Why do you need soil mulching, features of the use of agricultural techniques

In the process of growing horticultural and horticultural crops, it is extremely important to protect plants from possible natural troubles. Helps in this, in particular, mulch - a material layer covering the surface of the earth near growing vegetables and melons, berry bushes, fruit trees or flowers. Those wishing to learn more about what mulch is and how to prepare it should read the proposed text.

Soil mulching: what is it?

Figuratively speaking, soil mulching is the way to a rich harvest. In agrotechnical language, mulching means a simple and effective soil protection technology that contributes to the successful cultivation of plants. But first, you should more precisely define the concept of "mulch": what is it? Mulch is understood as a homogeneous material or a mixture of substances of different origin, which, due to the combination of their qualitative characteristics, are suitable for protecting the soil used for growing cultivated plants. Now you can, moving on to the term "soil mulching", better understand what it is. Without really knowing what it means to mulch the soil or, more simply, what it is to mulch, one cannot proceed to practical actions, since there is a danger of causing irreparable harm to already growing or only future plants.

What are the benefits of mulching the soil in a summer cottage

If we neglect the fact that sometimes mulch is used as a decorative decoration, then its other properties are reduced mainly to protective functions:

- plant root protection by maintaining the required level of moisture in the soil (to mulch the soil is to keep moisture in it) and acidity, temperature regime and nutrient medium (including for earthworms that loosen the soil);

- protection of grown plants from hypothermia at low temperatures and from weeds (by preventing their growth).

In addition, the ground covered with mulch does not harden into a hard-to-penetrate crust, and the growing berry or vegetable crop is protected from contamination.

Types of soil mulching, what materials to use for the procedure (organic and inorganic)

Classical is the classification of mulch according to its composition into organic and inorganic. Although compost is also organic, it is sometimes classified as a separate category of mulch. Being extremely nutritious for vegetation, compost also contributes to the loosening of the earth and prevents its surface from turning into a crust. A number of experts, not without reason, believe that soil sodding can also be called mulching.

Did you know? For mulching, you can even use walnut shells and sunflower seed husks.

Organic mulching is almost always considered as the main option, as it results in, among other things, an increase in soil fertility.

Important! Before mulching with sawdust, shavings and bark, the earth must be treated with manure, feces or urea to avoid a lack of nitrogen in it.

Use of sawdust

Sawdust perfectly protects plants from attacks of pests, slugs, making it difficult for them to move. Of the undoubted advantages of this material, we note its versatility for use on any soil, excellent air permeability, allowing the soil to "breathe" freely, coating density, as a result of which microorganisms intensively developing in the upper soil layer gradually turn sawdust into fertile earthen mass. Tomatoes and potatoes, always suffering from overheating of the soil, cannot do without sawdust in a dry summer.

Important! Wetting of plants during sawdust mulching of the soil is prevented by ensuring that the sawdust does not cake.

hay and straw

They do not like slugs and straw, which is very good as mulch in garden beds. The original 15 cm thick straw mulch is then naturally reduced by two-thirds. Straw is a fertile material for mulching garden spacings, as well as for covering the soil where trees grow. For leaders of a fairly large farm, there is no particular problem in where to get straw or hay for mulching. The rest will have to buy - fortunately, large agricultural enterprises are able to sell the surplus.

You can use mulching with hay and green mass in the form of cut grass and weeds (preferably free from seeds). Features of mulching the soil around trees suggest that the protective layer will leave the root neck requiring dryness open. In general, surface microflora will not cause damage to tree roots deeply buried in the ground. In this regard, plants covering the ground (turf mulching), planted in the form of a lawn and able to easily tolerate the natural darkening created by the crowns of trees, will be very appropriate here.

Did you know? By making sod mulching with white clover, you can simultaneously get rid of weeds and cockchafer larvae.

