2 Minute Turf Talk - How To Bring Back a Dead Soil

Lawrence Mayhew, Jack Higgins, and Joel Simmons talk about jump starting a biologically weak soil. In this Turf Talk we discuss how you cannot add organic matter to the soil to get humus. Instead, you build humus biologically through the root exudates that come from photosynthesis and through microbial activity in the soil. In many turfgrass environments the biological profile is not strong enough to get this process rolling, which is why carbon based fertility has taken off so strongly in our industry. To get biology going it often takes an investment of carbon inputs to get microbes working at a pace that allows ligneous carbon in the soil, like roots and thatch, to digest down to humus. This could take a year or two. Once the biology is working at full speed the inputs can be reduced, the system works to hold moisture, nutrients are released, and pathogens have competition to keep them in check. We make the analogy of a healthy human diet to a healthy plant diet and explain how if we feed the soil with minerals and stimulate microbial populations plant health is significantly improved.
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[@Frog13799]

The problem with clip is A:Soil is never dead B:All Soil is at its full capacity of microbes that it can support microbes need 3 things, water food and air. Not having compacted Soil is important, rain and irrigation compact Soil, solution=mulch, feeding microbes= compost. Once that's in place, you are on your way, no EM, molasses compost activators, snake oil etc. Is needed. They are a marketing gimmic without any science to back it