Clay Soil - Making Natural Nutrients Availible To Plants
by John Yazo
Clay soil has it's faults, but it also has many benefits that no other soil has. It is a soil that has outstanding quality if you are up to the challenge of working with it. improving the structure of clay soil takes some time and patience, and is well worth the investment.
Organic matter and a soil conditioner that contains humic acid will greatly benefit the improvement of the structure of clay soil. Starting with organic matter, compost, rotten manure, and shredded leaves are all good choices when used as a soil amendment in clay soil, and you are going to need to apply between a six to eight inch layer to start. This organic matter needs to be mixed into the soil, digging it in with a shovel or spade is the best way to do this, but will take a lot of work.
Once you have amended the soil with organic matter, you have created an environment that will allow a lot of the natural process of microbial activity to start. This is where a vast community of microorganisms will start working the soil and improving the soils structure. All you need to do is once your garden has been planted, is to at least once, preferable twice that season add more organic matter to the top of the garden bed as a compost. Continuously adding organic matter to the soil will create a healthy environment and supply a food source for the microorganisms to thrive. A healthy soil biology is essential to having a healthy soil.
Using a soil conditioner with humic acid is another very important step in improving a clay soil structure. Humic acid will benefit plant life in many ways. The first is it facilitates ion exchange, meaning it makes it easier for soil nutrient particles to move within soil for plant life to benefit from. Treating a soil with humic acid improve the natural nutrient availability that exists in soil, it is not a fertilizer in itself, and also influences the ph of the soil that affects nutrient availability.
Oxygen availability in a clay soil is another problem, and microorganisms needed to have a healthy soil structure need oxygen. Soil conditioners that contain humic acid help to create space to improve the drainage of a soil and to replenish these spaces that once held water with oxygen to be available for both the microbial activity and plant life to survive.
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