What Directly Impacts Plant Health?

Sunlight Exposure

Water Requirements

Nutrient content of soil

Microbial Populations

in soil
on plant surfaces
within plant juices

How do microorganisms provide nutrients to plants?

They convert nutrients into bioavailable forms that plants can absorb.

Microbes provide nutrients to plants in exchange for exudates (sugars).
Where do they exchange these nutrients?
- Within the roots
- On plant surfaces like leaves, stomata, and plant hairs
- Within the plant- endophytic bacteria and fungi that live inside the plant

The POOP LOOP: Bacteria, Fungi, and Archaea consume exudates within the soil and then are eaten by nematodes and protozoa. The nematodes and protozoa poop out the nutrients and the plant can now absorb them through their roots.

*Plants NEED MICROBES to grow properly*

Healthy microbe populations keep plants healthy.

So what can we do to help build up microbial populations and support plant health?

Add organic matter to increase soil microbe activity:

Compost- top dress with 2” in fall and spring or when you can!
Add a layer of undyed wood chips/mulches/arborist wood chips
Add dead leaves or leave the leaves when they fall in Autumn
Mulch with at least 2” of cut grass, straw, or hay (watch out for seeds!)
Add Worm Castings-- Yay Bacteria! 30% more!

Make Your Own!

Chop and Drop the tops of dead plants in March (leave 18” for nesting insects) AND weeds
Use cover crops (fully discussed in Plant Partners, by Jessica Walliser)

Add bioinoculants to your plant surfaces and the soil

Add Mycorrhizal fungi to the planting hole when transplanting your starts

Root drench and/or foliar spray your plants with any or all of the following

Molasses in water- use organic, 1 tbp:1 gallon Fedco
Fish emulsion Fedco/ Neptune's
Worm castings extract- Terra Thrive
EM1 (yeast, photosynthetic bacteria, and LAB)- Fedco (make your own! LAB)
Aerated Compost Tea
Johnson Su compost: amendment OR tea
When

from 1x a season to weekly, root drench or foliar feed
Perennials- foliar feed at least 1x after they leaf out
Trees/bushes- add to soil and tree surfaces 2 weeks before they leaf out and just after leaves fall

Companion planting to add more biodiversity to your beds
More plant biodiversity will promote more microbial biodiversity and a broader spectrum of nutrients available to your plants
Cover exposed soil with plants or mulch

Without plants, there are few microbes present in the soil
Dense planting techniques
Cover crops can be used in veg garden settings or in preparing perennial beds the season prior
While waiting for perennials to spread out, use annual plants to keep the soil covered and leave to decompose in winter add organic matter to your soil

Break down -icides:

If you previously used any -icides, you can add sugar (or molasses) in water to that area to help the microbes process those poisons. It is not a guaranteed fix, but it will help things along.
How Insect Pests Identify Unhealthy Plants with Dr. Tom Dykstra

Types of tests that are valuable

Standard Soil Test- will tell you what nutrients are in your soil, but not necessarily what is available for use Logan Labs
***Saturated Paste Test- will tell you what is most likely available to your plants at the moment Logan Labs

EVEN MORE INFORMATIVE

Haney Test- uses natural chemicals that mimic plant processes to measure nutrient availability (Ward Labs)
Tissue Test- (PLANT SPECIFIC) analyzes the nutrient levels in your plant’s leaves Logan Labs
Plant Sap Analysis- (PLANT SPECIFIC) analyzes what nutrient levels are currently in your plant’s system (the MOST accurate test) Crop Health Labs (they work with farms, but must look into whether they work with home gardeners)
More Nutrition Testing Information
Amend your soil according to an agronomist recommendations (specify organic)
- Great source for organic/natural nutrients and fertilizers: Fedco Growers Supply , drop off at Nine Mile Farm in Feura Bush (order by Feb 25/March 25 for Spring deliveries)
- You may need to till this in the first year to incorporate it into your top 6” of soil
- This will not guarantee that what you add will be available to your plants
- It will help you understand what will grow best in your soil.
OR you can do nothing…
- Your soil most likely has everything that your plants need, but the microbes might not be there to provide those nutrients. Your plants even have the ability to change the pH around their rhizosphere (root surfaces). Feed the microbes and they will most likely feed your plants.

Understand that it may take many years to regenerate soil life and make your plants healthy enough to fight most pests off (and yet, sometimes only 1-2 years).

