The New Normal – Rebuilding Soil After Fire

Leslie Hart & Karen Guma UC Master Gardeners Sonoma County Rebuilding soil after a fire

• If soil has been scraped… • If soil is imported…

Bill Nicholls / Scraping the soil In one teaspoon of good soil • A billion bacteria • Several yards of fungal hyphae • Several thousand protozoa • A few dozen nematodes

Photo: www.goodfruit.com

Soil Food Web Microorganisms and Roots shape their environment

•Microorganisms feed the plants

•Plants attract the microorganisms that they need by exuding sugars and carbohydrates from their roots.

•Living things return nutrients to the soil https://i0.wp.com KQED

If soil is destroyed: •You have little to no nutrition available to plants •You may have erosion, carbon loss, nitrogen loss, destruction of fungi, loss of structure

Old mantra: chemical fertilizer, lots of water

http://diy.sndimg. com/ How does soil restoration happen in nature? pH high: alkaline

pH low: acid Fungi increases 

Soil bacteria level stays about the same.↔

Earthworms decrease.↓ Plant communities of Sonoma County

Photo: Phila Rodgers Photo: Pardee Bardwell, BLM Wikiwand.com Bigstock.com Ornamentals: Where did the plant come from?

http://www.kipley.com

Photo: en.wikipedia.org

Photo: http://www.beautifulwildlifegarden.com/ California Native Plants

https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com Go with the flow…

Photo: Las Pilitas Nursery Don’t seed with non-native grasses Vegetable gardening is different

http://pop.h-cdn.co/

https://bonnieplants.com Mulching for microorganisms

Photo: tinyfarmblog.com Photo: https://wildwesleyan.wordpress.com

Photo: manuredepot.com Continuous cover http://www.no-dig-vegetablegarden.com/

• Cover crops • Groundcovers • • Crop rotation • Green manures • • Sheet mulching

http://diy.sndimg.com In short…

•Use

•Plant annuals to start

•Cover the soil

•Avoid , , and fungicides

•Don’t till / minimal soil disturbance Browns and Greens

Browns Greens • Dry leaves • Fruit and vegetable food • Straw scraps • Sawdust • Plant and grass clippings • Cardboard • Coffee grounds • Newspaper • Tea bags • Napkins • Manure from vegetarian • Wood chips or shavings animals • Eggshells (crushed) • Hair (human or animal) • Egg boxes • Weeds*

Things that go wrong with compost

Problem Solution • It stinks • Turn the pile, add browns or water less • It doesn’t break down • Add greens or water more

• It attracts rodents • Take out meat or fish

• It attracts flies • Top off with browns and cover

• It “burns” the plants • Add browns

• It doesn’t heat up • Too much or too little water Purchased compost • What’s in it? • If a name brand, be careful about adding fertilizer