The use of peat for mulching

The main function of peat as a mulching layer is to protect the soil from wind erosion, from the deterioration of its fertile qualities through the washing out of the elements that determine these qualities, from unfavorable pathogenic flora. Peat mulch does not require artificial cleaning, passing into the soil, it improves its composition. The use of peat mulch is considered optimal for the good development of raspberry bushes, which constantly require moisture, which peat retains so well. Approximately half a month after rooting in the open ground of the tomato seedlings planted there, the soil is also mulched with peat. Finally, the decorative qualities of the homogeneous peat structure are used, which makes it possible to make a very attractive backfill.

Mulching technology with green manure and mowed grass

Garden grass, including specially grown green manure, due to its location in the open air warmed by the sun, quickly gets rid of most of the moisture it contains. This greatly slows down the decomposition process. Under the onslaught of autumn rains, it intensifies already in the garden that has become empty from the harvest. As a result of winter-autumn decay, the owner of the site receives a new natural organic fertilizer for the beds by spring.

Having figured out how easy it is to make grass mulch in the summer-autumn period, it must be said that the so-called early spring (immediately after the disappearance of the snow cover) sideration by plants capable of very rapid growth is also used. Mulching even before the May planting of cucumbers, zucchini or other heat-loving garden crops in the open field is carried out using, for example, mustard (or other green manure), which manages to gain a large amount of greenery, which, in a beveled form, is used as mulch (you can also add into compost). Leaving the roots in the soil and allowing soil microorganisms to “work” with them, a couple of weeks after mowing the green manure green mass, you can start planting the intended crop. Mulching cucumbers, late cabbage and other vegetables with green manure will bring success if:

The land for planting seeds will be wet and loose, and the seeds themselves will touch it with most of the surface (you need to roll it a little);

It will be possible to protect the planted seed material from birds (garden scarecrows are still effective);

Mowing will be done before the green manure blooms and it forms poorly decomposing hard stems;

During the mulching process, the soil with beneficial microflora will not be damaged.

Important! Not using green manure from the same plant family with the main crop will protect the latter from related diseases.

Features of mulching with film and textiles

Inorganic mulching successfully copes with protective functions, if they are not related to plant nutrition. The applied inorganics could be conditionally classified as follows:

Black (sometimes colored) film and textile materials, as well as paper and cardboard;

Stones (crushed stone, gravel, pebbles, etc.);

Expanded clay.

The last two species are of decorative and applied value, since they are able to perfectly decorate a garden or landscape composition, but they are also able to interfere with the periodically necessary earthworks associated with tillage for growing horticultural and horticultural crops. Expanded clay also has a weak structure and over time is prone to decay into smaller and smaller particles.

Black film is often used due to the lack of a mulch preparation process. Attracts its ability to perfectly retain moisture and prevent the development of weeds. At the same time, it must be remembered that it, in fact, is a disposable material, coming under the sun's rays to unsuitability in just a season. When deciding on the use of film mulching, it is necessary to provide for:- the scheme according to which the cultivated vegetation will be irrigated (drip or through holes in the coating);

Measures to control slugs that collect under the film;

The ability of plants to endure overheating inevitably enhanced by film mulch in especially hot weather.

Important! By covering the film from the sun with a thin layer of straw (or hay), you can extend its use for several seasons.

Covered with stones, so as not to distort the aesthetic perception, the film is still mulching the soil in rock gardens, where it prevents weeds from developing.

Textile materials made on the basis of polypropylene fiber are becoming more common among land users using mulching. Due to the relative cheapness and excellent quality, including such as the absorption of sunlight, it has become widely known geotextile, not giving a single chance to survive to the weeds that fell under its cover.

Mulching with bark and wood chips

Chips and bark, especially from birch or oak, have certain limitations in their use for mulching due to their chemical composition. The transfer of tannins into the soil can slow down the growth of plants. Therefore, other materials are needed in garden beds, but coniferous plantations (spruce, cypress, etc.), which are not afraid of tannic influence, noticeably increase in development due to acidification of the soil on which they grow by the bark. For coniferous plants, in the interests of improving their nutrition, it is quite possible to annually mulch the soil with compost.

