MULCH and DETRITUS

The point of this post is to show that materials usually considered unsuitable for growing may be used if the gardener keeps a close eye on what’s going on in his garden.

I have plants in large pots containing native Basalt soil amended with Cow and Chicken shit. Dolomite was added to correct soil pH. The pots contain quite a few worms which I continue to feed with finely chopped Kitchen Scraps, Pollard and finely ground Dolomite.
The pots are mulched with Eucalypt leaves and bark straight from the Forest floor. As the attached image shows the mulch is thick and is piled above the edges of the pots to allow worms an elevated refuge if there is flooding.

Reading various gardening guides and referring often to the threads in this Forum I am advised the mulch is too thick, is of material which will not easily rot down, and inevitably will lower soil pH. This advice is certainly true for the forest floor from which the mulch was gathered where pH below the Detritus Layer is often 4!

However, as the attached image shows the soil below the Detritus layer in my pot is around the correct pH for Cannabis. I can only think this must be due to the Dolomite I continue to feed the worms.

Any comments?

Wish i lived in Oz just look at that sun.. ah man shes pretty..

It coincides fine with living soil detritusphere http://www.microbeorganics.com/#Living_Soil.
No need to alter pH, that is self-regulating.

Great job Teddy !

Used with moderation, dolomite is definitely a useful soil building staple.

The soil's ph here's never as low as 4 but, from my humble experience, i think, like Microbeman, that a living soil will adjust its ph by itself, provided its moisture is under control, which is obviously the case here.
Bacterias being no slackers, the ph balancing happens faster than one would think...