro-seeding

Biological using compost

BARTON CREEK DEVELOPMENTAUSTIN, TEXAS

1:1 ROCK SLOPE - BARTON CREEK DEVELOPMENT AUSTIN, TEXAS

1:1 ROCK SLOPE - BARTON CREEK DEVELOPMENTAUSTIN, TEXAS AUGUST 17, 2002

TWO MONTHS - BARTON CREEK DEVELOPMENT AUSTIN, TEXAS

FIVE MONTHS - BARTON CREEK DEVELOPMENT AUSTIN, TEXAS

8 MONTHS - BARTON CREEK DEVELOPMENTAUSTIN, TEXAS

VERTICAL SLOPE/ROCK FACE BARTON CREEK DEVELOPMENT-AUSTIN, TEXAS

7 MONTHS LATER

IRRIGATION INSTALLED, NEVER USED

ONE YEAR Barton Creek Development Austin, TX

Teaming with Microbes, 2nd Edition, A Gardener’s Guide to the Soil Food Web, by Jeff Lowenfels & Wayne Lewis, Timber Press, 2006, ISBN-13:978-0-88192-777-1 Highly Recommended

Year Round Vegetables, Fruits and Flowers for Metro Houston, Bob Randall, PhD., A resource guide on how to grow plants organically. One of the best resources for Houston and the Gulf Coast. Highly Recommended

Organic Management for the ProfessionalHoward Garrett, John Ferguson, and Mike Amaranthus, University of Texas Press, ISBN: 978-0-292-72921-6

www.natureswayresources.com

Lazy Gardener & Friends e-Newsletter