We added a lot of municipal compost and concentrated amendments on top of the soil in a newly established polytunnel last winter, enough of a front-loading to last a few years. But not enough fertility was available for the hungry plants that we grew this year, despite there being a huge amount there.
0:00 removing and replacing fertility
1:11 amending the soil
3:10 lots of compost, lots of potential fertility
4:52 good growth then poor growth
6:21 compost takes time to feed
7:44 watering issues
9:13 digging a trench
10:29 fixing the problem in the past and future
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42 Comments
Check for a cover crop during winter
Definitely agree, moisture is probably the biggest hindrance. More nutrients, more biology, more worms would only work in the presence of moisture. Even in a small space, I can see this in my practices. I hand water, both to conserve water and reduce fungal diseases. The root zone does fine, I assume biology is active by the abundant presence of worms. The outlying areas not so much. However I do heavily mulch which enhances and conserves the soil structure and life. I garden outside and mostly no-dig. I imagine your moisture issue is compounded inside. Maybe a broad forking will speed along your transition without bringing the weed seeds to the surface. – Love your videos, lots of info and food for thought.
Evening RG… hope you are doing good …as has been said life / worms ect .worms 🪱 #soldiersofthesoil .. my Q …. why would you destroy life and then try and recreate it….
killing soil life to get soil life is not in the nature handbook.
keeping soil covered with living plants or dying plants at all times seems to be the truth no soil without living or dying organisims .. Have a good day ..T
Have you heard of Elaine Ingram. She teaches you to feed the soil. She checks the soil life with a microscope. Your dark compost may be part of the problem, drawing too much heat in summer. A light color much may help. You can use grass clippings or straw. Also, if you cut the plants, leave the roots in the soil to decompose, this leaves food for the soil organisms. It is the soil organisms that allow your plants to use the ample nutrients that you have added . Plants get energy from the Sun. Energy is converted into sugar that feed soil life. Soil biology allow plants to absorb what they need. Over feeding tends to make plants bloat their cells and succumb to diseases and so on. I am studying permaculture, I think it would be right up your alley. Good luck 👍
Good work Bruce. Thoughtful analysis as always. Perhaps the municipal compost could be run through the ecovillage's compost bins as a carbon source & allowed to further mature that way. Likewise the high cellulose municipal compost could be infused with some nitrogen, heaped windrow fashion and turned periodically to finish decomposing. Just guessing here but I have had some success with turbocharging sluggish, small batch, compost with fish emulsion to "ignite" thermophilic decomposition. This episode was of great interest to me because I need to import several dozen m³ of inexpensive (municipal compost?) soil for my new garden in Maine, USA.
Based on my personal experience which was similar but somewhat different than yours, I would say that Richard Perkins is probably right to say that before you put the compost on the cardboard, you put a layer of composted manure to kickstart the bed. Otherwise it will take a longer time to get it going.
The tomato plants have deep roots, I wonder if they couldn't get through the cardboard.
My tomatoes do best when I mix my natural organic clay soil 50/50 or 60/40 with compost. They never seem to do well if they don't have access to the minerals in my clay garden soil that I have amended for years, but it's still more clay than I like but good compost is expensive and hard to find.
I bought several yards of certified organic compost made from a variety of orchard fruit & branches.
Things that I planted in just compost did not do well, and dried out too fast in hot summer.
You need acid soil for soft rock phosphate to be available. Try an animal based phosphorus source. Bone meal is widely available. I love fish bone meal. I foliar apply seaphos from pacific grow in season. Did you run a paste taste? Test the carbon to nitrogen ratio for your compost. You want 18 to 1 ratio. Amino acid nitrogen sources like fish hydro or soy meal is how I get around the tye up in my notill beds.
Lawn rollers and wobbler irrigation help firm the compost beds.
If you use a landscape in the pathways you hold in moister better. Try running overhead in the spring with a sholder season crop and then switching to drip once you have the summer crop transplanted.
