A certain amount of ready-made leaf humus forms spontaneously in places where a lot of fallen leaves have accumulated and were able to rot (mainly under trees in the forest). However, as in the case of vegetable compost, with the targeted preparation of leaf humus from the leaves of specific trees, you can influence the chemical composition of the final product, and the finished rotted leaves can be used as a “starter” to speed up the process. You can also use nettle infusion as a composting accelerator (infused for about a week).
The most desirable components for preparing leaf soil are the leaves of oak, chestnut, maple and linden, since they decompose relatively easily and contain a lot of nitrogen. However, if you want to increase the potassium content in leafy soil, you should use apple, pear, plum and hazel leaves (they also contain a lot of iron).
Leaf soil is prepared in the same way as plant humus, with the difference that the decomposition process occurs even faster when air access is completely blocked. To produce small quantities, large quantities can be used. plastic bags(including garbage bags), which can be placed on the balcony without any problems. Typically, the pH of finished leaf soil is 5-6.
Sod soil
As already mentioned, this substrate is prepared from turf. It is prepared similarly to composts (with limited air access). The main thing to pay attention to is correct styling into the stack of sods themselves: they should be placed according to the principle “tops to tops, roots to roots.”
The turf soil is composted slowly, nutritional mixture is formed on average after two years.
Based on materials from the book by M. Tsvetkova “Vegetable garden on the window and balcony”
Sod land.
Turf soil is the main type of substrate for rooting cuttings and growing seedlings. It is prepared from turf taken from meadows, fallow lands and other areas where white and red clover, as well as cereals and soft grasses, grow. The best sod is taken from pastures or summer camps for cattle and sheep. The top layer of soil here is well saturated with manure, and the grass roots have the most powerful development. You cannot take turf from swampy, podzolic places where the soil is acidic and indicator plants grow high acidity, for example sedge, horsetail, buttercups. Due to the large amount of plant residues, it is porous, elastic, but without additives it becomes compacted during operation. According to the content of soil particles, turf soil is divided into heavy (clay-based), medium (clay and sand in half), light (with a predominance of sand). Heavy turf soil is more fertile and suitable for long-term cultivation of grapes in tubs, light soil is used for rooting cuttings, average for growing seedlings with a closed root system.
It is prepared like this: in the middle of summer, a layer of turf is cut 8-10 cm thick and 20-25 cm wide (the width of a shovel), stacked in stacks about 1 m high, grass to grass. It would be very useful to pour layers bone meal(up to 2 kg per 1 cubic meter), cow manure, ash, moistened with water. After 30-35 days, shovel. Having prepared the sod in the spring, in the fall it can be added to the mixture for rooting or growing seedlings. For the winter, you definitely need to collect it in bags and put it under the roof.
It must be taken into account that turf soil can only be used within a year after production. At long-term storage complete decomposition of organic residues will occur, and nutrients will be washed away by sediments.
Leaf soil.
Consists of rotted leaves. This is loose and light soil, rich in easily accessible nutrients and soil microflora. Easily replaces humus. The best raw materials for this type of substrate are leaves of linden, maple, birch, ash, elm, and chestnut. Oak and willow leaves are worse; they are of little use due to their tannin content. When mixing heavy turf and leaf soils, substrates of excellent physical and chemical composition are obtained for rooting and growing seedlings.
Leaves are harvested in parks, gardens, and deciduous forests. It is better to collect them immediately after leaf fall, since after the first autumn rains, not to mention spring, they will begin to decompose, which leads to loss useful qualities. The leaves are placed on a designated area in a trapezoid-shaped pile. It is advisable to shed the layers with slurry or urea solution. This technique will speed up processing and enrich the future substrate with nitrogen. Thin layer Here you can add sawdust, shavings, rotten wood chips, chopped thin branches. Just like turf soil, it is advisable to shovel leaf soil. The leaves are easily compressed and do not rot in this form. Such a substrate is ready for use no earlier than after 2 years.
Humus soil.
Humus soil is often called greenhouse soil, since previously a layer of fresh manure was used to heat greenhouses. After the decomposition of such biofuel, a substrate with high content humus and a small admixture of ordinary soil. Immediately after unloading the greenhouse, humus soil cannot be used; it must be piled up and allowed to air out in order to reduce the concentration of acid and ammonia resulting from the burning of fresh manure. The content of nutrients in greenhouse soil is high; 16 kg of humus soil replaces a kilogram of nitroammophosphate. Therefore, it is used as an additive to increase the fertility of any soil mixtures.
