Ground spike by mulch for fungal and clay

My allotment has not been used in seven years and some of the ground is compacted
They say notill the land for three years and it will change but with a one foot water table it is hard
I need to make raised beds to help with water reductions

I’m wondering I don’t want to tillas it breaks surface fungal and microbes killing them

what if I used a 5inch spaced out 30cm ground fork with flat ends 10mm

this would push mulch straw and grasses down 30cm not the ground in small holes
This would break the clays a bit and drive organic matter down
This process happens with worms over time but hope doing this would increase the process and help with water

it would allow oxygen into the soil deep and wouldn’t it pull fungal growth deeper into the soil too?
Or will this cause more harm than good they say it can crack the soil but tha when left bare I have 3infh of mulch I’m going to plant into directly this covers the soil and stops it drying out so

Ground spiking the soil isn’t tilling
It will be holes every 5inch 30cm deep 1cm wide with mulch pulled in same time then covered
Planted every square ft my veg
Hoping the roots will grow into the holes and take advantage of it like they do up top
This is hope to drive roots deeper into the ground and helping to prep for next year

2cent said:

My allotment has not been used in seven years and some of the ground is compacted
They say notill the land for three years and it will change but with a one foot water table it is hard
I need to make raised beds to help with water reductions

I’m wondering I don’t want to tillas it breaks surface fungal and microbes killing them

what if I used a 5inch spaced out 30cm ground fork with flat ends 10mm

this would push mulch straw and grasses down 30cm not the ground in small holes
This would break the clays a bit and drive organic matter down
This process happens with worms over time but hope doing this would increase the process and help with water

it would allow oxygen into the soil deep and wouldn’t it pull fungal growth deeper into the soil too?
Or will this cause more harm than good they say it can crack the soil but tha when left bare I have 3infh of mulch I’m going to plant into directly this covers the soil and stops it drying out so

Ground spiking the soil isn’t tilling
It will be holes every 5inch 30cm deep 1cm wide with mulch pulled in same time then covered
Planted every square ft my veg
Hoping the roots will grow into the holes and take advantage of it like they do up top
This is hope to drive roots deeper into the ground and helping to prep for next year

Click to expand...

Well, if you're going to plant something, you have to dig a hole. No matter what I plant, I do this and add a bit of compost (and gypsum, for my local conditions).

I doubt that level of damage to fungus and bacteria will take long for the soil to repair--especially with plant roots now there to encourage mycorrhizal proliferation.

I think you have the right idea, but might be overthinking a bit.

There's nothing wrong with innital tilling. The fungal network is already established and it will simply recolonize. That said, I'd refrain from tilling in-between crop rotation.

I grow mushrooms of all kinds, and when I do grain to grain using my master jar, I'll shake it up and break all the hypal threads. This helps to speed up colonization of the grain. Within a few days the individual grains that are white with mycelium, will come back together as a solid thick mass of white.

When I make bulk substrate, I take my fully colonized spawn jars and again, break them up into little crumbs or pieces. Then add that to bulk coco coir with some horse manure / ewc. I'll recolonize that for a week and then induce fruiting. Point here is..... mycelium of any species will be just fine if disturbed. It will simply recolonize and often much faster and denser.

I'd just till down a couple of feet if possible, even remove the top layer of soil so you can till deeper, then bring in additional topsoil/compost/amendments and build a raised bed on top of that. It will work way better than just building a raised bed on top of compacted soil.

Rurumo said:

I'd just till down a couple of feet if possible, even remove the top layer of soil so you can till deeper, then bring in additional topsoil/compost/amendments and build a raised bed on top of that. It will work way better than just building a raised bed on top of compacted soil.

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I chuckle when I see people doing just that, A bed on top of compacted earth. Your better off growing in containers at that point.

McShnutz said:

There's nothing wrong with innital tilling. The fungal network is already established and it will simply recolonize. That said, I'd refrain from tilling in-between crop rotation.

I grow mushrooms of all kinds, and when I do grain to grain using my master jar, I'll shake it up and break all the hypal threads. This helps to speed up colonization of the grain. Within a few days the individual grains that are white with mycelium, will come back together as a solid thick mass of white.

When I make bulk substrate, I take my fully colonized spawn jars and again, break them up into little crumbs or pieces. Then add that to bulk coco coir with some horse manure / ewc. I'll recolonize that for a week and then induce fruiting. Point here is..... mycelium of any species will be just fine if disturbed. It will simply recolonize and often much faster and denser.

Click to expand...

I do apprecieate that I also do the jars hehe good times
But some fungal species are so fragile they die when exposed cubes are aggressive yes but I’ve noticed like purple sulphur bacteria’s die so easy when episode to air and there so damn important
The notill scene mulch on top allowing earthworms etc down and it take 3years and if yo digit’s all soft again

tilling also kills a lot of micro life and worms and my indoor beds when I mound em up if I disturb itit never comes back as thick as my grain jars do or my soil bed would be a mycelium block lol
When I innoculate I litteratly form a scooby plant up and mix in and it never returns unless I innoculate again this time I didn’t mix it I added compost with amendments and it’s kept growing better

So figure

I've never heard of them being fragile per say, theyre much finer myceluim than edible or recreational. Fungal hyphae in earth born soil can be miles long. Concentration at planting sites can vary depending on a food source for the fungi. Trees and perennials are the main beneficiaries of mycorizha fungi. Bacterial presence is what cannabis benefits most from. For long-term plantings the fungi are helpful to break down harder items, like rock phosphate and other minerals in raw form.

Till the soil, make it airy and full of ammendments. Give the microbial life a reason to remain. Then follow up routinely with compost mulching.

Make your own compost and ammend it with anything you want. Helps to ensure diversity and this way you can tailor a more fungal or Bacterial food source.
example...
Compost made from malted barley and oatmeal will be higher fungal than Bacterial.
Compost made with food scraps like cauliflower and banana peels obviously more Bacterial. To retain a longer and stronger fungal presence, add in soft rock phosphate, glacial dust, crushed granite and wood/ leaves from autumn.

When starting a planting site it should be tilled, then fortified, followed by top dressing. You can grow for a very long time with only mulching with your compost.

You see we undo years and years or networks worms and orgs made and tilling atall will disrupt that and it takes years to restore

the notill farming shows etrosion starts when you till and it actually causes more compaction as you space clays out to the top reducing organic matter in a way non natural

One of the best on tube imo

bam0813 said:

One of the best on tube imo

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think thats 1 that got me started haha <3 it and the load that follow it lol
and cant beet good brix