The Soil Food Web

Soil is more than minerals, organic matter, air, and water. It’s alive with organisms. Very small soil creatures, such as bacteria, protozoa, nematodes and fungi, eat plants, lichens, and each other. All this eating converts nutrients from one form to another, making them available to plants. Some fungi live close to or in plant roots, vastly increasing the amount of nutrients available to the plant because fungal hyphae (strands) cover much more area than a single plant’s roots can. Some bacteria coat plant roots and defend them with antibiotics, in exchange for sugars made by the plant.

When gardeners feed the soil they are feeding the organisms that make life possible for plants. How can we feed the soil?

Compost

Applying compost to the soil is a good way to feed it. But, what is compost? The simple answer is that compost is decayed organic matter. Plants, animals, food, paper, wood, insects, anything organic that has been broken down until it is unidentifiable.

Besides providing nutrients to soil organisms, compost can also add soil organisms. Well-made compost will have some nutrients in it, but also beneficial bacteria, fungi, nematodes, protozoa, insects, and maybe some red worms.

We deplete the soil of nutrients and organisms when we garden. The plants we eat physically remove nutrients, and our simplified garden environment can be hard on soil life. Exposing soil to sunlight kills microorganisms and digging destroys fungal hyphae. We can help renew soil organisms by adding compost.

Vermicompost Tea

Vermi comes from the Latin, and means worms. So, vermicompost is compost made in a worm bin.

Vermicompost tea is made by placing mesh bags filled with vermicompost in nutrient-rich, aerated water. It’s kept at 72 degrees for 24 to 36 hours.

The goal is to give the soil organisms in the vermicompost a healthy aquatic environment in which to thrive and reproduce. The tea, that hopefully now has many useful soil organisms concentrated in it, is used in the garden at full-strength or diluted. A dilution of four parts de-chlorinated water to one part tea will work. Or use whatever dilution you need to deliver one gallon per thousand square feet of garden. To de-chlorinate water, fill a large container and let it stand uncovered for 24 hours.

Spray the tea on plants, drench plants with a watering can, or drench the dampened soil around the roots.

Compost tea is a perishable product, because the living organisms in the tea continue to use oxygen until it is depleted. So, apply your tea within 4-6 hours if possible.