Bryant RedHawk

Joboy Farmer wrote:I have loved seeing how rich people can manage to get their soil and the fatness of their earth worms!
Unfortunately I have got as far as the thriving salad and vegetables when suddenly the mole tunnels under and pushes out and knocks over many young and developing plants!
I would love to be able to share the same area but we are reaching a point of needing a solution- help change the attractiveness of my soil.

The moles are coming for earthworms. Try a perimeter dousing of ammonia, that worked for me.
Redhawk

Tom Walt wrote:Wood mulch up here brings out the snakes which my wife is deathly afraid of. ( She spent 3 weeks in the house the last time she saw one.)
We just do a deep root watering once a week.

I have areas where I use wood chips and areas where I use compost for mulch. The compose areas are where I don't want to run into snakes. That might work for you too.

Redhawk

PS, I have; copperhead, watermoccasin, eastern diamondback, speckled king, blue racer, and gopher snakes on my land.

AC, the thicker you can mulch (up to 40 cm) the better the soil beneath will; hold water, increase in micro biome, supress new undesirable plants(weeds), aid in a fungal network which will provide highways for bacteria and chemical messages to travel to answer the call from your crop plants.
Love that you are following the right paths to great growing !

Redhawk

Cayo Seraphim wrote:

Bryant RedHawk wrote:

Electric currents do nothing for snake bite treatment except that they can cause wider spreading of the venom which is the opposite of what you want.

Redhawk, Is that based on your personal experience trying it out, or based on a review of the scientific literature.

“We previously reported that a short exposure of Crotalus atrox venom to direct electric current (dc) from a low-voltage generator, in solution, causes consistent and irreversible inactivation of venom phospholipase A(2) and metalloproteases. Here we report by in vivo assay on chicken embryos at stage 18 of development according to Hamburger and Hamilton that the hemorrhagic activity of C. atrox venom is lost after exposure to dc (from low voltage). Venom was exposed to dc ranging between 0 and 1 mA. dc values above 0.7 mA abolished hemorrhage”

My conclusion is based on studies at UCD, however those studies were not with very low voltage and they used AC current. Also the tests were done on pacific rattle snake venom only.
Good catch! And thank you for more information that is more current. I'm now wondering if there are studies with DC low voltage or micro voltage out there.
Redhawk

Coydon Wallham wrote:Early in the thread someone asked about the two types of grounds, organic and conventional. I'm curious about another vector, hot brewed and cold brewed. Not a chemistry major here, but I recall hearing the hot water extracts more tanins (and perhaps phenols?). Do the grounds produced by these two methods vary in how they work for composting or top dressing?

Cold brewing leaves more tannic acid as well as other compounds that are removed in hot brewing. Spent coffee grounds from either brewing method can be used for; soil additions, composting, worm bedding, etc.
Redhawk

Yes, that is a great idea for the sod.

Redhawk

Hau Suzette, you have a great methodology going there. Kudos  kola.

If you leave any grass at all, it will always make a quick comeback. If you kill the entire square footage where you want your garden you are less likely to be continually fighting grass. I prefer to use 6 inches of wood chips for my paths, that way I'm always building the soil in the gardens.

I have consulted far to many folks who thought they could short cut my recommendations. Then they call me back because their short cuts either didn't work or the short cuts actually made the situation worse.

I'm always happy to share my knowledge, helping people achieve their growing goals is one of my passions.

Redhawk (you can always purple mooseage, I answer as fast as is possible)

Bonnie Kuhlman wrote:Bryant, and Alder, my problem IS the grass.  I have about 1/4 acre sectioned off for gardening.  Previously, cattle were grazed on all this and I can't get the pasture grass out of my garden.  The top soil looks beautiful but is lacking in life.  I can dig a hole 2' X 2' and not find a single worm.  I'm constantly fighting the hay grass.  How do I plant a garden without it taking over?

I'm pulling back the space to a more manageable size.  65yo female and I no longer have the stamina to spend all day bending or kneeling to pull weeds or grass.  I've tried mowing short and covering with wet newspaper, then a layer of Happy Frog bagged soil.  My plants take off, but then seem to succumb to the TX heat (south central TX) before or shortly after setting fruit.  So, I've planted a couple of cottonwoods, a weeping willow, and a couple dozen fruit trees hoping to give vegetable plants a little more shade from the scorching sun.

Do you have any suggestions for getting rid of the pasture grass?

Bonnie

Hau Bonnie.
The removal (in your case, killing the roots) of grasses is simple but time consuming since we don't want to use chemicals.
  The first method is covering the area with 2 or 3 layers of cardboard, then covering that with a thick layer (4 - 6 inches) of compost.
  The second method is to use black landscape cloth, again multiple layers works best, then covering that with the thick layer of compost. In both of these methods we are smothering and blocking sunlight in order to kill the grass root system.
Both methods take a minimum of 3 months to actually do the job.
    The fastest, safe method is to cut the sod (renting a sod cutting device so you're removing 2 inches of root containing soil) and removing it. Turning the cut sod green side down doesn't really work as well as you want it to work. Once the sod is removed you proceed with method 1. Once you have finished the root kill, lay on a wood chip layer of 6 inches so the removed soil is replenished by rotting wood and populated by the fungi that rot the wood chips. This will also bring in worms, springtails, beneficial nematodes etc. You will also benefit from the naturally occurring humid acids that will filtrate into the soil as the wood chips deteriorate.

Hope that helps you
Redhawk

If you want to build deep topsoil where there is a clay base, you don't want to use trees. Trees, especially conifers, don't sink deep roots of the type that will build top soil. Look at where rain forest has been cut down and that land then being farmed. It never works.

As already mentioned, grasses are the soil builders, they sink roots up to 3 meters deep, bring mineral nutrients up from the depths, encourage bacteria and other microorganisms to populate, attract mycorrhizae and other fungi to populate. All this is what builds friable topsoil. Other items that build soil depth are broadleaf plants like comfrey, wild sage, sweet grass, etc.

I have lots of information posted in my soil series. I encourage you to read through it to learn methods that are proven to work when building soil.

Redhawk