Mulch vs Compost - An Accidental Experiment

Over the past few years, we've been producing a lot of garlic and experimenting with a number of natural growing techniques. As a result, we ended up accidentally comparing 4 slightly different growing conditions, all at the same time:
1. Fresh hay mulch covering natural topsoil
2. Old spoiled hay mulch covering natural topsoil
3. Fresh hay mulch covering composted-amended topsoil
4. Old spoiled hay mulch covering composted-amended topsoil
In this video, we discuss the surprising results.
---
Consider supporting our channel on Patreon, to help us create more frequent videos. / backtoreality

[@laurieanne9712]

I so love this channel! No distracting music, just the always well-thought-out message.

[@philipripper1522]

the lack of loud bass beats startling the heck out of me and waking up the house does mean I love this channel a little extra

[@777AMBASSADORA]

Same

[@peterk.6093]

Hi, I might share with you some tradition of planting from central Europe, namely Slovakia. We have rather poor soil here and some specific techniques to compensate for it. First, we tend to avoid planting the same or even similar crops at the same place the next year. They take the nutrients necessary for their kind from the soil and leave there less of it for the next year. In addition, the harmful insects and microorganisms might be residual and highly concentrated from the previous year. So first, the difference might be at least partially be due to the fact that on the part of the field the garlic has been planted previously. This gets me to the other technique used in Slovakia which means adding compost or manure into the soil not every year but only before specific "first year" crops, like cabbage, potatoes or tomatoes, which need a lot of nitrogen. Next year no manure/compost added and planting there "second year" things like carrots etc. And the third year planting onions or garlic which do really need poor soils. When you have not enough compost/manure for even third year, you can plant beans or peas in order to enrich the soil at least a bit and plant "first year crops" again. Also Buckwheat is said to improve some poor soils, which is being said to "pull up" the minerals from the deeper soils and leave it in its roots in the upper soil for the next crops. That does not explain better result with the older hay, I think. On more thing. In order to have good results we tend to look for varieties that come (or are said to have come) from Russia. All crops that can survive in those harsh conditions usually thrive very well in more moderate climate of central Europe. So usually when you find local variety of something with adjective "russian" in the name, it is a resistant and well yealding variety to plant.

[@ellisonrepair]

Maybe the new mulch is stealing nutrient to help break it down, where the old mulch is already inoculated. Mycelium in the aged mulch has a symbiotic relationship with the garlic. Just a thought. :)

[@michaelgraham768]

Awesome thought!! It's a two for one (negative) because it isn't breaking down as fast and is taking up some nutrients/beneficial bacteria in order to start to break down

[@jimbarron9939]

totally correct. The most important of the nutrients it depletes initially (then later adds back more than it took of) is BIOAVAILABLE nitrogen

[@ecoeze]

The bacteria would be increasing to break down the nitrogen in the new mulch so you would get some nitrogen draw down until the nitrogen was used up, and then you would get more green tops and less bulb I would imagine. It's a fine balance getting nitrogen to work for you and not against you. lol

[@samflory]

I've always been told that when compost is breaking down the micro organisms doing it pull nutrients out of the soil. When it finishes composting it returns the nutrients to the soil with what ever is in the compost. Thus the worst thing you can do is put unfinished compost into your soil and immediately plant. It you plow in clover or the like you need to wait for it to finish breaking before planting. Thus why you want to compost/plow in your cover crop before it gets woody.

[@libbyjensen1858]

I don't have any brilliant ideas for why you got the results you did, but I sure am happy to see another one of your videos! I always learn so much and I really, really like how you carefully lay out your discussion points. I hope we see more of your videos during this long winter season! Thank you for posting this and welcome back!

[@jadedone6900]

I love this channel's thoughtfulness, curiosity and desire to share knowledge for the benefit of all. Keep up the good work!

[@lasivianleandros3558]

I love it. This is exactly the kind of experimentation that I find awesome!

[@mariovizcaino]

Derek, If only it were just for promoting this high enthusiastic level of productive experienced comments as a tribute of your excellent work, Kudos!!! Subbed.

