Secrets to Successful Soil - Nutrients Supply and Demand
6Welcome! I'm Sue with Get to the Farm. Today we’re going to talk about one of the most important ingredients for healthy soil: organic matter. Organic matter is the magical stuff that transforms a pile of sand or fine rock particles, or a lump of potter's clay, into fertile soil. It’s just plants in various stages of decomposition, and it can do wonders for your garden.
Think of what you see on the ground in a forest: fallen leaves and twigs, bits and pieces of leaves, and just above the soil, a layer of dark brown leaf mold. All this is organic matter. Even manure is really just processed plants – pieces of straw are usually still visible in fresh manure.
Organic matter is essential for maintaining a steady supply of nutrients, especially nitrogen and potassium. Fresh plant residues and manures supply all nutrients, while well-decomposed forms and humus supply micronutrients and low levels of nitrogen, phosphorus, and sulfur but very little calcium, magnesium, or potassium.
But organic matter can do much more than just supply nutrients. It improves soil’s ability to absorb rainfall or irrigation water while reducing surface runoff, which improves soil moisture-holding ability. It provides food for beneficial organisms such as earthworms, helps suppress harmful soil organisms such as nematodes and some diseases, and buffers the soil pH while increasing plants’ ability to tolerate acid/alkaline soils. It supplies nutrients in an ideal or slow-release form, supplies micronutrients lacking from most commercial fertilizers, helps prevent vital nutrients from washing away, and reduces your fertilizer requirements.
Organic matter is transformed into vitamins, growth hormones, and other substances that stimulate plant growth and soil organisms, aerates the soil, increasing pore space for good air and water movement, improves structure and drainage of all soils but especially those high in clay, and improves sandy soil by increasing the retention of water and nutrients. It reduces soil erosion, helps keep soil cooler in the summer and warmer in the winter, and helps inactivate toxins such as pesticides and heavy metals content in contaminated soils.
Organic matter includes fresh plant residues such as when crops are turned under at the end of a growing season, roots and stems left behind after harvests, or the leaves on the florist floor. Rough compost is a particularly useful form for gardens. The final stage of organic matter, when microorganisms have processed the plants until they’re completely unrecognizable, is called humus. Humus is a fine, dark substance that only looks relatively uniform. Chemically, it’s varied and complex. It’s much more resistant to breaking down than earlier stages of organic matter, and some forms last many years. Humus gives rich, fertile soil, and its dark color promotes healthy plant growth in many ways, from keeping existing soil nutrients available to enhancing soil structure for good root growth.
Gardening speeds up and simultaneously removes plant material from the cycle shown. It helps microbes work more effectively by supplying air through digging soil and a steady supply of moisture through watering. But efficiency is good when your soil is well stocked, and harvesting fruits and vegetables, mowing the lawn and removing the clippings, raking leaves, and cleaning out beds at the end of the season takes away organic matter from circulation. If you don't add organic matter, its level and your soil quality will drop quickly.
Organic matter is the key to healthy and fertile soil. It provides plants with the nutrients they need to grow and thrive, while also improving soil structure and water-holding capacity. By adding organic matter to your garden, you can improve soil fertility, reduce the need for synthetic fertilizers, and promote healthy plant growth. There are various sources of organic matter and techniques for incorporating it into the soil, so choose the ones that work best for your garden and your gardening style.
Thanks for watching, happy gardening! hit that subscribe button- see you next time!