A serious argument in favor of bark mulching is the combination of good thickness in comparison with almost weightless lightness and a high content of phytoncides, which cleanse the environment of unwanted microorganisms and insects. Bark mulch creates a natural circle near the tree.

When choosing chips you need to look at the suggested sizes. Like sawdust, wood waste in the form of wood chips naturally passes into the state of humus, having previously successfully coped with the functions of maintaining the necessary soil looseness and moisture and stimulating an increase in the microflora necessary for the plant.

Mulching with leaf humus

Fallen leaves, even without additional processing, can be used to protect the soil. But a prerequisite for this is the absence of diseases provoked by the fungus in the trees from which it has fallen, otherwise the entire area may be affected by spores. To avoid this possibility, foliage is preferred to be used as a component of compost, especially since its nutritional value is beyond doubt. An additional safeguard will be the antifungal treatment of the leaves just before they are put into the compost. Leaf humus, slightly acidic and not a fertilizer, perfectly conditions the soil, helping to improve its structure. In addition to mature leaf humus, both dry and half-rotted leaves are used for mulching.

Use of needles for mulching

Flower beds are well protected pine needles. In general, they tend to use pine needles as mulch to protect crops that from time to time pests attack en masse (garlic is a well-known representative of such plants). The free and natural nature of pine needles (cones, twigs, and pieces of bark are added to the mulch along with it), its ability to make the earth saturated with moisture, breathe well, moderately loose attracts increased attention to it. This attention should be combined with some caution, since such a mulch can also lead to agronomic disaster, overly acidifying the soil in the garden or depressing the development of some crops.

Excellent results are obtained when strawberry mulching is carried out with a covering material such as needles. In this case, they are saved from acidification by annual feeding of the strawberry plot with wood ash. By the way, during fruiting, strawberries are mulched with clean straw so that the berries do not come into contact with the ground. Producers take great care to always have something to mulch strawberries, because not only is it tasty, but also increasing its yield leads to a good income.

Features of soil mulching, what you need to know about the agrotechnical procedure

Agrotechnics of mulching is based on the necessity of sufficient warming of the soil. An artificial cover over cold soil (organic or inorganic) will lead to a negative result - a delay in the development of plants. This rule does not apply to potatoes, over which (only organic) mulch is done immediately after planting in the ground. Two seasons are considered optimal for soil mulching:

1) the main purpose of spring mulching of warmed soil is to protect the plant from overheating and drying out, that is, after the completion of the cold season, you need to wait a bit;

2) in the middle or in the final stage of autumn, mulching of soil that has not had time to supercool is done mainly to avoid damage or death of the plant from winter cold. The creation of a protective coating should be preceded by cleaning the soil from weeds (perennial and large) and enriching it with ash, bone meal or other slowly decomposing fertilizers.

The mulching layer does not fit forever - it is replaced as it exhausts its functions, which, in turn, is associated with the characteristics of the materials used. Mulched land requires more watering to ensure that the completely soaked protective layer is on moist soil. Of some of the individualized features of mulching, it can be noted that:

The area covered by the mulch of the earth under bushes and trees is limited by the diameter of their crown (not counting the gap between the shelter and the trunk);

Garden beds with vegetables and flower beds are mulched entirely with a 10-centimeter (3 cm less) layer;

Vegetable seedlings are planted in the ground when it is already covered with a film or textile.

Did you know? The use of mulching is not limited to open space - it is also used indoors and even for plants grown in pots.

Having found out what mulch is and where to get it, having learned in practice how to prepare mulch, having carried out the entire process of preparing mulch with your own hands, spending time on mulching the soil, the land user can significantly save it on irrigation and weeding. And the result in the form of a good harvest will remind him of the efforts not in vain.

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