The Evils of Garden Soil Crusting, w/ Innovative Prevention, Biochar, Manure Mats

Soil Crusting is a major problem for farmers and gardeners and has been a big problem in every soil that I've ever worked with.
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Water falling directly on the surface of soil pulverizes the structure created by bugs, organic matter, worms and roots creating a mud or paste that dries to a compacted crust. The soil crust causes water to sink in more slowly and not as deeply, or just run off. It also prevents the free exchange of air with the soil, which should be porous and contain a certain amount of air space.
There are various ways to break up or prevent soil crusting, though they will obviously vary with the type of soil you have. The crust can be broken up with a hoe, preferably every time the bed is watered, or after significant rain, both of which will cause the problem to return.
It can be prevented by covering the surface of the soil with anything that will break the fall of the drops and keep them from pounding the soil. Mulches of any kind or any other physical barrier. I prefer coarsely sifted compost, coffee grounds, ashes, lime and oystershell, or anything else fine that will break down into plant food.
If enough chunky organic matter or other substance is added it will create a permanent artificial structure that can prevent soil crusting, but it will take huge amounts. If that is compost, it is usually impractical to achieve high enough organic matter content, but if it is something that does not rot, like charcoal or burned clay, it will require a one time application only so it may be feasible to achieve rates in the realm of 50% to prevent the problem completely.
One last solution is something I came up with a few years ago called shit mulching or manure mats. I make manure tea as a liquid fertilizer and refill the container over and over again as the tea is used. When most of the nutrients are leached out, I mix up the sludge and dump it on the bed. It creates a long term mat like thick paper that is very porous and completely protects the soil from being pounded by water drops. It also helps slow evaporation.
Soil microorganisms and wil be happier if there is a free exchange of air with the soil and plants will be happier as a consequence.

[@karenmergner3117]

This video solved a problem we have in NC, where heavy rains this year made flower beds look sick. Now I know why. Thank you.

[@SkillCult]

It's possible. Plants really don't do well in heavily crusted beds in my experience.

[@DavidWestBgood2ppl]

The manure matt just kept soaking it in... I had to laugh at the patience. Your body looked completely freeze framed while the wind kept blowing the grass. LOL! Thanks for the great videos!!!

[@SkillCult]

yeah, well I don't think I can beat this guy, but you'll have to be patient just to watch him stare without blinking for 3 minutes kzbin.info/www/bejne/h4LLanVpnah2rJY

[@jaxsonalberto8378]

A tip: you can watch movies on kaldrostream. Me and my gf have been using them for watching loads of movies recently.

[@lucianoevan1157]

@Jaxson Alberto yea, have been watching on kaldroStream for years myself :D

[@VanderlyndenJengold]

Weird - yesterday I was preparing beds for planting and I noticed some crusting. Today, this video pops up. I didn't do any searches just a coincidence.

[@snookmeister55]

No crust here, ever, due to what you said, charcoal, organic matter and mulch. I haven't cultivated in a long time. Fortunately, I have access to a lot of free organic matter. Charcoal, on the other hand, is a lot of work. Good show.

[@SkillCult]

cultivation is a double edged sword and an endless vicious cycle. It can be useful though and sometimes its sort of the only choice.

[@waynetadlock9719]

Amen to "Breathable, well structured soil."

[@toadstkr]

Good information I mulch and throw all kinds of stuff in my soil. It seams to help

[@TheEmptynester]

Thanks for this topic. I will have to try the manure mat. We had 3 months of rain last Summer that compacted and washed off some of my good soil. So I had to break it up after the potato harvest this year. We had high heat and no rain for June. This year has brought some really abnormal results. Your apples look beautiful. I am glad you have patients. LOL

[@SkillCult]

The manure mats are great if it works easily into your situation. I have the manure and make the tea anyway, so the mats are just a bonus and with hardly any extra effort. I think you might be able to add other stuff too, especially grass clippings. I'm so patient....

[@TheEmptynester]

I good use grass clippings and in fall cover with mowed leaves. So I was surprised to find soil still compacted in some places.

[@SkillCult]

Every soil and situation is different I guess. We all just have to observe and adapt to ours.

[@simplifygardening]

Great video just subbed Tony

[@SkillCult]

thanks, welcome aboard!

[@alexg5092]

ok, it's been 5 years and now I'm left wondering how those apple trees at the end of the video turned out.

[@SkillCult]

I picked 3 of them today that are fruiting for the first time. Should have a tasting video out soon! Most still have not fruited yet.