Peat.
Peat is ineffective in pure form, the nutrient content in it is insignificant. But it perfectly retains water, air and mineral fertilizers, loosens dense substrates, thereby reducing their density, increasing uniformity, moisture and air capacity. Peat can be added to any substrate, from heavy to light; it will enrich the former with air, and the latter with moisture. Only the top, decomposed peat is harvested for crop production. And before using, keep it in a pile under open air at least 2 years to reduce its acidity. Peat composts are of great value. These mixtures are obtained by co-composting organic waste mixed with peat. Good soil can be obtained by composting manure and peat together with the addition of lime. Combined placement of turf and peat into piles produces slightly acidic soils high quality, for viticulture, this type of land must be limed by shoveling.
One of best views garden lands. It is obtained by the joint rotting of any organic residues - from stumps and snags, to kitchen waste and paper. But the physical and nutritional properties will depend entirely on the starting materials and composting conditions. Read more about composting here. The result may be soil similar to turf soil, or maybe leaf humus. But, in any case, this is a good basis for any substrate. Compost soil is used in a mixture with turf and peat soil, significantly increasing their nutritional properties, and in many ways replaces humus soil.
Heather land.
This is a very light, porous and loose soil. It is harvested in places with thickets of heather. Having removed the large above-ground parts of the heather, remove a layer of turf 5-6 cm thick with roots and small above-ground remains of heather, lingonberries, blueberries, etc. The removed turf is piled up and processed for two years in the same way as leaf soil.
Heather soil has limited uses. It is added to mixtures when growing some plants that require slightly acidic soil. Due to the limited use and difficulty of harvesting, heather soil is often replaced with a mixture of two parts leaf soil, three parts peat soil and one part sand.
Woody earth.
Wood soil is prepared from wood decomposition products: stumps, roots, dead wood, wood chips. They also use rot from the hollows of old trees, etc. for this purpose. Wood soil is light, it is close in composition to leaf soil, but is much poorer in nutrients and can turn sour.
Sphagnum moss.
It is harvested in sphagnum bogs. Dried, chopped and sifted sphagnum moss, when added to soil mixtures, gives them lightness, looseness and increases their moisture capacity. In its pure form, moss is used for germinating cuttings of grapes, currants and other easily rooted crops. It has a slight bactericidal property and does not rot.
Fern roots.
The roots of the fern Polypodium vulgare are sometimes used instead of a drainage layer at the bottom of the cultivation container. Currently, expanded clay or coarse sand is used for this purpose.
Sand.
It is used to prepare all earthen mixtures, usually in a ratio of 1/5 part (in heavy earths) to 1/10 (in light earths) of the mixture. In its pure form, sand is used when cutting plants. The best is coarse sand from fresh water. Red quarry sand is unsuitable for making mixtures, especially those intended for cuttings, since it contains ferrous compounds that are harmful to plants. Sand used for preparing substrates is usually consumed without pre-treatment. Sand for cuttings and sowing is thoroughly washed to remove clay and organic particles in tubs with clean water.
Preparation of mixtures.
Earthen mixtures are prepared as needed. Previously, each land is separately selected the right quantity, sift through a coarse sieve to remove large unrotted residues, after which the mixture is prepared. If necessary, crush the soil with a sharp shovel with a straight blade. The composition of mixtures is determined by the requirements placed on them by various plants. Mixtures of soils are divided into three types: heavy, medium and light.
Used for preparing heavy mixtures following lands(by volume): heavy turf 3 parts, leaf or humus 1 part, sand 1 part. For medium mixtures take: heavy turf 2 parts, leaf, humus, peat or heather 2 parts, sand 1 part. To prepare light mixtures, use: heavy turf 1 part, light organic (leaf, etc.) 3 parts, sand 1 part. When using other, lighter turf lands, the ratios of components in the mixtures change towards a decrease in light soils, especially sand.