[@ZERONEINNOVATIONS]

There are bunch of gardening channel on KZbin, but this is the only channel that I'm subscribing. Really well organized, good visual information, clear and easy to understand voice. (I'm Japanese, not English native)

[@Abzarad]

Many thanks. The illustration is brilliant and the approach and analysis are scientific.

[@vesnamaneva2602]

Great experiment and as always superb graphics and production. You really stand out from the crowd.

[@charlesdang2557]

Derrick, your videos are incredibly insightful. You are a model farmer of the new millenium, incorporating science and technology and communicating the information in truly masterful ways (ref writing in soil). Best of all, you share your findings openly and encourage feedback, something that would be unheard of from farmers a century ago. At the very least, you inspire me to go spend more time in the garden. Keep it up!

[@funny-video-YouTube-channel]

The mycelium in the mulch made it work !

[@mikamika4456]

Wow that's interesting. Thank you for the thought !!! Always looking forward to your videos, I find it really educatinal (but not boring) 😊

[@shigatsuningen]

I must say, having binge watched your videos for a week now I am amazed at the level of detail without unnecessary talk. Secondly, to fully do a valid experiment on this video content to avoid any issues with soil base and such consider doing four rows of each experiment and then follow up by another four rows the same. Resulting in 8 rows interchanging the soil types between each row. This discards matters such as watering, running of water and such. If you try different crops on the same soil, interchange crop types of different varieties of garlic in a 90 degree angle over the soil types. Thus making a true test bed with soil types varied north to south and crops varied east to west. Thus testing all crops on all soils. Love the shows. Now I just have to dig a bit deeper finding some energy to weed out my own field of 61 acres to get creative spurs going.

[@ksiezycowyTurlak]

You guys are awesome! It's really interesting to listen to you talking about potatoes, garlic, or battle between hay and compost ;)

[@Oenloveslife]

Fascinating! Please continue to share thy intentional and unintentional experimentations!

[@maximumfay]

Love your films. I allways look forward to see them.

[@LivingRedefined]

Love your videos! The animations make everything so easy to understand!

[@slaplapdog]

Wow, this comment section is awesome! So much knowledge, mostly polite. I've subbed two channels since I started reading!

[@bonniehoke-scedrov4906]

Fun video! Love the beauty of that wintry scene behind you! Thanks!

[@davidsteinart]

Man you did a great job of explaining all of that. It was really easy to follow and understand the differences between the various plots in spite of the fact that it was pretty complex

[@Giove83]

Amazing little video iv learned all I needed to make a great compost pile Thankyou

[@patientwolf4444]

Intelligent video. I enjoy science and gardening. Excellent way to combine the two in a comprehensible video.

[@Sraccoon68]

I can't really comment on the different composting methods, but I sure am liking that winter wonderland view! 😃

[@anamayor5750]

I just want to say for an unintentional experiment you guys have a great record keeping

[@rudyzepeda2800]

What a well explained video. Terrific.

[@otter4x4]

Excellent video, excellent graphics. Subscribed!

[@wazzup105]

Sharp observation. Nice hypothesis. Good work.

[@imo254]

Hi..what a great presentation..clear n without dithering...I'm new to gardening and have never planted garlic but I gotta say bro..u made it so interesting..excellant analysis of the situation u stumbled upon..keep it up sir.thank you

[@whyme5024]

Beautiful graphics. Appreciate the effort

[@claudiaw9246]

Fascinating! Have you had a chance to taste the garlic yet? Would be interesting to hear if the smaller bulbs have a more intense flavour, or whether there's no real difference.

[@Cheapers-Vac]

To sum up the comments...we applaud and encourage your efforts. There is a true bond growing here , in truth. My 2 cents. :)

[@homeschoolingfromtheheart9245]

Thank you! It’s very interesting and encouraging for new farmers

[@tomnekuda3818]

I've been composting for 50+ years.....I find this to be interesting in the way that it turned out. I would have ranked them just as you did. The only thing that perhaps I could see happening is that perhaps the newer combination could be due to trace minerals vs compost. I have raised garlic that came from the "old country"....the steppes of Russia for nearly 40 years and I find that it likes more freshly broken soils, generally. This is by no means a given as differing years have surprised me. Let us know what happens in the future.

