I use to wrap wire around baby veggie plants to prevent cabbage worms from eating the young plants. This idea has been known for over a century. Healthy plants are not typically attacked by predators. Only the very young, the old and the unhealthy are targeted. Where have you heard that before? I use to plant the seeds in wood chips. The surface layer would absorb heat and would remain loose and dry. I never had to de-weed because of this, and if a weed did sprout, I could easily kick it up with my foot. The wood chips would retain incredible moisture underneath. Because of this I never had to water my garden again. Before knowing about wood chips, I had constantly water the garden. What a difference the wood chips made. All the nutrients and minerals came directly from the decaying wood chips underneath. The trees that the wood chips came from absorbed and pulled up minerals into the root system from deep under the soil. The veggies I grew had all the minerals and nutrients that the tree had. It is well known the best soil to farm is soil that comes from a freshly felled hardwood forest.
I don't know about the electro-magnetism aspect of a wire wrapped around a stick. I think it would be better to wrap a flexible wire around the plant itself. I never had insect infestations because all my veggies were fit as Olympians.
Bacillus Thuringiensus for worms, caterpillars, gnats. Bacillus Megaterium for fixing locked up phosphorous, bacillus pumilus for nitrogen fixing. Rhizobacterium is a good fit when the ground is beat up.
I wouldn't use mulch because it may be chemically prepped. There was a tree cutting service I use to get the wood chips from. I used a mix most likely it consisted of Ash, Birch, Oak, Pine, and Cottonwood wood chips. They were removing a cottonwood and they were 'glad' to give me the chips. In fact, they gave far more than I wanted and dumped a truck full right in from of my house..... Bastards. Oak chips I think would be great except you'd have to be careful of oak wilt, which is especially problematic with red oaks. The city Arborist told me that he never ran in to cases of oak wilt in the city parks and it was only problematic on people's properties. I asked him why that might be so and he theorized it was from people using herbicides on their lawns and told me the parks don't use herbicide.
It has always been known that a freshly cut forest is the best soil for crops. Somehow your statement whether true or not doesn't appears to have none effect on the black silt loam of a broad leaf forest provides. The reason for this is because the trees draw up minerals through their deep root system and when the leaves exfoliate, the fallen leaves begin to decompose and add a new layer of mineral-rich soil. The old trees that fall to the forest floor decompose providing the richest of soils. The cycle repeats itself year after year.
Paul Gautschi is an American gardener and Arborist, who popularized the method of 'Regenerative' organic gardening that practices a no-till and organic growing principles. The permaculture technique is simple -- cover the soil instead of plowing. Gautschi's story is amazing. He discovered using wood chips to cover the ground and it is very effective in retaining moisture while the wood chips on the surface act to absorb the sun's heat. Weeds do not have an opportunity to grow. I used Paul Gautschi's method for many years and the vegetables I grew never needed fertilizer, herbicide, or pesticides and weeds never rooted. The few that sprouted were easily removed by using my moving my foot. In fact, while I learned this gardening method, I discovered that insects avoided these healthy plants. The mineral rich soils produced very robust and disease resistant plants. It is similar as in the animal kingdom, to which predators look to attack the weak for prey. This is true for insects too. They never ate up my garden.
Growing food and plants with industrial techniques has devastated our soils. Paul Gautschi produced a documentary called "Back To Eden" that has received over 50 million views in every country in the world. The film ignited a world-renowned regenerative organic gardening movement that regenerates the soil and restores soil biodiversity which results in higher yields with less input, all while sequestering carbon. Gautschi's method has tens of millions of followers. People travel from around the world to visit his gardens. It appears you have some real work to do to convince them they are wrong about wood chips. For me, it worked extraordinarily well. This is coming from someone who grew up on garden-grown food. Well before there ever was a term calling it "organic", we ate organic foods. Back in the day, it was back breaking work and I still marvel at the prowess and skill my mom had in canning, freezing, pickling, and preparing for the winter months for a large family. And it all came from the garden. My folks never bought vegetables from the grocery store.
My plants do great in deep natural mulch tree trimmers.
I never worry or even think about pH. The microbiome that's developing under/in all that mulch handled its own business. I just add mulch and chop-and-drop "compost" plants right there where my plants grow.
I'm building towards perennial systems but plants tons of annuals in this method.
Depends on your soil composition and pH. My soil is very alkali. I use pine shavings (and pine needles) among other things when preparing a garden bed.
Bricks of pine shavings are about $5 bucks (for hamsters, rabbits, etc.) Tractor supply.
Your lawnmower would be spitting and throwing wood chips..... You could try composting broad leaf leaves for this though. This would be a longer process because decomposition can take a year or two. Make sure you have a tumbler because leaves tend to act like housing shingles and prevent water and moisture from evenly distributing. You need something that will turn and flip the leaves and to aerate. Or the leaves need chewed up into very small pieces so as to not suffocate the grass you are growing. I'd use my lawnmower to mulch leaves, but I got only marginal results. And for the same reason don't use raked up leaves in a garden. It's harder to work with than wood chips.