Plants in different periods growth have different requirements for nutrients and, therefore, for soil mixtures. At the beginning of growth, they need light soil with easily accessible nutrients. As plants age, they need increasingly dense soils. Perennial large plants need heavy soils. For sowing seeds and primary rooting of cuttings, light soil is needed. Seedlings are grown on middle lands. Plants in tub culture at the age of five to seven years require heavy soil.
Storage of garden soils.
Lands are usually harvested annually, and, therefore, their reserves are renewed annually. However, they can be used for several years. For this purpose, storage of substrates must be organized. On outdoors they cannot be stored, as they quickly decompose, lose their structure, become compacted and leached. Therefore, they are stored indoors, where there are bins for each type of soil. Their sizes must correspond to at least the annual need for soil reserves, from a bucket to several cubic meters. It is advisable to use frost-free premises for storage. Sand is stored in the open air, as it does not decompose and does not compact.
Flower growers are often faced with the fact that turf soil or a mixture of it with various fillers is recommended for planting plants. Experienced summer residents Usually they have a good idea of what it is, but for a beginner such a concept may be new. Today we will look in detail at what turf soil means, where to get it, and what effect it has on the growth and development of plants. If this is your first time replanting a plant, it sometimes seems easier to buy a ready-made substrate in the store. In fact, the soil mixture prepared at home is no different from the one that will be offered to you in a beautiful, factory-made package.
The basis of floriculture
Mixtures for planting houseplants can vary greatly in composition. The main difference is which ingredient predominates in it. Knowing their properties well, you get the opportunity to take into account individual characteristics each potted plant and select soil in which they will develop favorably.
Turf soil is considered the main one in floriculture. It is used in the manufacture of most soil mixtures. Plants adapt very well to it, developing intensively.
Substrate differences
Sod land is a term that refers to various garden soils. At first glance, it is quite simple to remove top layer soil that contains plant humus. However, garden soil can be obtained from the decomposition of turf or other organic matter. The starting substrate will influence the physical and chemical properties the resulting soil mixture. Therefore, today we will consider several options, as well as the possibilities of optimally combining them with each other.
Sod land
It is very rich in nutrients. Moreover potted plant will be provided for several years in advance, without requiring additional fertilizing. It is obtained mainly from meadows and pastures, as well as fallow lands. The main selection criterion is the presence of grass-clover grass at the final collection sites of the substrate. However, it cannot be said that it will be the same in any case. There are:
- heavy turf substrate, which is characterized by a large amount of clay;
- average;
- light, containing the most sand.
Seasonal factor
And we continue to understand the concept of turf land. What it is, where to get such a soil mixture, now we will tell you in detail. Harvesting is carried out in the summer. To do this, you need to select the period of maximum grass stand. In this case, the calculation is made in such a way that the turf will have time to partially decompose before the winter cold. But it will take much longer to obtain the finished substrate. Initially, the turf is cut into layers 20 cm wide and 8 cm thick. Now you need to stack it in stacks up to 1.5 meters high. To speed up decomposition, the layers are moistened with a solution of slurry. Another task is to reduce acidity. To do this, add lime. Next summer you need to properly shovel the stack 2-3 times. Only after two seasons will it be ready for use. In the second year, in the fall, it is recommended to pass it through a screen and put it indoors.
Gathering place
You already know what turf land is, but collected in different places, it will be very different. It is necessary to cut it in the clover patch, where the grass grows especially lushly and does not have a nutritional deficiency. This is easy to assess by appearance. The entire grass stand should be bright green, without yellowness and spots, specks and dry tips. If the grasses in the meadows available to you are low-growing, begin to turn yellow and dry early, then there is no point in taking land here. It is poor in nutrients.
The location of the meadow also plays an important role. Since turf soil can only be prepared directly in the meadow, choose the highest places. In swampy lowlands the soil will be too acidic. Medium loams will be optimal in their composition. Sandy loam turf is characterized by high water and air permeability, but at the same time it is poor in nutrients, for which it is used in gardening.
Leaf humus
As you can see, the preparation turf land is not difficult, all you need is access to open grassland. If there is nothing like this near you, then you can try similar mixtures, which are also perfectly accepted by house plants. Now we will discuss in detail what substrate is used to replace turf soil. First of all, it is leafy soil. It is distinguished by its looseness and lightness. On the other hand, this drawback can be easily corrected by mixing various mixtures and obtaining optimal composition. Especially good results produces leaf humus mixed with heavy, turfy soil. Flower growers often use leaf soil mixed with peat and sand. The result is an analogue of heather mixture, light and nutritious.