[@thisorthat7626]

Tom Nekuda, that is interesting information about growing garlic. There is so much we "used" to know that has been forgotten. Trace minerals are key too. food for thought.

[@gtherbert]

Just found this channel, brilliant lovely and well produced

[@maxmuskat9863]

amazing video mate! loved it. very informative

[@1010JenFriend]

This is so beyond awesome!

[@suzannehager7036]

Excellent presentation!

[@annjones3672]

Interesting. Ruth Stout always used "ruined" hay on her garden, although she stated that she did that because she could get it free. She also stated that it didn't matter what type of mulch was used and that compost was unnecessary. This kind of proves your results. If you compare new hay to rotted hay, you can see the worms and other beneficial nutrients that are ready to be released into the soil. Well, that's my 2 cents! Love your videos. Thank you for making them.

[@gilshelley9183]

As a professional soil scientist I suggest one be careful of drawing too many conclusions without using strict scientific methodology. Observational experiments have severe limitations.

[@poppete]

But isn't old hay just hay that is in a state of transition to becoming compost as it breaks down - I liked the French guys answer backed up by the Spanish guy about how garlic grows better in poor soil.

[@annjones3672]

@@poppete, yes you are correct about the ruined hay being closer to being compost. I heard the same about garlic liking poor soil.

[@ideotek]

Ruth Stout also started her project on land that had been heavily manured (I don't know if it was composted) for ten years previous.

[@annjones3672]

@@ideotek You are correct. She had been using the same ground for her garden for years, so it would have been amended the whole time. Ruth was a big believer in putting nutrients back into the soil. The only thing she did different was to quit tilling and cover with hay.

[@Mouseend]

Wow its really interesting, I toally agree with your theroies :) And btw I love your way to build your videos, love your way to explain and how u do your animated explenations :D Keep on mate :D

[@tiberiumnp8030]

Thanks to your channel, I built our first two hugelkultur beds this year and covered them during the summer with grass cuttings (although our grass includes also things like clover, dandelion, etc). Planted 130 organic garlic bulbs a while back. Let's see if anything comes up next year! Also todo for next year is to find a source for hay. We begun composting as well, so the beds will probably get a layer of that too. Thank you gain for your content, it is really inspiring and helpful. Wish you and your wife all the best.

[@BackToReality]

Sounds awesome! Thanks for sharing, and please let us know how it turns out!

[@chibywallah]

Excellent video!!

[@floriebrown2089]

After reading some of the comments it got quite confusing, but there are also a few good tips the most beneficial system is to cover the ground with what ever you have. If you use cardboard that is often thrown away it will weaken and kill what ever is growing below. The covered ground will entice earth worm that will come and till the soil for you and you should place your compost or manure on top of the cardboard, cover it if you have a problem with the nutrient washing away or leaching out. In spring or about 4 months later you will be smiling because you do not need to dig just plant and do remove the persistent weed they will be easy to pull out an this is NO DIG.

[@TheRipeTomatoFarms]

YUP. Sheet mulching.....it just WORKS.

[@jimbarron9939]

"Hay bale" farming is similar - haven't tried it my self but it appears to get good results. Take bales of hay, pour nitrogen fertilizer on them and they allegedly compost in a few weeks, about the same as hay with an organic source of nitrogen. THen you just plant directly in the top of the bale. The composting kills seeds in the hay, the plants are at the top of the hay and what's beneath the hay was killed by the lack of light. That's the theory. Haven't tried it myself.

[@HousesBuiltTiny]

Well produced and explained

[@SamaMuslimVillage]

High quality videos as always.

[@tomasschn9858]

I might have a theory: The compost-treated soil has complex soil interactions this is a great soil for all plants that need to absorb nutrients. The old straw is partly composted. The nutrients from the old straw are more available for plants than the fresh straw. Great video, I love your content!!