[@joansmith9072]

In texas clay soil, when it drys, it crusts and cracks. The cracks can be 2 inches wide and a couple feet deep. So when it rains again, the water goes into the cracks, and you don't have so much runoff. This is terrible for a house's foundation, but I haven't heard any one talk about it as related to the soil and plants. I wonder if the cracks facilitate roots drying out and too much air in the subsoil. Is soil cracking a problem in your garden? What is your opinion on cardboard? I absolutely love it. I think it holds in moisture ( as long as you put it down when the soil is moist) and you don' need as much mulch. It really helps control weeds, and the earth worms love it. It is hands down my favorite way to expand my garden.

[@SkillCult]

I have loam here, but I've gardened in clay soils mostly before this and have had some cracking. I think cardboard is excellent for holding moisture. I've used it extensively for establishing trees. It's a pain in the garden though and gets kind of messy when it starts falling apart. I don't use it a lot anymore. I'm a little concerned about what is in it, all the glue and whatever else. It can work really good though.

[@chiefschillaxn1781]

planting cover crops will increase soil structure by making channels the water can flow down.

[@SkillCult]

Yeah, any cover for off seasons makes a big difference.

[@Mahia965]

Awesome video. Learnt alot here.

[@tragikk03]

do the youtube analytics show what time people stopped watching? what percentage didn't have the patience to endure until "are they done yet"? Those few seconds of you being silent made me realize I've been gogogo the past month or two. Appreciate you, fam

[@SkillCult]

Yes, those analytics are very detailed. Tweaking that is one of the best ways to grow a channel, but I don't think about it overly much. But if you can produce videos that modern, short attention span people will watch for a long time, the AI will show them to more people. someday I would like to somehow buy the time to be more of a content creator and put in the effort. For now, too much other stuff to do.

[@tragikk03]

@@SkillCult That's my problem as well - I'd like to start a channel as a way to meet like-minded people and share the little I know, but I'm already pushing it as is. For what it's worth, I can't speak for others, but I know I've found your content invaluable. I appreciate the time you already sacrifice to make these videos and share what you know/your ideas. I plan to join your patreon soon, once I've messed around enough with the garden I'm starting (you inspired it) to know what questions to ask. Thanks again and take care

[@jeremyfabila5431]

Love your videos, I hope it takes off for you soon! Any advice for a fallen 7 foot orange tree? With the past storms in CA, and the weight of the oranges on the tree, it just uprooted and fell over. Roots still seem to be intact...

[@SkillCult]

Dunno, might as well push it up and stake it in place and see what happens. And make a lot of orange juice! I'm jealous. Oranges require cover, though they'll grow down in the valley.

[@emlillthings7914]

Some time ago, doing some indoor growing, I found that coffegrounds creates a lot of soil-crusting. First times it's watered are fine, but it quickly gets a 'surface tension' that the water takes ages to get through. When it does, it pours through the soil in streams, and out the bottom, but barely moistening the soil (similar to what you mentioned.) Big mess, and plants still dry out much quicker than if the was actually watered. I had to see what was going on, so I used a transparent plastic bottle to run some tests, and it showed really well how the water, once it got through the surface and made a stream (or vein/road/river, whatever), the water would only go down these ways, while the rest remained more or less as dry. I used to solve it by watering a little, let sink, water again, until the pot would weigh as much as it should.... tried poking holes, tear the surface etc, but in the end, I just f'it,, and they slowly but surely died of neglect (spending hour+ to water a few pots killed that hobby) ,,,, but now that I have about 800-900 galleons of charcoal,,,,

[@SkillCult]

Any high organic potting soil will be hard to rewet once it dries out completely, because it has the repellant issue. Once it soaks up, it is excellent at grabbing more water, it's only whjen it's really dry. Charcoal can show the same effect, but I understand that it is supposed to get better as it ages into the soil. I use coffee groiunds on the surface as a sort of mulch for the most part. They don't seem to cause any issues there.

[@wheelsgonewild1286]

Never really considered soil crusting before. I remember my parents always complained about something like that. I remember my dad tilling the top of the beds by a hand trowel to loosen the soil... hmmm. Do you live in Canada for the Amazon link? I always learn something from your channel. Thank you.

[@SkillCult]

It used to be that people relied more on cultivation because irrigation was less common, or more difficult. Now that irrigation is easier people are more lax about cultivation I think are sort of forgetting that it as a standard practice. I'm in California, did the link send you to Canada?