An outstanding vid, Bruce. Maybe your best yet. You are star! So much practical useful and insight here!
1) I love your videos. I watch them multiple times, just to let it all stew together in my brain
2) your diagnosis of water seems like a good starting point. So some questions, was the cardboard more significantly broken down under the drip lines that other locations? I know cardboard only last 6 months, so by now it's probably all gone, but worth asking. Since your compost takes awhile to break down, were tomatoes (a heavy feeder crop) the best choice for a first year, or would a low feeder be a better choice and them work your way up? Since industrial farms have an issue of water runoff carrying N with it. It seems logical the N needs water to penetrate deeper into the soil. Also soil life needs water, so the most biologically active area of the bed is just going to be under the drip lines. Meaning as the tomato roots spread out, they are going into "dead" areas with most of the nutrients still ties up. Limiting their overall viability, especially late in the season. I'm not sure if there is any research about drip lines in covered spaces vs outdoors. Seems like there would be. Outdoors the rain will be enough to keep soil alive, and drip is just to feed plants. Seems like someone else would have noticed by now.
3) I loved the shot of the trench, with a clear demarcation of compost vs soil. I would encourage you to redo this every year and share photos of the steady integration. I've heard from many channels that starting a garden is hard and then in 3-5 years, things "pop" but too many people quit before then. In the USA, it takes 5 years to get certified organic, and I think there is a similar issue. Your compost seems mostly dead. Yes there are some decomposes turning the woody material into bioavaliable material. But it seems to be of a very minimum rate, and I'd postulate diversity. I think of compost as feeding next yeas crop not this year's.
I heard compost piles break down from the bottom up and bacterial colonize from the soil, and part of the turning process is to redistribute those throughout the pile to reduce the required distance of spread. Similar inoculation processes have been done by people using hot manures. So here is a proposed tactic. When you first get your compost, inoculate a bag or two with tea. The bigger the mix of biology the better. Then when you go to use your compost, the bacteria would have spread farther and wider in the time between. then compare the results of the inoculate vs not bags. Now if you use your compost quickly, this isn't going to show. Bacterial take time to grow and multiple. and from the Certified Organic, and many antidotes, that could be years. This should be effecting your polyclture garden too – and your fertility bombs in the simple garden (rotting apples). Looking forward to this years update. So, inoculate early, mix, water, etc. Let the bugs grow.
4) Are you familiar with the Jena Experiment? This research into biodiversity is cool and long lasting. One of the interesting points i've heard, is that the polyculture nature only does a little better during the normal growing years, but really shines in the too hot and too cold and too dry years. Where the polyculte plots do much better. Since you keep so many records I wonder if this can be checked in your data.
5) your experience with compost has really lead me to a thought that compost is "interesting". It's not the best mulch, it's not the best fertilizer, it's not the best growing medium, it's not best and weed suppression. But it is "ok" in all these categories. And therefor it's general application is useful. Where each "best-in-class" material, is limited in use for other purposes.
6) any thoughts on your compost being too woody there therefor more fungle dominate? that would lead it to be better used for bushes and trees than annual crops.
7) others have mentioned this. But some new research and thought, is that the soil needs exudates far more than we previously thought. Therefor year long growing is important. Yes we think of cover crops as producing biomass and carbon. But they also feed the soil life. and that life probably doesn't do too well when we starve it for months on end during winter. It has to reboot each spring. So I know you calculated the amount of N your cover crop produced, but maybe that is the wrong measure. its the total photosynthisis, which would always be greater than zero.
