Is Your Soil Healthy?
As the long month of January ends, our focus should turn to what’s in our fields and, most importantly, what’s in our soils.
Our soils should be treated like the most important resource on the farm.
Each farmer relies on the billions of live organisms which are working day in and day out making nutrients available for plant roots.
To thrive, these micro-organisms need just the same care and attention as any livestock do.
Healthy cattle need water, food, air, and shelter
- bacteria are no different!
Do Your Soil Bacteria Have Their Four Key Requirements?
? WATER ?
? FOOD ?
? AIR ?
? SHELTER ?
Read on to find out how to make sure they do .
? WATER ?
There's certainly plenty of water around at the moment! Many weather stations are reporting more than 3 months' worth of rain in the last two months.
But it's worth questioning why a particular field is not draining properly.
- Low organic matter?
- Hard pan?
- Poor drainage?
Find out more about how Nova Q can help increase the organic matter content of your soil
? FOOD ?
The soil food web is crucial, and at the base of it is the soil organic matter:
A healthy soil food web will provide nutrients in available forms to your plants, preventing losses to leaching.
And a balanced soil food web can play a role in neutralising high pH soils.
Adding organic manures will, over time, balance the soil food web.
Click here to see how Nova Q can turn your agricultural waste into high-quality organic manures
? AIR ?
It's well known that plant roots need well aerated soils to grow.
What's less common knowledge is that aeration is just as important for many of the micro-organisms on which the plants also depend.
Aerobic bacteria need oxygen to break down organic matter into valuable forms of NPK.
And more soil air means more pore space for easy water filtration, with benefits including stability of soil temperature.
Follow this link to find out how bacteria can increase the fertility of your soil
? SHELTER ?
Providing shelter in the form of plant biomass throughout the year should be top of your to do list for 2021.
A mixed species cover crop over winter will go a long way in enhancing your soil's biological, chemical, and physical interactions.
We would encourage all farmers to go out to your fields with a shovel and see what your soil workers need!