[@libraryofpangea7018]

I use a combination of fresh cut unseeded grass to mulch, Vermaculture, Hugglekulture & no dig methodologies. I have zero issues with soil crusting or weeds & I only need to water once a month. Idk if that helps you, but its a simple system that has been working for me, I can link sources I drew from if you want I'm looking at biochar next, so thank you for the videos!

[@SkillCult]

Thanks. I have done a lot of no dig or minimal dig and various approaches, most of the time I've been here. I have resources to use more mulch, but usually not the time/energy to execute. I'm very concerned about using hugelkulture in my garden because we have a really bad problem in this area with symphylans. They like super high organic matter, so it could just breed them. Maybe not, but it's a risky experiment. The reason I did no dig and don't usually dig anytning into my soil is because my last garden was devastated by those things.

[@libraryofpangea7018]

@@SkillCult That's why I use Vermaculture, if you apply worm tea to your root zone when building your huggle mound, it helps prevent pest settling in that zone. I live in Southern WA, worst pest I have had was some aphids in my Brassicas ( which was because I gave them too much compost tea which fed them too much nitrogen). Worm tea doesn't kill pest but it does repel some & it makes your plants healthier- the biofilm on my tea treated plants compared to my none treated controls is insane. Anyways, sorry for nerding out lol- have you tried Vermaculture? Its very time & space efficient.

[@jeffreydustin5303]

The rogue hoe is magnificent, best I've found. I learned a lot about the hula hoe and the manure mat is brilliant. What if you filled a pit with activated charcoal from saplings/cordwood and filled it with compost tea? Is that a good idea?

[@SkillCult]

There is a percentage of charcoal over which it probably stops making sense. I have maybe noticed the super high char % beds losing water faster. One guy said it was because the plants can't get all the water off the charcoal and another guy says it's because it actually improves capillary draw. That would surprise me, but I guess it doesn't seem inconceivable.

[@aidenhong4909]

man, i love you

[@SkillCult]

I'll take it! :)

[@urbanpermie6307]

Wouldnt mulch solve all of those problems? Fungi makes soil crumb properly, and soil hates light. Also needs woody matter to feed on.

[@SkillCult]

Yes, it's an option, but it can create new problems as well with bugs and rodents depending on how it's done. I've generally had more trouble with deep mulch than it's worth. I do use it sometimes though, depending..

[@SkillCult]

thanks, I'll check it out. People keep telling me about the soil food web people, but I haven't dug into it yet, so to speak...

[@shinyribs2178]

Is there any concern with pathogens when using manure mats or teas? Maybe aging is required?

[@SkillCult]

I don't worry too much. But I don't use it on stuff that it will really be in contact with and by the time the plants grow it seems pretty benign. I mean traditionally, it's all manure in the garden beds and no one worries about that.

[@HomesteadOC]

Ive got 2 hula hoes left over from the previous owner of our property. I never really knew the name or what they were used for til now, lol. Thanks.

[@SkillCult]

Great tool. I should do a vid on them

[@karenwood7623]

The manure mat looks really nice. Does it also suppress weeds well? Do you use only cow manure?

[@SkillCult]

I think it suppresses some small seeds, but not larger stronger ones. That function could be improved with increased thickness or longer fiber, or just higher fiber. And like Craig Overend says below, maybe the use of other fibers like grass clippings. I use chicken manure, because chickens is all I have. It turns out that a lot of manure is unsafe now because of the use of persistent herbicides used on hay fields. kzbin.info/www/bejne/d2fTemeBdplqoas It goes right through the animal and keeps on killing dicots. At this point I think it's probably best to avoid any manure from animals fed with grass hay unless you know the source of all of the hay. I'm sure other stuff would work too. Anything with lots of fiber in it, which is probably just about everything except pig manure.

[@karenwood7623]

Just read that post on your FB page. Wow! That's one I had not heard of yet.

[@ranchoraccolto]

Last seconds I was like this what's going on? Then you moved... And I just had to laugh!!!

[@CraigOverend]

The following video on dispersive soils is related to soil crusting, so I thought I'd pass it along. Cation ratio seems very important, and interestingly heating soil to only a couple of hundred degrees significantly reduced clay dispersion: kzbin.info/www/bejne/iH-plaJsjrOmiac

[@SkillCult]

I'll check it out, thanks.

[@bigjaygrizzly2389]

patience ha.

[@SgtSnausages]

Does the Manure Mat block out weeds from below? Is it enough to keep 'em from pushing up through?

