Anyone with experience in Straw Bale gardening?

[Avant-Gardener]

Could I pipe in here a second and get an example of fungal food? I need to break down woody things too.
thanks.
W

Wood is fungal food in itself. Liquid humate, hydrolised fish, cottonseed meal, kelp meal ... But you can't just drop that on a pile of sticks If you can shred you woody things then you can either use it directly as mulch for woody plants, use it on paths where it will break down slowly or do some nice fungal compost. If you have a large amount of woody material to decompose then some hugelkultur beds is a good way to go if your climate and soil allow.

[sweetpea]

Sorry, guys, I am not getting these post notifications in my email, so I didn't know what has been added.

NJNative, well, I didn't forget about the rhizosphere, it's probably the main focus of everything we do. Me, personally, I amend soil for the sake of the roots. The fact that the plant has leaves is just an indication that I am correctly feeding the roots. Once I learned to feed the soil, not the plant, it really helped how I go about it.

I saw what Elaine Ingraham said, that a high level of actinobacteria (the white stuff) is detrimental to levels of mycorrhizal fungi, and that something like a tree doesn't want high levels of actinobacteria, but brassicas do want high levels of actinobacteria. A few points about her lecture.

1. She's describing Unfinished compost in her lecture. That pile she's got there isn't done, and when it's completely broken down those levels will not be so high in one thing and low in another. I think she just needed an obvious example. When compost is finished the while stuff will not be there in high levels, there are many more components that are created in the making of compost that make it a balanced mix.

Although putting deep mulch on top of the soil might create the same high levels of white actinobacteria in the process of breaking down, it will be what annual plant roots grow into. I don't know who would plant perennials in just mulch. We know they live longer, they get big, they need to get down into the soil to get water and micronutrients and just to hold themselves up in the wind. In that case, mulch with high levels of actinobacteria will stay on top and go very slowly into the subsoil.

I've never seen where Permaculture has ever suggested we plant a woody perennial in a mound of uncomposted mulch. Even hugelkulture is not about planting perennials in mulch. Mulching after planting, yes, but there's soil between the mulch and the roots.

2. A big difference between her example of brassicas and a tree, is that tree roots are huge and go down extremely deeply and extremely wide, way, way below even a foot of compost on the top where potential high levels of actinobacteria could be that they don't want. There are so many tree roots that they can take from many other places for many years than the small roots of annual brassicas. I think, again, she just needed a really obvious example.

It is one reason why it is recommended not to amend the planting hole of bareroot fruit trees or perennials, and always keep the mulch on top, that way the roots will not be overwhelmed by high levels.

3. Worms are a huge part of taking all of that compost and passing it through their systems, yet again helping the final product. In healthy soil that has plenty of organic matter in it the worms will take care of just about anything. There are dozens, probably hundreds of different kinds of soil critters, depending on where you live, that are also further breaking down organic matter in the soil, and making the environment the way the plant roots like it.

Soil biology is a huge, huge complicated field of study, and we gardeners touch on various parts of it. I'm sure that I'll never understand every possible thing, but learning what I have has changed how I grow things and has made a world of difference.

[sweetpea]

wmthake, it takes nitrogen dissolved in water to break down wood, so whatever form you use, including urine, does a great job, although it has to be wet, saturated, which is easily done under the soil that is kept shaded. There's organic fertilizer with the highest N level, really wet cow or chicken manure, or thick layers of coffee grounds. It takes more than a year, though, so monthly additions of nitrogen dissolved in water helps.

[wmthake]

Yeah. I would be ecstatic to be able to use urine on the mound of chips/twigs, but I don't think my wife or her friend (whose yard it is) would approve. <sadface>. The mound is covered with dying grass (bad sign), so pretty soon it's going to need some amending anyway. Just trying to figure out a way that would save the aesthetics of the thing, since it's in her yard and people pass by often. It's a good sign that it was built wrong when you have to mess with it later on. Ugh. Thanks for the info.
W

[sweetpea]

wmthake, so this is where people will see it and you need it to look good? It looks nice to "bury" twigs and branches in mounded chicken manure that fills in the crevies, then a layer of soil, even potting soil if you can't get your own dirt, then *mowed* (into little bits, like a lawn mower) grass filled in over the tops of the wood. It will turn tan colored and fills in in between the crevices and it will hold the nitrogen. Wetting each layer down as you go, firming down the loose stuff.

You can plant easy annuals in there, they will use the soil and manure, and watering them keeps the wood wet. Nasturtiums, lettuce, bush beans, cute annual flowers tucked around. I'd stay away from vegetables that could get powdery mildew on the leaves, like squash or pumpkins, just because they soon won't look so great. Setting a sprinkler on it when there isn't rain would be enough.

[Pakanohida]

Sorry I took so long getting a picture.



The seedlings are finally coming up! This was done as a Emelia Hazelip Synergistic Bed, year 1, bed 3.