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market-farming - Re: Sawdust as Mulch:

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  • From: SCook21809 AT aol.com
  • To: market-farming AT franklin.oit.unc.edu
  • Subject: Re: Sawdust as Mulch:
  • Date: Tue, 1 Feb 2000 13:36:55 EST


<< Just what are you warning against? If its helpful for perenials, what is
your concern with it when using it in the garden on your annuals? >>

Soil Life! If you believe that soil is a lifeless and benign substrate
that grows plants when there is a chemical balance between the nitrogen,
calcium, potassium, etc., then my caution is meaningless for your paradigm.
Growers often disagree on methodologies based on their world views.
I believe that plants are not fed by the soil. They are fed by the
activities of bacteria, fungi, and micro critters living in the soil. In my
mind, the reason a healthy soil doesn't have pest problems is because there
are so many life forms in the soil eating the pests, they cannot compete.
Plants manufacture sugars, hormones and chemicals which attract certain
synergetic life forms to their rhizophere so that they can exchange nutrients.
Annuals thrive best in bacterially mediated soils. Perennials prosper
best in fungally mediated soils. Brasicas give off root exudates that
actually kill fungi because they grow so much better in bacterially dominated
soils. As such, I always follow my broccoli by potatoes because I know there
are no fungal pathogens in that soil.
It would be like me walking from New York to LA for a bacteria to move
1\4 inch. On the other hand, many fungi are capable of growing hypha, which
are long threadlike filaments extending up to ten feet, that transport
nutrients to plant roots in exchange for exudates. Perennial roots are
around long enough to establish a long-term symbiotic relationship with
fungi. Annuals are not.
By mulching the soil surface I encourage fungal growth in the soil. By
lightly mixing compost and green manure into the soil I am supporting the
soil bacteria. I can still mulch after the tilling in order to protect the
soil from solarization and to retain moisture. But over time, if I just
plant through mulches my annuals will become less productive and resistant to
disease.

Art Biggert
Ocean Sky Farm
Bainbridge Island, WA






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