[@phh.8393]

Interesting and direct to the point ☺️

[@divawarrior6402]

Always love to see your videos! :D

[@D0J0Master]

Great vid!

[@doinacampean9132]

How very interesting! I wonder if the same would be true for potatoes! Fun fact, in Toronto I still have kale and collard greens that survived almost 2 weeks under snow (and very mild frost). Kale has become almost candy-sweet!

[@raymondmay7304]

Best channel ever.

[@samerazar]

That guy is highly knowledgeable. Good job

[@jeanmartox3570]

un bonjour de france !!! superbe video explicative tres pédagogique sans fioriture!! bravo a vous et encore merci!!!

[@TheWelshGardener]

Great video as always, Derrick! I love the animations in your videos so much and every time I watch your channels it inspires me to make more of my own videos! Thank you and keep it up!😃😁 Owen :)

[@BackToReality]

Thanks Owen! I've just subscribed to your channel, so please do make more videos! :)

[@TheWelshGardener]

@@BackToReality thank you so much! I certainly will, I'm trying my best to juggle school exams and KZbin!😁😁

[@BackToReality]

@@TheWelshGardener I get that, life is busy for us too. And school is pretty important, so KZbin can wait until after your exams. ;) But you obviously have a lot of garden knowledge (and passion) to share, so do keep it up when you have time!

[@TheWelshGardener]

@@BackToReality thank you! I might try and go to university to study Geography then go from there. I'm trying to follow something similar to Huw Richards (Huw's nursery)!😁

[@berti642]

I’ve just bought garlic to plant and come home to this video just by chance. Now I’m inclined to plant in different ways to see if there’s a difference. I have a clay soil with rich dark topsoil. Some raised beds and access to hay, homemade compost and manure. I’ve never grown garlic before so this should be fun.

[@thecatwhosawstars]

You are going to have some seriously amazing soil next year.

[@ad-rock603]

Great video. The One Straw Revolution book also confirms your findings. He uses little or no compost

[@ajgomez3506]

Very interesting results! I think it would be interesting to include an additional trial of the sod flipping method with the new/old hay sandwiched underneath. I just wonder if there are major differences between top level composting vs subterranean, and what differences that might make in crop yield. Thank you for all of the amazing content!

[@PetalsonthePavingSlabs]

Interesting stuff, especially when you consider the difference in the hay, rain water etc.

[@ursamajor1936]

TY for this great video!

[@frithar]

Love love love your channel

[@downshift4life]

Bro, I love your nerdiness. You're my favorite nerd in the whole world, after myself.

[@BackToReality]

Lol, and this is one of my favorite comments yet!

[@DK-qx3lv]

Love your videos! Subbed

[@jeffgrim2331]

Very well done.

[@agod5608]

Great video. I am getting ready to grow garlic.

[@ameisherry]

Love your experiment :) thank you for sharing :)

[@1gr8lpta]

excellent video. thank you for the incite.

[@jennywood3450]

Awesome! I too would have guessed add you did. Perhaps the difference is that the nutrients in the compost were used up the first year and the old hay had more nutrients as a result.

[@halsteward1003]

Thanks for the Humble approach. Seriously. With over 6 billion Very little critters in handful of soil. Only way to look at it. I've always reduced topic down to mulch creates fungal activity. While compost is Bacterial activity. My method today is using garden fork, put it into soil as deep as possible, much like broadfork. Only fill the void - gaps - holes with compost. Cover top with compost. Add worms n castings to cover seed. Cover all with mulch. I don't really know the exact ratios for bacteria to fungus. But with All due respect. Most others don't know either.

[@soniasarina]

Just discovered this channel while searching for Charles Dowdings Aspargus video. :) Love the way your videos are made and love your flipping over technique!! Will try for our sweetcorn later this year, as we have a huge area ready to be expanded but not enough compost for the “no dig/no till” method. :)

[@marcduquette5617]

Great videos!

[@intheshell35ify]

I love it when a person is completely aware of the logical fallacy that is letting them see what they think they see, and couldn't care less.

