Agricultural recycling

[freeztar]

I use a layer of aged wood chips (about four inches thick) in pathways between vegetable beds to prevent erosion, water evaporation, and for weed control. Some years ago, I seeded the pathways with Stropharia rugosoannulata (also known as garden giant, wine cap stropharia, and many other common names). I also use a six inch layer of straw mulch over the beds themselves, and I do not till. After a year, I found mycelium filaments throughout both the pathways and the beds themselves. I get mushroom caps in shaded areas in the spring and fall, and by winter time, I remove the top layer of wood chips from the pathways and dig out a nice inch layer of decomposed peat-like substrate that I mix with redworm castings to make container soil, if needed. Otherwise, I just place it on top of the beds under a new straw layer. Then I replace the left over wood chips, and add more wood chips to bring it back up to four inches.

 

I learned about Stropharia rugosoannulata from Growing Gourmet and Medicinal Mushrooms by Paul Stamets in which he claims this fungus in a wood chip bed is capable of filtering bacteria from manure laden run-off water. I have not tried it on a pile of wood chips removed from the garden, as I have always assumed the runoff and leaching of nutrient rich water from the garden was helping the fungus. It is however, a far more forgiving fungus than most, and it survives both the few cold snaps here in the winter and the unbearable summer heat.

 

I do not use corn stalks, cobs, tomato vines, and other woody vegetable garden waste in the compost pile, I just feed them to the neighbors cows, and grab a small amount of manure in return. The majority of my compost is made from horse manure that I receive for free (if you don't count labor to remove it from the stalls). This is also the source of my straw, as horses are generally fed a higher quality hay than other animals, and are just as sloppy, so waste hay is common in the stalls. The owner of the stalls used to burn this straw twice a year. The wood chips I get for free from a local landscaping company.

 

I have not yet tried biochar, and I don't need it in my current gardens, but I am toying with the idea of starting a test plot with biochar soon. Tilling wood chips into native soil usually is not recommended, unless you plan on a higher than normal nitrogen fertilizer regimine.

 

Awesome stuff Jones! :phones:

Paul Stamet is the man when it comes to mushrooms. It's good to see people using his ideas and products all the way across the country. :)

 

You may not *need* char in your soil, but I highly recommend it! If you have not already done so, take some time to familiarize yourself with the concept by visiting Hypography's Terra Preta (TP) forum. It's a lot to digest (no pun intended), but it's worth it! :)

[Eclipse Now]

The biochar thing sounds too good to be true... like those "5000 year old recipes for reversing baldness" or something. "Just add charcoal". But remember Leonardo's statement ...

 

"We know more about the movement of celestial bodies than about the soil underfoot." - Leonardo da Vinci, circa 1500s