Blank
Even in urban conditions, you can easily find a place to harvest leaf soil. If you can go outside the city, into the forest, then here you can find its natural deposits. Year after year, the leaves fall and rot under the trees, forming a nutrient layer. In city parks, collection can be carried out during the period of mass leaf fall in parks and gardens. The most suitable are linden and maple leaves, fruit trees. But willow and oak are completely unsuitable for these purposes.
Collected leaves or forest litter are formed into piles and moistened with slurry. All that remains is to compact the stack well and leave until next summer. Over the next warm season, you will need to thoroughly shovel the leaf mass several times, moisten it with slurry and add lime. That is, you will only get high-quality leaf soil by the end of the second summer.
compost soil
Summer residents use this term quite often, so we will mention it too. Compost is an analogue of turf and leaf soil. They have the same essence - they are rotted remains of plant organic matter. The quality of compost soil depends on the type of waste, that is, the material used. This is an intermediate link between turf and humus soil.
To prepare it you will need compost pit, although some gardeners use piles or piles. During the summer, all plant and animal remains, weeds and garbage, and food waste are collected in them. As the residue accumulates, it is sprinkled with lime and moistened with slurry, and covered with peat on top. In the second and third years, the mass needs to be shoveled. By the end of the third year, the land is completely ready for use. Now you already know what turf and leaf soil are, how to prepare compost, and you can choose a substrate base for your home plants.
Preparing a mixture for plants
So, it's time to land. Gardeners usually start doing this in the spring. The soil collected in the fall is heated, disinfected and an ideal substrate is prepared from it. The main characteristics are:
- Moisture capacity. The soil should easily absorb water. Do not let it pass through you, as is the case with sand, but do not retain it, as clay does.
- Water and breathability. This is understandable; the substrate must be loose to provide air access to the roots.
- Nutritional value.
- Suitable pH level (most often lack of acidity).
- Purity, that is, the absence of toxic substances.
Optimal proportions
Most often, turf soil is mixed 1:1 with a component such as leaf humus. This is easy to explain, since it acts as a leavening agent. Some gardeners recommend adding soil from molehills in similar proportions. It is loose and nutritious, and also does not contain pest larvae. Humus is another important component. This is a black, homogeneous mass that is obtained from well-decomposed manure. It is very nutritious, but often contains weed seeds and pathogens, so it is extremely important to ignite the mixture before use.
Baking powder
In order to ensure optimal soil breathability, it is necessary to maintain the proportions of turf soil and sand. It is important that only Fine is used, this will only make the substrate more dense. Before adding to the soil, the sand is washed well. This is necessary in order to wash away all the dust and leave the necessary small pebbles. In this form it is added to almost all mixtures for indoor plants, providing better breathability.
Chopped turf
Sod land. Used in gardening, potting and tub culture ornamental plants, as one of the elements of the earthen mixture.
In various earth mixtures, turf soil is included in quantities from 1/8 to 3/4 of the total composition of the mixture. It differs from other garden soils in its low content of organic matter and lower amounts of humus, nitrogen and absorbed bases. It is characterized by high water-lifting capacity and low moisture capacity and moisture permeability. In terms of acidity and the presence of basic nutrients, turf soil is similar to compost soil.
Depending on the mechanical composition of the soil in the area from which the sods were taken, a distinction is made between light sod (the sum of clay and dust particles is about 29%) and heavy sod (the sum of clay and dust particles is more than 61%) soil.
Sod land is harvested in spring or late summer. It is prepared from sods cut from meadows and fields (the most valuable are areas from clover and other perennial forage plants). The turf is cut in layers 6-12 cm thick, 20-25 cm wide and 25-35 cm long. The turf is stacked in a semi-shaded place.
The turf is laid in rows so that the grass-covered upper surfaces (lower and upper rows) are adjacent to one another. If possible, to speed up the decomposition process and improve nutritional qualities, when laying the sod, layer it with cow or horse manure with a layer of 10-15 cm every 50 cm of folded sod. If the soil is too acidic at the site where the sod is harvested, when laying the sod, sprinkle it with lime, at the rate of 50 g per 1 m² of sod folded in two rows.
