Mulch. Just do it.

[Luther Burbank]

Mobo, we've been round this track before, but all the evidence I've seen indicates the vast majority of fixed N goes straight to the cover crop and only truly joins the soil when the plant decomposes.

 

[who dat is]

Either way, isn't that the point of "chop and drop"?

I'm excited because I finally got off my ass and ordered the clover mix that I've been wanting to try. It's going to be nice having some living mulch after years of wanting to try it.

 

[TanzanianMagic]

(YOUTUBE) Do trees communicate

1:36 "They're just shuffling carbon and nitrogen back and forth (between trees), according to who needs it."

Which would support my point that indirectly, plants that grow next to eachother and don't compete for rootspace (different root lengths) or nutrients (no two high nitrogen feeding plants for instance), can feed eachother if they are connected by mycorrhizal fungi.

Published on Jul 29, 2012

In this real-life model of forest resilience and regeneration, Professor Suzanne Simard shows that all trees in a forest ecosystem are interconnected, with the largest, oldest, "mother trees" serving as hubs. The underground exchange of nutrients increases the survival of younger trees linked into the network of old trees. Amazingly, we find that in a forest, 1+1 equals more than 2.

Suzanne W. Simard - Faculty Profile (live link with tons more info/links)

Dr. Suzanne Simard is a professor with the UBC Faculty of Forestry, where she lectures on and researches the role of mycorrhizae and mycorrhizal networks in tree species migrations with climate change disturbance. Networks of mycorrhizal fungal mycelium have recently been discovered by Professor Suzanne Simard and her graduate students to connect the roots of trees and facilitate the sharing of resources in Douglas-fir forests of interior British Columbia, thereby bolstering their resilience against disturbance or stress and facilitating the establishment of new regeneration.

Dr. Simard writes:

Mycorrhizal fungi form obligate symbioses with trees, where the tree supplies the fungus with carbohydrate energy in return for water and nutrients the fungal mycelia gather from the soil; mycorrhizal networks form when mycelia connect the roots of two or more plants of the same or different species. Graduate student Kevin Beiler has uncovered the extent and architecture of this network through the use of new molecular tools that can distinguish the DNA of one fungal individual from another, or of one tree's roots from another. He has found that all trees in dry interior Douglas-fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii var. glauca) forests are interconnected, with the largest, oldest trees serving as hubs, much like the hub of a spoked wheel, where younger trees establish within the mycorrhizal network of the old trees. Through careful experimentation, recent graduate Francois Teste determined that survival of these establishing trees was greatly enhanced when they were linked into the network of the old trees.Through the use of stable isotope tracers, he and Amanda Schoonmaker, a recent undergraduate student in Forestry, found that increased survival was associated with belowground transfer of carbon, nitrogen and water from the old trees. This research provides strong evidence that maintaining forest resilience is dependent on conserving mycorrhizal links, and that removal of hub trees could unravel the network and compromise regenerative capacity of the forests.

In wetter, mixed-species interior Douglas-fir forests, graduate student Brendan Twieg also used molecular tools to discover that Douglas-fir and paper birch (Betula papyrifera) trees can be linked together by species-rich mycorrhizal networks. We found that the mycorrhizal network serves as a belowground pathway for transfer of carbon from the nutrient-rich deciduous trees to nearby regenerating Douglas-fir seedlings. Moreover, we found that carbon transfer was enhanced when Douglas-fir seedlings were shaded in mid-summer, providing a subsidy that may be important in Douglas-fir survival and growth, thus helping maintain a mixed forest community during early succession. This is not a one-way subsidy, however; graduate Leanne Philip discovered that Douglas-fir supported their birch neighbours in the spring and fall by sending back some of this carbon when the birch was leafless. This back-and-forth flux of resources according to need may be one process that maintains forest diversity and stability.

Mycorrhizal networks may be critical in helping forest ecosystems deal with climate change. Maintaining the biological webs that stabilize forests may help conserve genetic resources for future tree migrations, ensure that forest carbon stocks remain intact on the landscape, and conserve species diversity. UBC graduate student Marcus Bingham is finding that maintaining mycorrhizal webs may be more important for the regeneration and stability of the dry than wet interior Douglas-fir forests, where resources are more limited and climate change is expected to have greater impacts. Helping the landscape adapt to climate change will require more than keeping existing forests intact, however. Many scientists are concerned that species will need to migrate at a profoundly more rapid rate than they have in the past, and that humans can facilitate this migration by planting tree species adapted to warm climates in new areas. UBC graduate student Brendan Twieg is starting new research to help us understand whether the presence of appropriate mycorrhizal symbionts in foreign soils may limit the success of tree migrations, and if so, to help us design practices that increase our success at facilitating changes in these forests.

