Continuing our discussion of what is a healthy soil we are going to discuss item #6 below.

1) Organic matter from almost fresh to totally decomposed in the form of humus (humins, humic and fulmic acids)

2) Minerals (nutrients, sand, silt, and clay)

3) Soil life (microbes and macrobes)

4) Air & water

5) Plant choices

6) Care for and do not destroy the health of the soil one has

How to quit destroying your soil (The "Do Not's") - When I was in college over 40 years ago, it was all about the chemistry and physics of the soil. Today we know the biology of the soil is 10-15X more important to plant growth and health than the chemistry and physics. This new knowledge has caused our understanding of a healthy soil to change.

A) Do not use high salt products as they destroy the soil and weaken plants.

We now know that there is a good bacterium in the soil whose major function is to control soil diseases like the fungal disease called brown patch (Rhizoctonia solani). Ask yourself this question: "Why do we put salts into canned goods, ham, jerky, etc?" - TO KILL BACTERIA!

All synthetic fertilizers are chemically salts. They kill this good bacterium and with no natural control we get brown patch and many other fungal soil diseases.

Soils along the Gulf Coast are high in sodium from many sources, from salt domes to salt swept inland from tropical storms. Salts stunt plant growth, salts kill beneficial microbes, salts prevent plants from absorbing water, and plants roots cannot tolerate salts. These means if we want a beautiful garden along the Gulf coast we do not use high salt products. These include cow manure, poultry manure, spent mushroom substrate (sometimes called Mushroom compost), and artificial/synthetic fertilizers.

This photo shows the effects of salt on root growth. The diagonal line is a special membrane that does not let salt pass through. The photo on the left does not have any salt in the growing media and the roots penetrate the membrane and grow into the medium below. However, on the right picture there is a very mild salt solution below the membrane. Notice how the roots sense the presence of the salt and grow away from the medium with the salt.

As we all know salts dissolve in water and gravity pulls the salts downward into the soil. As the soil dries the salts are left behind forming a layer a few inches down into our soil. The salt does two things: 1st - it prevents the roots from growing deep into the soil as they sense the presence of this salt layer and quit growing down which results in very shallow root zone. As a result roots cannot reach moisture deeper in the soil and it dries out quickly. Hence we have to water very frequently and 2nd - the salts lock the soil particles together forming a hardpan layer that prevents air and water from penetrating the soil. The low oxygen conditions favor the growth of many soil pathogens. To give an example of how salt locks soil particles together think of a pair of pliers left outside for a few weeks. The pliers rust and the pliers are frozen and will not open. Rust is chemically a salt composed of iron and oxygen. All artificial fertilizers are chemically salts.

b) Do not use artificial fertilizers. We started learning as far back as 1999 that insects are attracted to plants fertilized with synthetic fertilizers (Journal of Environmental Horticulture, 17(2):95, June 1999). Due to osmotic pressure, plants will absorb nitrogen faster than they need or can use it. To prevent nitrous which could kill the plant, it causes fast growth made of weak tissue (the lignin of the cell walls becomes thinner) that actually attracts pest insects as they see in the ultraviolet portion of sunlight and can see the weakened tissue; hence they know it is easy to eat into. This also decreases a plants resistance to disease as the thin cell walls are easy for pathogens to penetrate.

c) Do not use pesticides. They work, but they kill beneficial insects, butterflies, and bees. One of the problems is that most pest insects breed 10 times faster than the beneficial insects hence the pests come back worse than before the pesticide was applied. When it rains or we turn on our sprinklers it washed into the ground and kills earthworms, good nematodes, microanthropods, etc. that turn leaves into humus just to name a few. The same idea applies to herbicides and fungicides. Read the articles on Round-Up to get an understanding of the toxic and extremely dangerous nature of these products.

Toxic synthetic horticultural chemicals do not work. According to USDA data in 1900 crop loss due to insects was 3-4%. By the 1940's crop loss due to insects was 7% and by the 1990's crop loss due to insects was 13%, despite a 33X increase in the volume of pesticides applied and at least a tenfold increase in toxicity. This is over a 330 fold increase in killing power and yet the problems have gotten worse. The bottom line is that these toxic chemicals are expensive and time consuming to use, do not work very well and this does not mention the side effects to one's health and to the environment. This is why more and more soil scientists and horticulturalists are using modern methods based on soil biology that is often referred to as "organic methods".

When we use dangerous synthetic chemicals in our gardening, we create most of our own problems. It is like a bunch of dominoes going down.

Turf grass Example: It starts when we use a synthetic fertilizer on our lawns in the spring. The salts present kill off the good bacterium that controls fungal diseases and the earthworms which results in soil compaction and poor drainage. Without the good bacterium we develop fungal problems like brown patch. We are told to treat the brown patch with a broad spectrum fungicide like terraclor which kills all the fungus in the soil (This is analogous to going to a Texan's game with 80,000 fans in the stadium and killing everyone to get the one criminal).

This does several things as it also kills beneficial fungus living in the soil like the endophytic fungus which lives in a symbiotic relationship with grass roots. This good fungus receives food from the grass and in return produces toxins that repel/kill chinch bugs and sod webworms. The fungicide also kills the good fungus that breaks down dead grass so we get a buildup of thatch as the weather warms up. This thatch layer makes a good home for chinch bugs (or webworms) since the fungus that repels and kills them is gone.

Now the chemical companies tell us that we need we need to apply Diazinon or some other pesticide to control the chinch bugs. Pesticides kill the earthworms and microanthropods that aerate the soil and prevent compaction. The earthworms also eat weed seeds destroying them. Air (oxygen) can no longer get into the soil hence root growth is very shallow. This requires us to water several times a week as the soil cannot hold much water and there is very little root zone for the grass to draw water from. Note: This excessive watering leaches nutrients from our soils that pollutes our bayous and streams and eventually leads to the dead zone in the Gulf of Mexico.

Now we have to apply the artificial fertilizer 3-4 times per year to replace what was lost. Additionally the chlorine (Cl) in our public water systems in combination with the sodium (Na) in our soils forms sodium chloride which is known as table salt. This additional salt aggravates the problems a gardener experiences.

We are now told that we need to do a core aeration to break up the compaction and help air and water move into the soil since we no longer have the earthworms and other soil life doing that for us. Many of the plant species we call weeds are designed to grow on compacted and chemically out of balance soils. So without the earthworms and other soil life we have created a condition that favors weeds. The salts from the artificial fertilizer can cause a calcium (Ca) tie-up in the soil. For weeds like Dandelions to germinate and grow they require soils with low available calcium and low oxygen (compaction) hence we have created conditions that favor weeds over turf grass. Now we are told we need to use an herbicide or a weed and feed fertilizer since we have weeds.

The above scenario is very easy to avoid. One just needs to use an organic fertilizer instead of an artificial one. My favorite organic fertilizer is called MicroLife which I use for everything from house plants to fruit trees and turf grass.

Next apply a compost top dressing to the lawn to build organic matter and inoculate the soil with beneficial microbes. Note: Cheap low quality compost does not work very and some may actually kill the turf. During the 1980's when the composting industry was getting started there was a massive amount of research by the EPA, USDA and many universities. They found to have high quality compost there had to be a little manure used in producing it.

I enjoy the exercise I get from spreading compost but for those that are interested there are organic companies like "Green Pro" (713-553-7675) that will pick up the compost and do the work for you. If you listen to the Garden Line radio show every weekend, Randy Lemon has been repeatedly telling folks for years how important this simple compost top dressing procedure is