The dimensions of the stack vary within the following limits: height 1-1.2 m, width 1.5-2.5 and length 2-20 m. With higher stacking, aeration worsens and decomposition slows down. The stack is shoveled at least once a summer. In dry weather, watering is carried out. The turf soil is ready for use in 1-2 years.
Sometimes turf soil is used in an undecomposed form. In this case, the turf is thoroughly crushed. A small amount of turf soil can be obtained by shaking out pieces of meadow turf.
Some plants, in particular cyclamen, require more fibrous turf soil. In this case, the turf is cut and shredded into small pieces and in this crushed form is used for planting.
In floriculture, specially prepared garden soils are used. They are obtained from the decomposition of turf, leaves, manure, heather, peat and other organic substances containing humus. The source substrate affects the physical and chemical properties of garden soils. Flower growers harvest the following types of garden soil: turf, leaf, humus, peat, compost, etc.
Sod land
Turf soil is rich in essential nutrients that last for many years. Turf soil is obtained from meadows and pastures, fallow lands, with cereal-clover grass. There are turf soils: heavy (with a large amount of clay), medium (with equal proportions of clay and sand), light (with a predominance of sand).
The turf soil is harvested in the summer (at the time of maximum grass development), so that by winter the turf has time to partially decompose.
Using disks or a shovel, the turf is cut into layers 20-30 cm wide and 8-10 cm thick, depending on the thickness of the turf layer. It is placed in stacks 1.2 m wide, 1.5 m high and of arbitrary length. When forming stacks, the grass cover of the first and second layers of turf is turned towards each other. To accelerate the decomposition of the turf and enrich it with nitrogen, the layers are moistened with a solution of mullein or slurry (at the rate of 0.2-0.5 m 3 per 1 m 3 of turf). To reduce acidity, add lime - 2-3 kg/m3. The top of the stack is periodically moistened with slurry. The next summer it is shoveled two or three times.
Only after two seasons do they get turf soil good quality. In the second year (autumn), the soil is passed through a screen and removed indoors. Sod soil left in the open air loses nutritional value, porosity, elasticity and other qualities.
Leaf ground
Leaf soil is light and loose, but contains fewer nutrients than turf soil. For heavy turf lands it serves as a good ripper. Leaf soil mixed with peat and sand is used as a substitute for heather soil.
Leaf soil is harvested in the fall during the period of mass leaf fall in parks, gardens, squares and forests. The leaves of linden, maple, fruit trees, etc. are most suitable for this purpose.
Often leaf soil is obtained from forest litter, removing the top layer by 2-5 cm. Collected dry leaves or forest litter with grass remains are formed into stacks 1.2 m wide, 1.5 m high and of arbitrary length. When laying, the leaves are moistened with slurry or mullein solution and compacted. Over the next summer, the leaf mass is moistened two or three times with slurry, lime is added and shoveled. Composted leaves rot and turn into leaf soil only in the fall of the second year. Before use, the leaf soil is passed through a screen to separate undecomposed residues. Coniferous soil is prepared in the same way.
Humus soil
Humus soil is a loose, fatty, soft, homogeneous mass, rich in nutrients. It contains a large amount of nitrogen in a form that is easily digestible for plants. This soil is used for most potted crops and growing seedlings, as well as organic fertilizer in open ground.
Humus soil is formed from rotted manure mixed with old greenhouse soil. Manure placed in greenhouses as biofuel turns into humus by autumn. When cleaning greenhouses, humus is placed in piles (as for turf and leaf soil), moistened and shoveled once or twice over the next summer. The humus soil is kept in the open air for a year, then passed through a screen and stored indoors.
Peat land
Peat soil is a very moisture-intensive, soft and loose mass consisting of slowly decomposing residues. But in its pure form, peat soil has little nutritional value. It is used for various soil mixtures as a ripper to improve physical properties turf land. Peat soil is also used in a mixture with light sand soil, which improves their moisture capacity, and also for mulching the soil.
This land is harvested from lowland peat bogs. Peat chips and briquettes are also used to prepare it. Decomposed peat is formed into piles up to 0.8 m high. When laying, layers of peat every 20 cm are moistened with slurry and sprinkled with lime - 10-15 kg/m3. If high-moor peat is used, the dose of lime is increased.