On the exchange of more than carbon and nitrogen, but phosphorus as well.

Mycorrhizal Networks: Common Goods of Plants Shared under Unequal Terms of Trade1

Abstract

Plants commonly live in a symbiotic association with arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF). They invest photosynthetic products to feed their fungal partners, which, in return, provide mineral nutrients foraged in the soil by their intricate hyphal networks. Intriguingly, AMF can link neighboring plants, forming common mycorrhizal networks (CMNs).

What are the terms of trade in such CMNs between plants and their shared fungal partners?

To address this question, we set up microcosms containing a pair of test plants, interlinked by a CMN of Glomus intraradices or Glomus mosseae. The plants were flax (Linum usitatissimum; a C3 plant) and sorghum (Sorghum bicolor; a C4 plant), which display distinctly different 13C/12C isotope compositions. This allowed us to differentially assess the carbon investment of the two plants into the CMN through stable isotope tracing.

In parallel, we determined the plants’ “return of investment” (i.e. the acquisition of nutrients via CMN) using 15N and 33P as tracers. Depending on the AMF species, we found a strong asymmetry in the terms of trade: flax invested little carbon but gained up to 94% of the nitrogen and phosphorus provided by the CMN, which highly facilitated growth, whereas the neighboring sorghum invested massive amounts of carbon with little return but was barely affected in growth. Overall biomass production in the mixed culture surpassed the mean of the two monocultures. Thus, CMNs may contribute to interplant facilitation and the productivity boosts often found with intercropping compared with conventional monocropping.

 

[who dat is]

I finally pulled the trigger on living mulch. Tonight I'll be planting some clover mix on my girls that are two weeks into flowering now and the rest of them will get the living mulch as they get potted up to the 5 gallons and put down in the flowering area.

 

[analogcricket]

what do most people use as much on outdoor plants?
can you use straw?

 

[Luther Burbank]

Analog, yes. Straw will work fine. I'm an advocate for local and free, which in my case is roughly chipped branches and wood. You can try clover and vetch early on but outdoors it will be shaded out quickly.

 

[analogcricket]

i have access to alfalfa and/or hay(meadow grass) from a feed store.
would either or work?
will hay or alfalfa change the ph of the soil?

 

[redclover]

IMO living mulch is over hyped, and only good for the worm bin...which makes it dead mulch. Good soil already has microbes, and doesn't need N fixing. I'm loving rice hulls for mulch.

 

[who dat is]

IMO living mulch is over hyped, and only good for the worm bin...which makes it dead mulch. Good soil already has microbes, and doesn't need N fixing. I'm loving rice hulls for mulch.

It's not just for the Nitrogen fixing. It's a big package deal. The weed plant can grow feeder roots closer to the soil surface, the cover crop are companion plants with everybody forming a symbiotic network between the other plant's roots and mycorrhizal fungi. Your soil will also stay at a better moisture content and won't dry out as fast. I know I have always had issues with my plants running out of N too fast too early in flower. I'm really excited to see what this living mulch is all about. I'm just starting to see my clover mix mulch develop.

 

[redclover]

Diverse generously top dressed EWC will be plenty active when moist. Straw, leaves, bark, whatever is all I think is needed. I've done three runs with white Dutch, red, and mini clover. Thought it just looked cool, and see no diff without it.

 

[who dat is]

Diverse generously top dressed EWC will be plenty active when moist. Straw, leaves, bark, whatever is all I think is needed. I've done three runs with white Dutch, red, and mini clover. Thought it just looked cool, and see no diff without it.

Could you share your thoughts and experiences on this? I'm on the same boat though, if nothing else it will look cooler than a big expanse of dirt. I can't see how it will hurt anything and I'm really looking forward to seeing what this can do for my ladies.

 

[redclover]

Could you share your thoughts and experiences on this? I'm on the same boat though, if nothing else it will look cooler than a big expanse of dirt. I can't see how it will hurt anything and I'm really looking forward to seeing what this can do for my ladies.

Like I've said before...I like dead clover in my bins lol. It'll provide microbes and 'water pathways', but I just don't need it. I'm just simple. I also notice my top layers drying out quicker. I prob planted too much.