[@the_earthway]

Thanks for sharing!

[@rkesler3567]

That was very cool!

[@TheMalinese101]

I am literally two weeks into gardening - so not much insight from my end. I live in the tropics and just so decided - out of plain curiosity, to see if I can get my bell pepper and melon seeds to germinate - ok, mostly because I bought tomatoes that had already germinated seeds inside. Nevertheless, without any prior knowledge - I am city slicker from continental Europe - i laid out the seeds onto kitchen paper and the seeds started sprouting within hours! Now, I didn't know what to do next and youtubed my way into seedy adolescence - i separated most but ran out of containers to plant them in and left some huddled together - the roots had already penetrated the kitchen paper, so, I left that as a whole package. - Some I left sitting in water, others I put as a bunch into a relatively large pot. Despite coming from the same parent and all of them growing under the same conditions - they do NOT grow at the same rate - some are in small pots, some in plastic cups all are equally exposed to UV and warmth and humidity (despite it being the rainy season and the sunny hours are limited; the ones growing in small plastic cups (red) grow the fastest - however, not all of them do. The ones in little pots grow nearly at the same rate - alas the smaller sized cups seem to retain more warmth and are thus more conducive for growth? But the ones i didn't separate grow the fastest - again - not all at the same rate, some are just lagging behind. The only difference between the ones in soil and the ones in water is, that the ones in soil stand strong like little soldiers while the ones in water spread out like freedom loving hippies - again, some are lagging behind. The soil I used for this was soil I had lying around for a couple of years already, I had it stowed away in a larger container (in its original plastic bag (opened) on the balcony - not sure what time would have done to the nutrition). My melon seeds are much faster - all the same parent, all the same conditions but I had already run out of soil for the bell peppers - so I bought cocopeat - which I later I ran out of, too and then topped up with what is called potting soil - nothing special, the cheapest bag of soil I could get - I am not blessed with green thumbs and have a tendency to even kill cacti, so, let's not go overboard with super soil - so, i used that soil to mix with the cocopeat and some to just top up and others to plant the seeds in it straight - those that have just the soil without the peat do nicest - but again - not all. After two weeks of growing over a hundred seedlings on my balcony - I am observing some of them growing faster than others - though the conditions are mostly the same - the medium in which they are growing, seems to make no particular difference, as some are doing just fine, if not better with just cotton balls and kitchen paper - in short - I've been doing this for only two weeks but my observation thus far is, some are just stronger than others - regardless of the medium.

[@edengardencasamancegambiahomes]

Interesting method I will surely make use of it

[@trollforge]

That was a very interesting result!

[@gilshelley9183]

Remember that one of the more difficult variables in your observations is the effect of mitigating the cation exchange capacity of your soil with high carbon to nitrogen ratios in addition to increases in carbonic acid due to breakdown of fresh hay. As s soil scientist I can think of many other uncontrolled variables. You really need a well structured control bed and lab testing to do this right. I appreciate your powerful observations. The rudiment of science. This explains why the relatively new agriculture technique of "chop and drop" is proving to be so effective among other mechanical reasons.

[@mithim99]

What is the cation exchange capacity? Do you have any tipps for vegetable production you have as a soil scientist? Why is chop and drop superior to other things?

[@annaabroad5762]

Interesting. Thanks for sharing !

[@romanvansanchez1]

Great teacher !!!!!

[@batucarumbata]

Gratitude love your video. I leave in the Caribbean land. I will try.

[@snailsgarden3055]

Great video

[@snailsgarden3055]

You're videos are high quality and very informative and entertaining too! !

[@santiagosatori]

The reason why the unamended soil plus the old hay had the slightly larger bulbs was because that soil had not been disturbed for over a year. If you leave soil undisturbed then the mycorrhizae and other soil life can knit the living network which will help the garlic plants to grow. I have found the best way to have large vegetables is by using a no-dig method. This means not tilling the soil and laying compost directly on top keeping the soil undisturbed. By keeping the soil undisturbed it actually reduces the need for weeding.