At the end of the first year of harvesting and in the middle of the second, the mixture is shoveled and used in the third year (at this time the acidity of the peat decreases and its biological activity increases). When harvesting turf from peat meadows, sod-peat soil is prepared, which is used for peat humus pots, mulching the soil and planting some plants.
compost soil
The quality of compost soil depends on the type of waste and the nature of the composted material. In terms of the content of nutrients, compost soil occupies an intermediate position between turf soil and humus soil.
This soil is prepared by composting in piles, heaps, pits of various plant and animal residues, garbage, weeds, greenhouse waste and household. As the residue accumulates, it is sprinkled with lime, moistened with slurry and covered with peat or peat chips on top. In the second and third years, the compost mass is shoveled two or three times. Compost soil is usually not ready until the end of the third year. Before use, it is passed through a medium screen.
heather land
The heather land has practically lost its significance. It is successfully replaced with a mixture consisting of leaf soil - two parts, peat soil - three or four and sand - one part. The preparation technology is the same as for sheet soil.
Vegetable and garden land
Vegetable and garden soil is a nutrient layer of soil enriched with humus, which is prepared and placed in piles in the fall, adding lime, peat and potassium. In summer, the pile is shoveled twice. These lands, mixed with a small amount of sand, are successfully used for flower crops.
woody ground
Wood soil is prepared from roots, stumps, branches, chips and other wood waste. As a result of the decomposition of woody residues, light soil is formed, similar in composition to leaf soil, but poor in nutritional elements. It is used in growing orchids, ferns and bromeliads.
Composted bark
Composted bark is prepared as follows. The bark is crushed and composted in piles up to 3 m high with the addition of slag (from the settling tanks of pulp mills) and other organic materials, which ensures the decomposition of the bark by microorganisms. Microbiological and biochemical processes during composting are more active in a substrate with a particle size of 1-7 mm and the addition of urea (4.3 kg/m3) during the first few weeks. With constant shoveling, the duration of composting in summer is 4-4.5 weeks, in winter – 16-18 weeks.
The temperature in the stacks rises to 65-70 °C. Compost contains (g/m3): potassium -300; phosphorus – 60; magnesium – 30; iron – 30; manganese – 20, as well as copper and other trace elements.
Moss
Moss is harvested from moss swamps. After drying, grinding and sifting, it is used in earthen mixtures to impart lightness, friability, and hygroscopicity. In its pure form, moss is used when forcing lilies of the valley, to cover the earthen ball of orchids and other plants. Used for stratification and germination of large seeds.
Charcoal
Charcoal in the form of small pieces is added to earthen mixtures for plants that do not respond well to waterlogging. Charcoal has the ability to adsorb excess water, but when there is a lack of it, it releases it. In powder form, charcoal is used as an antiseptic for covering cuts on dahlia tubers, gladioli corms, canna rhizomes, etc. In addition, it adsorbs herbicides and other chemicals from the soil.
Sand
The most commonly used is coarse-grained river sand. It is added to earthen mixtures without pre-treatment (1/5-1/10 of the total volume) to impart looseness. When cutting, the sand is thoroughly washed with clean water to remove silt and clay particles. For plants that are difficult to root, use quartz sand.
Storing and mixing soil
For floriculture and horticultural purposes, two to three-year reserves of garden soil are created. They are stored in closed, frost-free places. For each type of land, special bunks are made or separate rooms are allocated.
Flower growers and gardeners need all of the above lands. They are protected from infection by pests and diseases. When preparing earthen mixtures, take into account biological features plants, their age, cultural conditions, as well as the reaction of the soil solution (pH) at which a given plant can grow.
Gardeners, especially beginners, are interested in how to use forest soil more effectively: what to do with the top layer of forest soil brought to the site - mix it with garden soil or use it in its pure form.
Fertile forest soil can be a good addition to garden soil(about 1/3), however, it is not advisable to use it in its pure form.
In some cases, it is included in seedling mixtures. You should definitely figure out which forest, from which places it is supposed to be taken.
Deciduous soil includes leaf litter and the top layer (about 10 cm) of soil. The best land has dark color, contains many organic substances, has a slightly acidic or neutral reaction. They take such land in mixed or broad-leaved forests where linden, maple, aspen, and birch grow. You can also take clean litter without soil, add it to compost, and mulch it trunk circles trees and shrubs.