 

[Bud Green]

I'm gonna start off by saying I'm no horticultural expert or biology major.. I'm just a simple guy who likes to grow pot and vegetables and learn from experience...

I live in the woods and I don't like driving to town and spending my hard earned money on bags of mulch the "experts" tell me is the best....
I just go in the woods closest to whichever garden I'm working on.. Brush away the dead leaves that fell last autumn and underneath you will find moist, rotted, crumbly leaf pieces and fully rotted wood. You'll see white moldy stuff growing thru it, which is causing this stuff to rot back into the ground.
Well, I just scrape this stuff up with my hands and fill up a 5 gallon bucket with it. Spread it around your plants about 1 or 2 inches thick...If you water your plants, just water right on top of this stuff. In a couple of weeks, if you brush a bit of it off your soil, you'll see all kinds of tiny root hairs from your girls growing right up into it. Must be something in there that they like..
After harvest, in late autumn, just use your turning fork to turn it right back into your soil to make your soil a little bit better than the year before...

 

[bigshrimp]

I've been using straw and flax for a while with good results. I sow and mulch when transplanting to final containers. Usually adding a sprinkle of neem, crab, and kelp. The flax mostly dies off in flower since alot of it isnt getting any light. The side that does grow gets chopped whenever, sometimes i dont chop at all. It seems a good chunk of the mulch decomposes but whatever is left i scrape up and reuse.

The living mulch really helps with even water infiltration. I used to have serious problems with water just running down the sides of my smarties and not soaking in. It seems if you have a ring of living mulch along the edge the water soaks in properly and the roots (of the living mulch) will draw water from the center of the pot when the edges are dry. Basically helping the pot dry and wet more evenly.

I am 100% unconcerned with N robbing and such. N is easy to add.

 

[redclover]

Interesting last couple of posts! I'm thinking about trying some kind of reflective material as a mulch. Seen all the fuzz protecting that surface where all the goodies are. Going to top dress some EWC and kashi under aluminum foil. I've never seen roots reach for the top.

 

[Bud Green]

Going to top dress some EWC and kashi under aluminum foil. I've never seen roots reach for the top.

Not sure if I would use aluminum foil over my mulch.. Seems to me it would keep TOO much moisture in and may attract slugs and/or other bad pathogens...my leaf mold compost, if applied several inches thick, keeps moisture in and I have seen tiny root hairs grow up into it...

I believe I would avoid straw straight from the bale.. It seems to attract rodents such as mice for a nesting area...

 

[Firebrand]

Good discussion. I gotta ask, what is the best mulch (top dressing) for retaining moisture?

Here's why I ask, it's very hot in my micro, I use ventilation to remove the most of the heat but it takes the moisture with it. I use Sunshine mix and feed teas into 2 gallon pots every 5 waterings*. At issue is that I often have to water every other day. So I'm watering 3-4 times a week and feeding once every 8-10 days. Currently I use no top dressing. I would like to extend the intervals between watering.

So what would you folks recommend, please don't recommend larger pots, I haven't room for larger pots, nor do I have the option of utilizing a drip system?

 

[MrTea]

Good discussion. I gotta ask, what is the best mulch (top dressing) for retaining moisture?

Here's why I ask, it's very hot in my micro, I use ventilation to remove the most of the heat but it takes the moisture with it. I use Sunshine mix and feed teas into 2 gallon pots every 5 waterings*. At issue is that I often have to water every other day. So I'm watering 3-4 times a week and feeding once every 8-10 days. Currently I use no top dressing. I would like to extend the intervals between watering.

So what would you folks recommend, please don't recommend larger pots, I haven't room for larger pots, nor do I have the option of utilizing a drip system?

Barley straw and leaves (from your cannabis plants) Mostly any plant matter topdressed on your soil will help retain moisture as they decompose onto your soil surface.

 

[Firebrand]

Barley straw and leaves (from your cannabis plants) Mostly any plant matter topdressed on your soil will help retain moisture as they decompose onto your soil surface.

Thanks for the advice. I just did a short search and found it for 20$ a pound, kinda pricey. I live in cow country, I guess I should just stop and visit the farmer next door, I'll ask if he has any or if he knows where to get it locally.

 

[MrTea]

Thanks for the advice. I just did a short search and found it for 20$ a pound, kinda pricey. I live in cow country, I guess I should just stop and visit the farmer next door, I'll ask if he has any or if he knows where to get it locally.

If you live near a lot of farmers there should be some sort of access to barley straw. It's used to clean pond water so ya...