I'd recommend Dan Kittredge for more detailed information, but the short version is I think your actions ended up being somewhat counter productive to each other. First the compost you brought in was woody which means it is fungally dominated but you put in plants that like a bacterially leaning microbe profile, or an even profile, then you pulled roots from the previous weeds which would have fed the bacteria in the soil, likely reducing your availability further, then the additional fertility made lots of nutrition available to the plants in the short term which decreases their needs for building symbiotic relationships with microbial life which gives you a fairly classic crash when that fertility runs out, and there was no incentive for the plants to sink their roots deeper for more nutrients as you created a zone with good levels of moisture and nutrition right above a zone with poor levels of both. A simple fix here would be to put that fertility which went on top of the soil instead underneath the cardboard layer. Then one good soaking will encourage root growth to that lower layer as the initial fertility is used up.
Roots are your best bet for mixing zones of earth as they will work their way down and then die, leaving behind organic matter. One way to address this would have been to plant a cover crop of deep drilling radishes once you thought the cardboard was decomposed enough to allow them to push through- or preferably (though the timing has to work) put the cover crop in the fall before, then cover with cardboard/compost in the spring and the roots will be releasing their fertility as they rot at roughly the same point your amendments are running out and the tomatoes are searching for more nutrition.
Good video, thanks. I use fall leaves on top of all my beds! It keeps moisture inn and the micro/macro biologi goes amok under the leaves. My greenhouse is from 1962 all glass 200m2, farmed with mineral fertilizers from 1962-2017. I have only fed the soil with compost, green grass and leaves since I took over and never looked back. The soil was 100% dead when I took over in 2019 Leaves are cheap.. Best Regards Per in Norway.
I think using a sprinkler at intervals to keep the compost moist may assist you.
Worm castings and Jadam.
i did whats called sheet mulching, many yards of nitrolized fir shavings about 2-3 inches deep, kept moist to encourage the biology breaking down and had great results with at least 4" depth below soil line. you want to create a sponge to hold moisture along with the minerals and nutrients. will do it again for a Market Garden.
Excellent video, thank you! I had similar problems with the compost I used this year, on a much smaller scale. It was like fertility was completely locked up and inaccessible to the plants. Your videos about this issue help me understand what's been happening. I want to love this no-dig compost method, but I've had a hard time with the compost I've bought in so far. I'll be curious to see the development of this tunnel space next year. Thanks for sharing!
After less than great results with my first couple of beds, only top dressing, I decided to deeply till in plenty of compost when making new beds. Sure, it seriously disrupts the soil ecosystem that first year, but I think it recovers within a year or two, and the overall health and productivity of those initially dug beds seemed much better. When I went back to the original beds to do the same deep digging, i found similar results to your own; far less penetration of the richer soil with a pretty distinct line. Yes, it's a lot more work, but seems to pay off very quickly, and I suspect makes for a overall more stable, diverse soil ecosystem. As always, thanks for sharing, Bruce.
I had an identical experience. A year ago I put up another small polytunnel, about 100 square meters, and made deep mulched beds just like yours. The plants did terribly and I found it was due to two problems. First, the lack of bioavailable nutrients as you found. Second, the deep mulch kept the soil from warming up in the Spring. We had a wet, dark, April and even though the air in the tunnel was warm the soil stayed cold and the plants couldn't grow. I ended up having to rip out 100 large tomato starts and 100 pepper starts and replacing them. The other starts, still in pots, grew fine as the soil in the pots warmed up, being aboveground. This year I'm lightly tilling all the beds to incorporate the compost and added nutrients into the soil and in the Spring I plan to not put more compost on the beds until the soil has had a chance to warm up, probably in June or so and I'll lightly till it in again in the Fall. I couldn't believe how much you have to pay for chicken manure, we can get 20 kilo bags of similar pelleted manure for about 4 pounds, I get the fresh stuff from a local egg farmer for $30 per ton, even better but smellier.
some mushroom spores might be a good addition to the compost to make it breakdown faster.
also maybe something like the initial crop being something like peas or a cover crop might be better in the long run
How do you know that the chicken manure pellets are clean even though they’re organic? I’m always questioning animal by products such as blood meal, bone meal and manures. I do use my own chicken manure but I also know that all commercial chicken places in the USA give medicated feed to chickens. Then they poop out medicated manure. Great video, I loved it.