Soil and litter from coniferous forests are suitable for mulching or adding to the soil for crops that prefer an acidic environment (rhododendrons, heathers, hydrangea, blueberries, cranberries, lingonberries). It is believed that pine litter is more acidic, while spruce litter has moderate acidity. The soil under spruce trees is quite fertile, so it can also be added under ordinary trees and shrubs. Decay coniferous plants suppresses weed growth well and increases soil looseness.
At the edge of the forest you can take turf - top part soil densely intertwined with grass roots. After rotting in compost heap it is used both to prepare mixtures for growing seedlings and as a substrate for various perennial crops.
Do not dig soil from a depth of more than 15-20 cm, in middle lane the soil is not too fertile, there will be no benefit for the garden. At great depths you will find only dense rock, often gels, which do not contain nutrients and beneficial microorganisms. If there is a need to improve the soil structure, add peat, sand (to clay soils) or clay and compost (on sandy soils).
It is very important to take care of the forest. Do not remove large pieces of turf; they will take several years to recover. Do not expose tree roots. Do not make pit traps in the forest - this is dangerous for people.
Earth from under an oak tree. Soil for seedlings is collected under oak trees
Cherkasy resident 63-year-old Valentina MOROZ has been preparing soil for seedlings and flowerpots since the fall. While picking mushrooms, he collects forest soil from under the oak trees into bags. Until February, when he plants seedlings of tomatoes and peppers, he stores the soil in the cellar.
-Not for seedlings better soil than the forest one,” he says. - It’s best if you can find a molehill in the forest, near the oak trees. There are no worms or insects there, because moles eat them up. In a coniferous forest, the soil is not as nutritious. I store it in the cellar in several two-bucket bags. I also transplant flowerpots into forest soil in the fall. I add a handful of humus to the pot. Before transplanting or sowing seeds, I pour a 3-5 cm layer of soil into a bowl. I pour boiling water heavily on it.
Agronomist 61-year-old Vladimir Tarasenko from Cherkasy collects forest land in the lowlands.
-“During the rains, most of the humus is carried there,” he says. - I remove the top layer, 15 centimeters thick, with a shovel. But it doesn't need to be over-moistened. To remove insects and worms, in winter I take a bag of soil out into the cold. Below minus 10 degrees, pests will die, but beneficial organisms will remain.
He says dousing the soil with boiling water or frying it is harmful.
-The temperature kills beneficial nodule and azotobacteria. Will provide nutrients to plants. Before planting flowerpots or seedlings, I add a kilo of humus to a bucket of soil.
In the fall, Vladimir Tarasenko advises preparing humus. He says that in winter, in open-air pits, it becomes waterlogged. Because of this, it will not be possible to mix it well with the soil. Therefore, one part of the seedlings will receive an excess of nutrition, the other will receive less.
Worms damage roots
36-year-old Nikolai Dryzhenko from the village of Radovanovka in the Cherkasy region drives worms out of a transplanted flowerpot with water.
-If a worm gets into the pot, it will harm the root. It does not eat living roots, but feeds on rotted remains. But he makes a lot of moves. It exposes the roots and injures them. Worms are indicated by breasts on the soil surface.
The owner puts the flowerpot in a bowl. Fill the pot with water so that the soil fills it to the top.
-In a day or two, the pest will definitely crawl to the surface, because it won’t have anything to breathe with,” Nikolai Dryzhenko laughs.
