Enrich your lawn with living cultures from your compost pile

Enrich your lawn with living cultures from your compost pile

Growing active, healthy soils involves four things:

Inoculating soils with new bacteria and fungi
Monitoring PH levels to maintain them at 7.0
Adding carbohydrates (sugar or molasses) to encourage faster growth of bacteria.
Monitor moisture levels (see post – Save Water in Five Steps)

STEP 1
Soil Innoculation

Imported soils in new landscapes may be low in natural soil microbes. You can add these organisms with commercially available products. (cleanairgardening.com) You can also use your own compost pile if you have one. By spreading your aged compost on your lawn the native microbes will take hold and grow. Let me say one thing about buying soil microbes from a commercial supplier. Like plant communities, soil microbes are different genetically from region to region. Commercial products are fine but any naturally occurring populations will be better. As I stated above, changing your soils is hard if not impossible. Yet a layer of active, healthy soils can be achieved with a little patience and a few afternoons a month. It basically breaks down to two things.

Building a compost bin to catch drainage. Applying the drain water to the lawn.

A simple compost bin can be made out of strong wire fencing, a pallet, four cinder blocks, and a refridgerator pan. The wire fence alows air to circulate freely. The pallet will elevate the pile above the tray. Next, running, the water from a hose will soak through the compost pile and wash all the microbes, arthropods, and nematodes down into the tray.

This example was made from recycled metal fence posts, cattle wire, and a cooking tray. The tarp is to hold moisture due to the arid climate where this is located. The wood at the bottom has a hole to funnel water into the catch tray. All made from recycled materials

At this point you can take that liquid and add water, and molassis, then ferment it to make larger amounts of compost tea for larger projects. I feel their is an easier way to do this that skips a few steps by alowing the fermentation to occur in the lawn. It involves using whats called a ‘hose end applicator’.

The excess water is collected in the tray. Then it is filtered to remove large debris like leaves, twigs, etc. This water has billions of good soil microbes. Mix it in the hose end applicator with the right amount of molasses. Then turn on the hose and spray on your lawn and landscape.

A Hose End Applicator is easy to get at any hardware store. It uses the water from your hose to mix small amounts of any material in the applicator. Then it sprays out the mixture with the hose water to wherever it is needed. Instead of fermenting the ‘Tea’ in a barrel or large bucket, the concentrate from the compost pile is applied directly to the yard with the molasses. The population growth takes place in the soil. Remember to run your irrigation for about 15 minutes after applying the compost tea.

These are handy tools to have on hand. It will allow you to apply small amounts of compost tea to the yard quickly and effectively.

Step 2
Soil Acidity

Soil PH is also very important to plant health. PH is a chemical property of the soil that effects how nutrients are available to living organisms. Many people change their soils PH by adding lime or sulfur to raise or lower PH. This is an area that will be easier with the help of your local agricultural extension office I spoke about earlier. For more detailed information on PH see Wikipedia. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soil_ph

Step 3
Adding Sugars

Adding sugars to soil may sound a little strange. But the science is solid. When plants carry out photosynthesis they create sugar. This is the ‘food’ that animals eat. It’s also the food source that soil microbes are after as well. By boosting the sugars present in soils, microbial populations are boosted. This is beneficial by speeding the processes that break down the dead and dying leaves, grass blades, etc. As this occurs organic matter is added to the soil naturally.

Let me say one word of caution about applying sugars to your lawn. Of too much sugar is applied, then the bacteria population explodes. As this happens the bacteria consume the soils available nitrogen to grow and reproduce. This can rob the grass of nitrogen, and cause yellowing of the turf. It is temporary. As the bacteria die off because the sugars are used up, the nitrogen stored in their bodies is released back to the lawn and the green color will com back. A good rule of thumb is this:

3-5 oz. of molassis per 1000 sq.ft. ( 20′x50′)

Step 4
Monitoring Moisture

Moisture levels are very important also. Soil microbial populations need water just like plants do. See my post Save Water in Five Steps for more detailed information on water management.

Throughout our history we have tried to replace nature with machines, chemistry, and man made biology. Then it seems each time we find out that Nature has the same thing that works on it’s own, with little support needed other than to be left alone to carry out it’s natural processes. Now with climate change becoming more than a theory, we need to look to ways to use the natural processes all around us to live simpler, better lives. Hopefully the use of fossil fuel based artificial fertilizers can be eliminated or at least reduced as your landscape soils grow and become more active, healthy and alive.

Related Posts:

• Tips on Making a Compost Pile For The Yard