[@kenbrown438]

This is very interesting !!!!

[@najibashekib122]

It could be because new hay has shiny surface and doesn't hold moister verses old hay which has broken down a bit and retains moisture. Loved the animation explanation. Great video 👌

[@tammcd]

Since the old hay won out over "nutrients", I'd suspect that the life-forms in the old hay (fungi, presumably) made the significant difference.

[@wildedibles819]

Use what ya got lol... Nice snow... Nicely put together...

[@rodneyjack3309]

Fungi in the old hay. I am a maker of fungal compost tea and the old hay would have a higher level of fungi which is very beneficial. If you fallow with thick old mulch you would see very good results too and less weeds. The fungi is also very attractive to worms as is more broke down matrrial so more casings. Great vid!

[@ronaldjones285]

The results you got were EXACTLY what I would have expected. The factor you did not mention was Nitrogen Depletion of the Compost that mixed into your soil, caused by burying grass underground. While that grass decays and slowly turns into compost, it is taking Nitrogen from the Compost so that leaves less Nitrogen for the Garlic. We are VERY careful to never bury any Mulch under ground or under compost because of the Nitrogen Depletion issue. We live in Phoenix AZ and have Citrus and Tropical Trees. We dress the top of our trees with fresh Compost so the nutrients flow down to the roots as we flood irrigate. We also put a layer of about 6 inches of mulch on top of our trees for moisture retention. We are VERY careful to rake ALL of the mulch from the trees before putting Compost on top of the ground, so that Mulch is not buried below compost. Then we rake the Mulch back on top of the tree, OVER the compost.

[@BackToReality]

We do the same in the rest of our garden. I really like your emphasis on the specific order of the layers: Composted material on the bottom, and non-composted material on top. Just like nature.

[@ecoeze]

Very interesting. You could not have had a better result if you had tried. Great comparison and great breakdown of that comparison. To be absolutely sure of the results you would have to soil test everything and that would be too expensive. I'll be interested to see it repeated, but difficult to replicate exactly the same test especially as this was an accidental test that you had not actually planned. And there can be so many varying factors. Particularly the comment from Mike M. in France which is what I would have assumed also.

[@jnprfilms]

Good info

[@yuaanrai6058]

Wow great findings

[@amiteshpandey6166]

Nice observation

[@DovidM]

Your results make sense. A lot of the nutrients in compost are leached out. Even if you compost in place, some of the nutrients are washed past the root zone of the garlic. Old hay as it breaks down may be releasing nutrients through the growing season. Fertilization is hit or miss. If the crop is not in the ground when the nutrients are released, they probably are gone when the crop is ready to absorb them.

[@petekooshian5595]

I'm actually not surprised at these results considering the things Ruth Stout wrote about! It's cool to see in action though! :)

[@ColossusChris76]

Big fan of what you guys doing with the channel. I have a thought as to why the bulbs in the spoiled hay were bigger. I think that the fungal network is more established making the transfer of water and nutrients readily available for the early stages of the plants. You know like humans. How a big part of how we grow depends on our earliest moments? Idk, sounded right in my head. Big thanks for the info and inspirational momentum to get my garden going!

[@barbaracarbone4658]

Wow... That's amazing 👍

[@jenniferturner7293]

Really enjoyed the graphics to go along with the explanation! Very interesting, definitely looking forward to your intentional experiment. Is there hay that could be too moldy to be a benefit?

[@MeliponiculturaenCostaRica]

Interesting results I also was thinking what you first thought, but it is true, here in the tropics, if you don't add organic matter on each planting, it is as if there was not any left in the soil after each year, and since hay sprouts weeds, I never use it, only chipped wood from my trees, but if I use the bottom of the chipping pile on a row that one really grows best as it is as some extra boost of new partially decayed matter.

[@jimputnam2044]

I have had vegetable gardens for years, I have seen a big difference in one row from end to end and from one side of the garden to the other over 40 FT. We try to spread compost equally but like you said some is naturally older than the other. Bottom of compost pile is rotted more than the top and sides.