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 Soil Structure 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 • Mulch • Crop rotation • Green manures • Intercropping • Sheet mulching http://diy.sndimg.com In short… •Use compost •Plant annuals to start •Cover the soil •Avoid pesticides, herbicides, 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 .