Compacted white sand with a cut lawn cover was the single biggest problem we had to overcome when starting our Florida Farm 4 years ago. We had compacted soil, standing water and low ph acidic soil all of which are not conducive for microbial life. I ended up taking a whole bunch (190 credits) of soil science and microbiology classes to try and understand how to fix this problem. We farm using biodynamic practices which means we are a closed loop system. In organic farming 90 percent of a plants nutrients come from microbial life so it made sense to provide habitat for the microbes. I learned the compaction was caused from the constant mowing along with the short grass that did not protect the soil from heavy rain. Much to the horror of my neighbors we stopped mowing. We quickly noticed different Florida natives/weeds and a variety of legumes start to show up in our tallish grass. Thankfully most of our cover stays about 1’ tall. Within 6 mos. our standing water mostly came to a stop. During this time I also did different foliar sprays almost daily. Some were humus, biodynamic compost, indigenous microorganism, yeast, steeped weeds, lactobacillus. I would mix all the teas and I sprayed continuously for a year. It was sooo boring but important. The tall grass mix provides a perfect habitat for microbial life and has an almost ideal (brown grass/green grass) carbon to nitrogen ratio which is what you need to make the perfect organic growing medium, stable organic matter, this shows in the form of aggregates or humus and is now between 1” and 4” deep. Some areas have humus and some areas have aggregates. The humus seems to develop in the areas where the water used to pool. Fortunately all of our compaction, standing water and soil PH problems have been corrected.
I see so much misinformation out there that states grass and weeds compete for water and nutrients with the trees. This is not true when your growing perennial trees crops in a properly managed organic system. Putting a thick layer of wood chips down actually causes the microbial life to steal nitrogen from the soil in order to break the carbon down which is why you then need to add some nutrients like nitrogen because the carbon to nitrogen ratio is out of whack. The trees only have a problem if they are smothered by the grass which some oversized grasses could do but most seedlings overcome this. Thankfully our farm doesn’t have this problem. Root hairs with bacteria can maintain moist conditions in the rhizosphere during severe drought conditions. In this part of Florida where the weather is conducive for maximum microbial life year round this builds soil continuously. At this point I do not do anything but plant tree seeds and move carbon around from trimmings, palm fronds etc..
Fortunately we had too much land for us to resort to covering everything with wood chips and had to find an alternative for our orchard floor management. I do like wood chips but adding too many wood chips changes the carbon to nitrogen ratio and hinders microbial life from doing their job of cycling nutrients and make stable organic matter.
Unfortunately most people cannot implement this management style as it does not work with Florida’s aesthetic of mowed cut lawns.
This is an approved organic farm system for orchard floor management by the USDA. If we changed it we would have to get permission or lose our USDA Organic Certification.
Under the tall grass we have at least an inch of stable organic matter either in aggregate form like this.
Or humus form like this. In some areas we have 4 inches of humus under the tall grass system. This stable organic matter can last for 40 years and is a perfect fertilizer for orchids and other potted plants when made into a tea. I put it in a paint strainer bag and squeeze it into water which makes a dark soil solution. Since it’s stable it does not break down or disintegrate and is just like a dirt sponge.
Since we are trying to sell.
https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/6380-12th-St-Vero-Beach-FL-32966/45240365_zpid I had to put a trail system thru the farm which meant mowing a trail. I am pleasantly surprised that due to the increase in organic matter due to the biodiverse mix of roots in our sand. Mychorizal fungi has colonized the soil which can be seen in the bare spots of the soil that are exposed by mowing. This isn’t just mychorizal fungi growing in wood chips which is very easy to do but is growing in the soil.
Topic: Organic Orchard Floor Management (Read 1540 times)