I use to wrap wire around baby veggie plants to prevent cabbage worms from eating the young plants. This idea has been known for over a century. Healthy plants are not typically attacked by predators. Only the very young, the old and the unhealthy are targeted. Where have you heard that before? I use to plant the seeds in wood chips. The surface layer would absorb heat and would remain loose and dry. I never had to de-weed because of this, and if a weed did sprout, I could easily kick it up with my foot. The wood chips would retain incredible moisture underneath. Because of this I never had to water my garden again. Before knowing about wood chips, I had constantly water the garden. What a difference the wood chips made. All the nutrients and minerals came directly from the decaying wood chips underneath. The trees that the wood chips came from absorbed and pulled up minerals into the root system from deep under the soil. The veggies I grew had all the minerals and nutrients that the tree had. It is well known the best soil to farm is soil that comes from a freshly felled hardwood forest.
I don't know about the electro-magnetism aspect of a wire wrapped around a stick. I think it would be better to wrap a flexible wire around the plant itself. I never had insect infestations because all my veggies were fit as Olympians.
Bacillus Thuringiensus for worms, caterpillars, gnats. Bacillus Megaterium for fixing locked up phosphorous, bacillus pumilus for nitrogen fixing. Rhizobacterium is a good fit when the ground is beat up.
What type of wood chips did you use? Wood chip mulch? Bark mulch?
I wouldn't use mulch because it may be chemically prepped. There was a tree cutting service I use to get the wood chips from. I used a mix most likely it consisted of Ash, Birch, Oak, Pine, and Cottonwood wood chips. They were removing a cottonwood and they were 'glad' to give me the chips. In fact, they gave far more than I wanted and dumped a truck full right in from of my house..... Bastards. Oak chips I think would be great except you'd have to be careful of oak wilt, which is especially problematic with red oaks. The city Arborist told me that he never ran in to cases of oak wilt in the city parks and it was only problematic on people's properties. I asked him why that might be so and he theorized it was from people using herbicides on their lawns and told me the parks don't use herbicide.
Thanks!
Watch Paul Gautschi documentary called "Back To Eden" that has received over 50 million views in every country in the world.
You want the wood chips to contain the leaves as well to have a good break down affect
You are trying to mimics forest floor
Wood chips and shavings lower the ph of soil and make it more acidic. Good for evergreens but not for a garden
It has always been known that a freshly cut forest is the best soil for crops. Somehow your statement whether true or not doesn't appears to have none effect on the black silt loam of a broad leaf forest provides. The reason for this is because the trees draw up minerals through their deep root system and when the leaves exfoliate, the fallen leaves begin to decompose and add a new layer of mineral-rich soil. The old trees that fall to the forest floor decompose providing the richest of soils. The cycle repeats itself year after year.
Paul Gautschi is an American gardener and Arborist, who popularized the method of 'Regenerative' organic gardening that practices a no-till and organic growing principles. The permaculture technique is simple -- cover the soil instead of plowing. Gautschi's story is amazing. He discovered using wood chips to cover the ground and it is very effective in retaining moisture while the wood chips on the surface act to absorb the sun's heat. Weeds do not have an opportunity to grow. I used Paul Gautschi's method for many years and the vegetables I grew never needed fertilizer, herbicide, or pesticides and weeds never rooted. The few that sprouted were easily removed by using my moving my foot. In fact, while I learned this gardening method, I discovered that insects avoided these healthy plants. The mineral rich soils produced very robust and disease resistant plants. It is similar as in the animal kingdom, to which predators look to attack the weak for prey. This is true for insects too. They never ate up my garden.
Growing food and plants with industrial techniques has devastated our soils. Paul Gautschi produced a documentary called "Back To Eden" that has received over 50 million views in every country in the world. The film ignited a world-renowned regenerative organic gardening movement that regenerates the soil and restores soil biodiversity which results in higher yields with less input, all while sequestering carbon. Gautschi's method has tens of millions of followers. People travel from around the world to visit his gardens. It appears you have some real work to do to convince them they are wrong about wood chips. For me, it worked extraordinarily well. This is coming from someone who grew up on garden-grown food. Well before there ever was a term calling it "organic", we ate organic foods. Back in the day, it was back breaking work and I still marvel at the prowess and skill my mom had in canning, freezing, pickling, and preparing for the winter months for a large family. And it all came from the garden. My folks never bought vegetables from the grocery store.
It is indeed very good for evergreens and certain scrubs but for other plants not so much.
My plants do great in deep natural mulch tree trimmers.
I never worry or even think about pH. The microbiome that's developing under/in all that mulch handled its own business. I just add mulch and chop-and-drop "compost" plants right there where my plants grow.
I'm building towards perennial systems but plants tons of annuals in this method.
Depends on your soil composition and pH. My soil is very alkali. I use pine shavings (and pine needles) among other things when preparing a garden bed.
Bricks of pine shavings are about $5 bucks (for hamsters, rabbits, etc.) Tractor supply.
Again is about a good ratio of breakdown of material to create a ecosystem in the soil
well, would this help grass in your yard?
Your lawnmower would be spitting and throwing wood chips..... You could try composting broad leaf leaves for this though. This would be a longer process because decomposition can take a year or two. Make sure you have a tumbler because leaves tend to act like housing shingles and prevent water and moisture from evenly distributing. You need something that will turn and flip the leaves and to aerate. Or the leaves need chewed up into very small pieces so as to not suffocate the grass you are growing. I'd use my lawnmower to mulch leaves, but I got only marginal results. And for the same reason don't use raked up leaves in a garden. It's harder to work with than wood chips.