Video HOW TO PREPARE turf ground for seedlings? Olga
Sod it is. Turf
m. () f. Wed Wed sodded earth; the top layer of soil, densely overgrown with cereals, spike grass, and meadow grass; meadow, stove rie, grass, murava, mur; fine grass layer; n plow or virgin soil. The name is also the removed layer, for transferring ants, and each plate of it, in places, speaks. wrong vm. thorn, and vm. blackthorn. grave Wed , the place where the turf is removed, cut in layers, or torn off, raised with a plow, for arable land. and. interline, cover, turf gap between arable land, strips. From verb. fight, stupidity, shouting, quarrels. Turf O vyy, made of turf. Turf edge of roads. Dernov O y, related to turf. Sod iron ore. Turf And dense, heavily turfed, densely overgrown with the roots of steppe meadow grass. Turfy soil is the same, to a lesser extent. || The soddy (turfy) peasant is old. assigned, attached to the land, serf, from old. shit real estate in eternal inviolable possession, property, sobin. They sold you to him for sod, completely, irrevocably, for eternal possession; adverb remains to this day. V O village, completely, completely, forever. Turf at shka f. dugout, shack, covered with canopy or earth. Turf And t at bare pile, cover it with turf. Twitch, be twitchy. Turf e nie cf. action is work, according to the verb. Turf e to turn into turf, to grow thickly (overgrown) with ants. Abandoned arable land will last for ten years. Turf e Nye Wed the state of a twitching, overgrown with ants. Dernov A to lay slopes, to sod, to cover with sod. Dernov A Nye, turf O vka turf, active according to verb. Turfmaker or turfgrass A worker, worker who covers slopes, edges of paths, etc. with cut turf or ants. Dernor e z m. projectile for cutting and lifting turf. || Worker cutting turf.
When planning to replant indoor plants, we often ask ourselves: Which mixture is better to use: store-bought or homemade?.
The first option is fast and convenient, but experienced flower growers make up their own soil mixtures taking into account the needs of plants.
Most of these mixtures include forest soil - the so-called leaf soil: light and loose, obtained by rotting fallen tree leaves.
It is not as nutritious as humus or turf, but is well accepted by plants, especially those with thin roots. Possessing good structure, air and moisture permeability, it is often used to loosen denser substrates.
The slightly acidic reaction of leaf soil is also suitable for most plants, but the acidity can be reduced by adding deoxidizers.
NOT ALL TREES ARE SUITABLE
Leaf soil is usually harvested in the fall from deciduous forests and tracts. To do this, lightly rake dry leaves and collect the top loose layer of soil.
The best are rotted leaves of birch, linden, hazel, ash, fruit trees, and maple. But it is not recommended to collect humus under oak, chestnut, poplar and willow due to the presence of a large amount of tannins in it. You should also not take soil under diseased trees or in young plantings - the layer of humus there is too thin.
WE PREPARE LEAF GROUND WITH YOUR OWN HANDS
Leaf soil is easy to prepare in the garden.
To do this, the leaves collected in the fall are placed in heaps, kept moist and periodically shoveled.
To eliminate excess acidity, add ash. After two years, loose, ready-to-use leaf soil is formed, which can be used both in the garden and in indoor floriculture.
CONIFEROUS GROUND
Another type of forest soil used in making mixtures is coniferous soil, or humus from fallen spruce, fir, larch, and pine needles.
This is loose, acidic, low-nutrient soil, similar in structure to leaf soil, but even more breathable. It is collected in the coniferous forest under a bed of needles.
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Earth mixtures for some types of plants containing forest soils |
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Plant |
Earth mixture (in parts) |
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Abutilone |
Leaf, turf, peat, humus, sand (1:1:1:1:1) |
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Azalea |
Coniferous, peat (2:1) |
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Alocasia |
Leaf, coniferous, peat, sand (4:4:4:1) |
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Anthurium |
Leaf, coniferous, peat, sand (2:2:2:1) |
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Achimenes |
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Begonia |
Leaf, peat, humus, sand (2:1:1:1) |
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Dendrobium and some other orchids |
Leaf, peat, fern roots, pine bark, charcoal (2:3:3:1:1) |
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Dieffenbachia |
Leaf, peat, humus, sand (3:1:1:1) |
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Jasmine |
Leaf, coniferous, peat, sand (2:1:2:1) |
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Pelargonium |
Leaf, turf, peat, sand (1:1:1:2) |
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Rosemary |
Leaf, humus, sand (2:1:1) |
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Syngonium |
Leaf, turf, peat, sand (2:2:2:1) |
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Sinningia (Gloxinia) |
Leaf, peat, sand (6:3:2) |
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Ficus |
Leaf, turf, humus, sand (1:1:1:1) |
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Hoya |
Leaf, turf, peat, humus, sand (1:2:1:1:1) |
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Schlumberger |
Leaf, turf, humus, sand, wood, coal (2:2:2:2:1) |
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Eucharis |
Leaf, compost, sand, loam (4:2:2:1) |
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Episcia |
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