Get a Soil Test, Tissue Test, or Plant Sap Analysis

Regenerative Perennial Gardens

In Perennial gardens, we are striving to help create a self-sufficient ecosystem that mimics nature as closely as possible.
Striving for only 30% non-native (0% invasive)- per Doug Tallamy’s recommendations

LAW OF RETURN

What the plant grows should return back to the soil upon its death

Nature Knows Best

If a plant is not thriving where you put it, it might not be the right environment or have the right microbes that it needs in the soil. Consider moving it or finding something else to replace it.

Native plants and insects have created a relationship where they tolerate each other’s defense mechanisms. Feed your ecosystem and your ecosystem will feed you.

What to Avoid and Why

Avoid -icides

ORGANIC and CHEMICAL insecticides, herbicides, and fungicides
-icides kill microorganisms in the soil = reduced nutrients available to plants

Avoid CHEMICAL FERTILIZERS

They inadvertently reduce microorganism populations = reduced nutrients available to plants (especially phytochemicals and micronutrients)

Avoid tilling your soil to maintain and regenerate microbe life

It exposes your soil to oxygen/sun and kills microorganisms and dwarfs populations. Fungal populations especially take a long time to bounce back. Upon their exposure and death, carbon is also released into the air (one exception: when amending soil for the first time)

Lawn Health Considerations and Alternatives

Biodiversity

Weeds help restore the soil’s needed nutrients, aid in compaction, retain water, add diversity in microbial populations
clover/thyme
Best to use native grasses– sedges

Grass Clippings

Best to allow them to remain on your lawn (mower mulching option)
Leave mower height to highest setting

Promotes more root growth
Allows for less water need

Mow as little as possible to allow insects and biodiversity to thrive
Law of Return
Provide organic matter to feed microbes
Provides mulch that helps retain moisture

Slow release fertilizer (organic microbe food!)

Soybean meal (organic, if possible)- added 2 weeks before spring leaves
Alfalfa meal
Spray with aerated compost tea

Water

If chemical fertilizers and pesticides are avoided and you allow grass clippings to be left on the lawn, your lawn will require less water to stay green.

Less lawn and more meadows– promotes native ecosystems through biodiversity and habitat

Law of Return

As a plant grows, it will cultivate and pull nutrients from the soil. In a natural setting the nutrients will be returned to the soil when the plant fruits and/or dies for the winter—returning what it pulled from the soil back to the soil to feed the microbes and the plant. In vegetable beds, produce is removed and will not be returned so it is important for us to replace organic matter throughout the season.

Regenerative Perennial Gardens

In Perennial gardens, we are striving to help create a self-sufficient ecosystem that mimics nature as closely as possible.

Striving for only 30% non-native (0% invasive)- per Doug Tallamy’s recommendations

LAW OF RETURN- Whatever the plant grows, should return back into the soil surrounding that plant upon its death

“Native Weeds” could be allowed to grow as a trap crop to feed your wildlife

Nature Knows Best–If a plant is not thriving where you put it, it might not be the right environment or have the right microbes that it needs in the soil. Consider moving it or finding something else to replace it.

Insects will eat your plants to a point, and that is a good thing–feeding your ecosystem.

Nature knows best…

The delicate balance of the Soil Food Web impacts the quality and amount of nutrition present in your ecosystem. When one part becomes out of balance, it has a rippling effect throughout the whole system.

Elements of the Soil Food Web

Plants and exudates

Organic Matter

Bacteria, Fungi, Archaea, Nematodes, Protozoa, Algae, Worms, Arthropods, Gastropods, Animals

Carbon Sequestration: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1BanODxIERCnAHmB3EwkJ2mzAUqT0XbHgxakKYJkgCk0/edit?usp=sharing

For information on Regenerative Weed and Disease Management and Insect/Animal Pressure: Presentation notes by Genoveffa Vitale, presentation notes will be updated periodically with new information. (In the last portion of the presentation notes.)

Soil Food Web Cards (for educators to use with students): https://www.canva.com/design/DAFcuty7tEc/7I_Pd2vFSVOwcnC7jCLycw/edit?utm_content=DAFcuty7tEc&utm_campaign=designshare&utm_medium=link2&utm_source=sharebutton

“Land is not merely soil, it is a fountain of energy flowing through a circuit of soils, plants, and animals.”

- Aldo Leopoldo

The Compost Story

By Kiss the Ground

Find out what would happen if we diverted the 60 billion pounds of mineral-rich food materials that go to landfills each year in the U.S. alone and turned them into compost. Join the movement to regenerate the planet, starting with soil at https://kisstheground.com/.