Mulching Question

[mattg125]

Hi- i notice that alot of people mulch with straw and add materials such as grass clippings thruought the season. Should all this be tilled into the soil after the growing season- and start over next year? or should it be left alone and just continue next year where you left off adding more straw etc..?

[paulf]

Good question. I always till all my mulch into the soil so it can begin to decompose and becomes part of the organic material every garden needs. Some folks take part of the old mulch off the top and add it to their compost piles. I guess it depends on the amount of mulch left over after the growing season. Even if some of my mulch is not buried, I like for all that good stuff to be in the garden.

[littleminnie]

It depends whether you till or are more like no till. I tend to grow more like no till. I have wide rows aka beds and just leave the straw on and then rake off to the side to add more compost and rake the straw back on after. If you purchase straw and have a large garden it is expensive and leaves can always go in the compost for brown matter. I scrounge around for free straw but still don't like to waste it. Eventually it does get worked into the soil.

BTW there is no specific reason why a person needs to till out their garden in fall. Some folks prefer to leave their beds as is 'forever' and not walk on them. They just keep dumping organic matter on top and the soil can be beautiful that way. Other people grow more like traditional farmers and till fresh every year and make new narrow rows.

[paulf]

I used to be more no-till in the fall. Leaving old plant debris on the garden seemed to attract lots of places for pests to over winter. Cleaning up the garden for winter helped with reducing problems for next year. With lots of mulch to put in the compost pile, I decided to till it all into the soil. A lot of the old farmers used to fall plow so that their soil could "mellow" over the winter. I know this causes soil erosion when done on a large scale, but on my little plot there is no run off and very little wind blown dust. I am not an organic grower but put as much organic matter into my garden space as possible and better into the soil than laying on top. Do whatever works for you.

[Tom Akers]

I've left mine on top for the last 30 years. It gets in eventually, and I have very few weeds.

[elkwc]

No right or wrong answer to this question. I've left mine and most of the times I've tilled mine under as I do 2-4 inches of leaves also every fall. I base mine some on past experience but more on soil tests and organic matter results. I have a very sandy soil so my organic readings will be lower than a person who has a clay type soil. This is one reason I usually till in the mulch and leaves into the top 6 inches of the soil and then let decompose over the winter. I've tried leaving the mulch on the ground here. I'm far enough south pests tend to live over in the mulch and the mulch catches lots of weed seeds. My rainfall amounts are low enough that I don't see the decomposition on the bottom of the mulch that many do. I will post some info I hope is helpful along with a link. I don't have soil tests ran every year but try to often enough to keep an idea of what direction I'm headed and what corrections if any are needed. Here the soil is alkaline so I have to add sulfur in some form every year. Jay
Many times we think of organic matter as the plant and animal residues we incorporate into the soil. We see a pile of leaves, manure, or plant parts and think, "Wow! I'm adding a lot of organic matter to the soil." This stuff is actually organic material, not organic matter.

What's the difference between organic material and organic matter? Organic material is anything that was alive and is now in or on the soil. For it to become organic matter, it must be decomposed into humus. Humus is organic material that has been converted by microorganisms to a resistant state of decomposition. Organic material is unstable in the soil, changing form and mass readily as it decomposes. As much as 90 percent of it disappears quickly because of decomposition.

www.agvise.com/tech_art/om.php

[littleminnie]

Interesting. I suppose this is why many organic growers prefer to dump OM on the beds instead of working it in. When worked in it decomposes much faster. On the surface the organisms make it into humus better, according to some.