“A tree’s most important means of staying connected to other trees is a “wood wide web” of soil fungi that connects vegetation in an intimate network that allows the sharing of an enormous amount of information and goods.”
― Tim Flannery, The Hidden Life of Trees:
On the Eighth Day, He said, let Me give them yet another example of how I’ve got this whole thing wired. What generation gap could misunderstand a network below the ground even more sophisticated than our greatest binary code?
Often referred to as the “father of fertilizer”, Justus von Liebig is attributed to laying the major foundations for our understanding of the ever-prominent N-P-K ratings given to fertilizers today. Nitrogen, we attribute to foliage growth, Phosphorous to root system development and Potash or Potassium can be called the “quality” nutrient. It takes many roles in the overall health of the plant. Although these are undoubtedly essential to plant growth and health, there is a far greater and more complex system that exists in the soil referred to as the “Soil Food Web”. Close in comparison to a linear food-chain, the food-web weaves a more detailed view of how soil components relate.
Many experts assert that focusing solely on the N-P-K levels of soil and fertilizers is short-sighted. By doing so we are neglecting a host of other benefits present in healthy soil. Micro-nutrients like carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, sulfur, magnesium, copper, cobalt, sodium, boron, molybdenum, and zinc are just as important to plant development as N-P-K. (Source: http://www.utexas.edu/utpress/excerpts/exgarhow.html). It is also accepted that earthworms, beneficial microbes, and other critters found underneath your garden and lawn will have better access to the oxygen they need to thrive with these trace elements. As they live and digest organic matter, they help to create soil that is healthy and fertile. Healthy soil is the basis for healthy plants. Compost in the form of organic humus is ever present in natural plant communities, providing lots of the nutrients that plants need to grow and thrive. Compost contains Nitrogen, Phosphorous, Potassium, and a great abundance of other trace elements that will benefit your plants.
It would follow logically, that if we create an overall healthier biology in the soil we have healthier plants. This is a huge contributing movement to the Organic treatments found in composts and “teas” brewed from organic matter. Now I will save all the heavy science for a later post but when we start talking about fungal hyphae, good protozoa and beneficial nematodes then we are truly beginning to touch on the depth of rich, nutritious dirt, the kind of stuff you bring home to Mom.
Until such a time… look no further than The Garden Peddler to find more information of compost brewing…