Is it the organic matter? Or is it the minerals? Obviously both are important, and there are other factors, but of these two which one is usually the limiting factor?
the best soils are supposed to be dark brown chernozem soils, they're dark brown even at very deep depths.
"Dark brown" screams organic matter to me. So is the primary determinant of "good" soil simply the organic matter? And most soils are more or less "fine" in terms of minerals? And if this is the case, isn't building soil simply just a matter of defecating more on bad soils?
This guy says something that "feels" true to me. I see a lot of people ranting about how important compost/organic matter is. But it seems to me that the soil mineral content, or "parent material" is much more important. Because you can always just add more feces to the soil for organic matter.
yes this is true, organic matter can be added by adding fertilizerplants to ur crop rotation or using external fertilizer (though chemical fertilizers are bad for the environment and make u less independent in operation), the chemical underlying structure is more important for long-term viability, but organic matter is equally important for good crops, it's just that organic matter can be readded (don't underestimate how important taking good care of ur organic matter content is though)
farming is a holistic business if u do it right, loosen a screw there and a screw somewhere else tightens, so the most important thing is balance and understanding that all facets are important counterweights to eachother
good mineral content, bad organic content = crop failure
bad mineral content, good organic content = crop failure
people rant about organic content because mineral content is not very changable, and soil structure is not very changable either, (it's not impossible though), so naturally they rant about the thing that u can change
If it's brown seed it down. If it's grey chuck some hay. If it's black, then you relaxed.
microorganisms, something like one fourth of all sugars produced by a plant is secreted through roots to attract microorganisms. it is akin to our gut flora but it is external.
Yup, Nematodes are KEY. Good soils will contain at least 400ppm of them. Overworked more like 100ppm. Do some research on these little buggers anons
Redpill me on these "NEMA toads"
No, no, no, no, you’re looking for NEMA CODES anon
if you stick a fork in it and hold it there, you get superpowers
really?
No, you die from electricity shock.
Temperature, optimal humidity, mineral content, organic matter, aeration, micro-organism activity
peat for instance is 70%+ organic matter but it is very acidic, very wet, and very dark.
like everything, it's about balance
and don't forget that a lot of these things are related to the soil type, for instance, clay is a very mineral rich because it is negatively charged and holds onto many minerals, that also makes it very dense and sticky when wet and very hard and strong when dry
sand retains minerals really badly, because silica (which is what most sand is made of), is very non-reactive, minerals and water just flow right past it to the groundwater, the benefit of sand though is that it is really easy to work in because.
15-25% clay (Lutum) content,
rest consisting of fine sand and organic matter (4-20% organic matter is good)
and a good microorganism life (pesticides/fungicides, using machinery, and generally doing anything to soil at all tends to be bad for microorganisms like worms, bugs, bacteria, fungi,
and of course, your temperature, how well the ground can handle water (is it in a high area, did you just plow it, is it in a low point in the landscape, where is groundwater, is it polluted with metals/pesticides
good soil for farming is just a balanced, well rootable (the plant can not easily root in heavy clay but it can root too lightly and easily in sand), comfortable temperature, containing ENOUGH (it's a saturation thing) organic matter (organic matter is just decomposed once-living stuff that is now giving its nutrients to the soil), with the right amount of water
I can’t believe how simultaneously correct and incorrect this post is. Amazing really. For all practical purposes anon here is pretty much spot on but some of the things about clay being negatively charged and sticky isn’t always true. And then the part about sand just kind of trails off into the aether. Fascinating. There are two main categories of clay, fat clay and lean clay. Fat clays are like anon described, sticky and hard when dried. Lean clays however aren’t very sticky more like finer silt. It’s an important distinction to make because fat clays will swell with moisture and form mud cracks and preferred pathways for water infiltration, not so good for green bois. If you’re certain the soil isn’t poop you can run a bit on your teeth to help determine grain size. Clays feel smooth, silts are slightly gritty, and sand is very gritty, obviously.
“Good” soil depends on what you want to do with it. Obviously we’re discussing in reference to growing plants but some plants need different soil types. Tomatoes like acidic free draining soils, carrots should be in sandy nutrient deficient soils to prevent the development of multiple taproots. Most things do well in what is termed ‘loam’ on the USDA soil maps. Loam is basically what you get when you follow ‘s recommendations. You should check the pH and also how well the soil drains water before you attempt to make any amendments. Amend the soil towards better drainage and neutral to slightly acidic pH. Organic content is good for raising acidity and adding nutrients for garden soils I really don’t think you can have too much organic content.
Be careful making soil amendments especially when you’re starting out with a clay heavy soil. Mixing in sand is the obvious response here but you need to make sure that you mix it deeply enough or with a drainage path so that you haven’t created a bowl for water to pool up.
>for instance, clay is a very mineral rich because it is negatively charged and holds onto many minerals, that also makes it very dense and sticky when wet and very hard and strong when dry
Is this really true? I thought clay was "mineral rich" simply because it has a higher surface area:volume ratio
IE: sand is technically just as mineral rich as clay, but with clay the plant's roots get to touch more of it because of higher surface area
>I thought clay was "mineral rich" simply because it has a higher surface area:volume ratio
It’s a lot more complicated than that if you really dig into it and depends on pH, cation species, clay mineralogy, and several other factors. But basically both are correct. Cation exchange capacity is increased with SA:V increasing and the cations are held in place due to some clay minerals naturally having a net negative electrical charge.
>sand is technically just as mineral rich as clay
Can also be correct since ‘sand’ can refer to everything from clean beach sand that’s 100% quartz to glacial deposits that have 20% passing a No. 200 sieve and 3 inch gravels. Sedimentary provenance comes into play then, quartz isn’t very easily broken down and has little cation exchange capacity but sands from basalt rich areas has more iron, magnesium, and other heavier elements and weather into clays more easily.
I have another question:
Suppose I have good microbe-active soil in my backyard
I take a gallon of it and put it in my house for 2 years. Never water it or anything
Then I try to grow plants in it.
What would happen? Would the plants suck because the microbes are dead? Or would the microbes still be there, just low population and they need time to wake up and repopulate? Or maybe the microbes aren't dead at all, and the plant growth would be totally unaffected?
no idea. but I successfully leavened a dough with dry yeast almost ten years old so it's possible at least something would survive
>but I successfully leavened a dough with dry yeast almost ten years old
how do you know it wasn't just wild yeast from the air?
I don't but sometimes even nonexpired yeast is dead and the dough doesn't rise so I don't really trust the air method
I've done something similar with a soil bag and saw markedly worse results.
Carbon.
Good soil has a proper balance of mineral content (which biomatter adds to), nitrogen fixing bacteria, and sufficient drainage to retain moisture but not stagnate and cause rot. But soil technically isn't a necessity at all, otherwise hydroponics/aeroponics wouldn't work.