I love videos about soil which show the before and after.
I have had very similar problems to you this season and in fairness the aubergine and pepper crops were quite poor. Have you ever spoken to farmers about trying to capture some of the run off from silage pits. It’s certainly high in nitrogen and would be quite easy to use as a liquid feed with your system. I suppose another method would be to fill 30 to 40% of an IBC tank with grass cuttings and top it off with rain water and then use that.
thank you for your efforts!
Worth a broad fork in the first year? Trial on 1 row?
11:02 Urine to the rescue
Add some mulch to help with the watering issue.
I recognize that liquid feed at 11:04 ! Good for you my brother , we should all be doing this
This is why I like to use a mixture of urine and wood ash, they are available quite readily and cost nothing.
hey friend, greetings from argentina, i liked when you analized the soil profile. and as allways id like to see what difference over time biochar would make if mixed in with compost. as it doesnt decompose, it builds soil faster. a no till garden bed with extra biochar would be amazing to compare with the others as it progresses year on year, could you get close to a terra preta like the amazon ones? id love to see you try! thanks for everything brother, loving your content as usual.
Have your considered using a broadfork or digging fork to help get the compost into the soil while still using hand tools?
That’s a lot of information to digest, Bruce, and I would have loved to have Charles Dowding comment on this! But two things I have that helped aeration/fertilization/speed up composting are my abundance of earthworms and moles (regrettably).
I always think the same when I watch your videos ……something very well done, calculated, serious, investigating new possibilities….. Great👍
I have noticed the lack of worms in your native soil. I have had really good experience with using wormcastings when growing indoors. It's a significant difference in plant health when using worms vs not. At least as I have seen.
Might be something to do a large scale trial on.
Were can i buy that fertiliser setup for the liquid
2:32 Mmmm…. Forbidden Lentils
The fact that the compost layer dried out at all and that the whole tunnel was dry (depending on how you measured that) tells me that the municipal compost just got too dry and all activity in it ceased. That's why the plants ran out of nutrients (if those were bioavailable to begin with).
Plants also thrive in humid air that is uncomfortable for people. So if the tunnel was a nice place for you… it was much too dry for the tomatoes.
I'd start with at least doubling the drip lines to make sure that the compost mulch and the soil beneath stay consistently moist all over. This will help the microbiome to do its job and also encourage the tomatoes to grow roots into the mulch which will help their nutrient-seeking.
Watering is a onerous chore but at least you can automate the vast majority of it.
ps. If you're looking for a good investment into equipment, micro-sprinklers might work well in the polytunnel.
How about adding a mulch on top of the compost? Your dust mulch reduces evaporation but requires some of the compost to be dry, slowing decomposition and making nutrients in those parts unavailable to plants. Adding a mulch on top would do the same job while allowing the compost itself to remain moist.
Do you feel like you're at a philosophical intersection yet? I know for myself I tend towards no dig as an area of the garden gets better and better. Reason being fewer inputs requires less consumption etc but for you it seems like your no dig motivation may be for less labour required? If so, why not just work some compost in and then proceed with no dig as per?
Did you do any foliar sprays, like seaweed, throughout the season?
Mentioned by others but worth reinforcing. Maybe due to the time constraints on your filming it was not obvious that there were any worms in those trenches. Worms do all the equivalent digging work in no dig gardens. They convert the nutrients into a state more conducive to the plant digestive process through their own digestion.
Are there no stables in the vicinity that would let you have animal manure? Left to decompose for a couple of years and then added to your municipal compost would increase the number of worms and give a boost to the lower value compost. Another way I've seen working is by digging a hole every so often and putting in a bucket full of fresh kitchen waste (and covering it up) encourages the worms and woodlice etc to take up residence. Certainly works in deep clay soils.
In short do everything you can to increase the amount of worms.
Thanks for your research, and the valuable time you give to us.
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