[@SkillCult]

Depends of the seed and how thick the mat is.

[@MountainMistGenetics]

What zone are you in if you don't mind me asking?

[@SkillCult]

zone 9, the colder end of it.

[@joetheroux3698]

How did your maple, chestnut cab cross turn out?

[@SkillCult]

It's May Pole. No fruit yet, but I think it might flower this year!

[@jeffreydustin5303]

you could make pottery out of the dirt.

[@CraigOverend]

Great tips, the manure mat acting as a hydrophilic (water loving) surface is fascinating for its structure, and reminded me of an article over at The Artful Amoeba yesterday about a desert moss without any roots that make up biocrusts and grow a hydrophilic fibrous tip at the end of their leaves that then suck water into the base of the leaves. Watch the video! Because of bumps and channels in the structure of those tapered fiber tips it can harvest fog and even wick it against gravity as well as efficiently absorb rain droplets. blogs.scientificamerican.com/artful-amoeba/desert-moss-makes-moisture-trap-so-powerful-it-can-hoist-water-against-gravity-video/ I expect the fibrous material in your manure mats help the rewetting by breaking droplet surface tension and allowing air exchange with the smaller droplets while the other glue materials hold it together and help prevent evaporation. There's a species of beetle that lives in desert sand that can harvest it's own water from air at low humidity that has similar hydrophilic bumps and channels on its shell that directs water from it's shell and to its head in order to drink. The carnivorous Drosera (Sundew) plant has similar channels along its tapered glandular hairs that end with a bulbous shape and a sticky mucilaginous substance that traps bugs. I just looked at some fiber electron microscope photos and interestingly coconut fibers have channels, bumps but also holes, but I couldn't find many that did. Modified kenaf as used in composite materials may be another and probably wets out and holds onto resins well because of the channels. Some palm tree bark is already a woven fiber bark. For those without animals to make the manure mats, it might be interesting to try with grass/fiber materials and digest/mix them like you would your animal manure tea to add some compost "glues" to hold it all together. Yesterday I also came across an article mentioning PuriCare. It's a water sanitization and purification system being used in South Africa on farms that are seeing soil density and water infiltration improvements. It mixes ozone, ultraviolet and hydrogen peroxide to create short-lived oxygen radicals that oxidize organisms and compounds in the water and also cleans out irrigation infrastructure and liquid fertilizer build ups in the process. A side effect is that it oxygenates the water about the same as you would brewing an aerated compost tea and they see quite a difference in soil microbial activity as a result. There are also studies that simply aerate water with an air venturi that seem to have similar effect.

[@SkillCult]

the manure mats are hydrophobic when they are very dry, but as soon as they wet up, they seem to have the opposite effect, just like potting mix. If you let it get too dry it takes a while to get rewetted, but after that it almost seems to pull the water. I think the possibilities for the manure mats are great and I've also wondered the same with plants and grass clippings especially. I'd actually like to come up with a better name. As funny as shit mulching is, maybe a broader name to encompass the concept of a paper like poured mat that might be made of other stuff, like plants as you say, or combinations of stuff. You could also add fertilizers of various kinds like coffee grounds, lime, ashes, minerals. Everyone has access to different stuff. Of course it could just get silly and resource and time consuming too. The idea sort of evolved out of a more complicated Idea to make thick round mats for tree establishment out of cardboard or paper and various other things like fertilizers and such. Then I just looked at my manure sludge and realized that it was already full of fiber and similar to a suspension of fiber in water for making paper. Manure seems like an ideal base, but as you said, pants and grass as long as they fibers aren't too long, seaweed and ground cactus (gluey), and fertilizers seem like the most obvious. I've also used juicer pulp for making carrot juice and such. Another possibility is to make more complex liquid tea fertilizers where the plants would get really broken down if you left them long enough. That may work well combined with methane production. David the Good had a recent video showing a methane generation set up with just two plastic drums. As far as I know, the nitrogen remains intact and I'm sure most stuff besides a lot of the carbon. I saw a paper making set up by an artist once that was just an outboard motor in a barrel. They'd throw in old paper and just blend it up to get this paper mash. I'll say though that a really rotten barrel of plants smells awful, so that could be an issue. On the average definitely worse than a bucket of manure sludge. Then there is charcoal to adsorb the smell...

[@christurley391]

Never enough organic matter. It is a continuous hunt for more. But that's ok it gives you something to do while you wait for your apples. Lol