By watering my leaves in the fall and the rain over the winter in Zone 7 I get leaf mold in less than one year.shredding the leaves speeds this up. I often put a layer of 5in of leaves on the ground then cover with 6in or the wood chips as u describe. the leaves break down fast and the "black" layer is formed faster than the wood chips alone. this is my experiacne. keeping a living root in the soil all year with perenials or trees keep the fungi healthy and alive for the veg. plants in the spring. I like your videos btw
Great episode. We too indeed agree that fungally dominated compost is the way to go. We have leaf mold piles, and "yard waste" piles that just sit all year, and occasionally we moisten them. Then like you said, a good screening and they are ready to go!
***** Thanks, Luke! We probably use about half and half fungally dominated compost and bacterially dominated. The leaf and wood chip mulch do more than anything else to promote fungi. You can see the fungal hyphae all over the garden!d
After watching your videos i started mulching my garden with leaves in January. In June i raked back some of them to plant some seeds. There were thousands of white threads in and around the leaves. At first i freaked out, but decided to plant the seeds anyway. I'm glad i did. The plants grew huge. Thank you for the advice and great videos.
In south Florida fungal compost is quick and easy. Set aside some ground and mulch it. Add yard waste and run over with lawnmower. Grind to a fine fibrous mix. Every now and then you get impressive mushroom formations. It has taken as little as three months for yard waste to turn into compost. Even naturally occurring leaf litter here turns into compost on its own in just a few months, even on concrete!
Thanks for another educational video Patrick! I sure wish it was a requirement for every grade school to watch your videos! Thank you for what you are doing.....you truly are changing the world one yard at a time!
Dr Elaine Ingham said fungally dominant compost is great for use with berries and for pasture. The resulting pasture makes great forage for farm animals.
We have had a lot of rain this month and last month and I saw this very thing on the leaves when I went to the compost to empy our scrap bucket into the compost pile. I am doing this very thing without even knowing it was the right thing to do. Brilliant!
Great video OneYardRevolution I think it is so good being able to use resources from your own home and backyard for free rather than spending your money! I haven't done much reading on fungal compost and the science behind it but your videos are very useful along with ***** have a great day Patrick!
HuwsNursery Thanks, Huw! I couldn't agree more. Free, local, and abundant resources are available for many of us, so there's no need to buy these products in my opinion.
Always liked your video tutorials as they are practical and very easy to understand. This one is no different. I may not have the space to practice this for now but I'm bookmarking this for a future time. Also, I liked that you espouse practices that are low- to no-cost. Frankly, a lot of other gardening videos seem to be gimmicks aimed at making people believe farming means spending on this and that to grow food.
Thank you! I'm glad you found the video helpful. I couldn't agree more that growing your own food doesn't have to cost a lot. I truly appreciate your feedback. Best wishes!
I have to say Patrick, you have convinced me once again to start mulching with leaves, and if I can get enough of them, to start a leaf mold pile. Thanks for all of the great info!
It's a little late for us Albertans but you should be able to go to your municipal wood chip storage location and get some in the spring. Munching with those will start the process :)
***** Yeah, I know it's too late, just doing some planning for next season. I will have to check if we have a municipal wood chip storage location around here, I've never heard of it, but that doesn't mean it doesn't exist. Thanks for the tip!
Conrad all municipalities in Alberta have one :) unless your in Hanna where there are no trees :) just call the city or town office they will direct you.
I did not know that, I will check with the town. Haha, yeah, I used to work down south a lot, I did a lot of pre-site assessments and never once had to look up what kind of tree was on site, there never were any!
A great guideline as I’m researching good soil practices and the difference between fungi and bacteria. I have all these organics on hand in my country property but was unsure how they all interact and come together. Looks like I’ll be making two compost heaps from now on 🇦🇺👍
Hi Roger! You can make just one compost pile. If you include plenty of woody material like leaves and twigs along with kitchen scraps, untreated grass clippings, etc., you'll have a good mix of beneficial fungi and bacteria.
the "2)" Mycorrhizae piece is very illuminating in describing the mechanisms of fungi and other organisms in feeding the plants in different forms from beneficial to infectious. the ending pretty much narrows most commercial applications of just about anything , beyond wood chips and pine bark mulch alone... Okay, well assuming you are starting with some beneficial organisms and a decent ratio of organic matter in place already, I can agree. Here in the mid-Missouri south of the Missouri heavy clay soils, everything and anything added to increase fertility, structure and the Mycorrhizae community is a plus toward your goal of growing food that is nutritious. If any of these building blocks are missing, nutrition and production along with soil health are going to suffer. deep soil profiles demonstrate best the effects of soil performance when organic matter and soil activity are limited, ie. comparing clay soils to creek bottom or river bottom soils as in Missouri hill ground. wow! that all being said, you have done a wonderful job at demonstrating how it works, what works and have the scientific information to verify it! great job! thank you!
Thanks, 1mtstewart ! I agree that it makes a lot of sense to add organic matter to improve clay soils. However, I remain skeptical about the effectiveness of mychorrhizal amendments,
I guess, since I was instructed on inoculating clover and other legumes at a very early age, some of the idea of being SURE the necessary varieties are present, as in nitrogen fixation on root nodules of legumes, it makes sense to offer the plant a complete, beneficial environment in which to grow. I am skeptical of many of the mine is best hand wavers, pick me, pick mine type razzle dazzle to trigger separating us from our money. I do sincerely, appreciate the benefit of localized trials with the multitude of possible combinations being used. isolating one variable adds clarity, while slowing the eventual process due to the many possible variables. that said, comprehensive, complete attention to detail with free, available resources is the best place for everyone to start. exploring the local terrain and businesses for free beneficial materials is very rewarding. considering that the food bill is significantly offset by production, I have been adding new items yearly and monitoring the results. as I stated before, I believe time is a necessary factor in the balance between microbes and ingredients. multi year surveillance of established beds may show significant improvements in following years that are undetectable in our criteria in the first year , as in the bell curve resulting in agricultural lime application and plant availability, Ca++ uptake and pH response over 5-7 years. the process at this time is a big part of the reward. thanks for the work. we are definitely better off than using the killers! If it will kill you to drink or breathe the vapors, it probably isn't good for the soil, microbes, plants and definetly us!
We enjoyed another great video of yours...it validates what we are seeing in our gardens. There is no putrid odor to the broken down organics, just a rich, earthy odor (still we are careful about the handling and breathing it in :-) We have piles here and there in the garden; every few days we gather the broken down product from under the piles and distribute them among the plants. It is also a good method for water retention.
I’m making my own organic soil.. I have cattle, and feed alfalfa hay. I rake up all the green/leafy waste,, and use it in my mix. I also use my cattle manure. I break up All my old pots of soil, from previous plants,, add organic potting soils, 1/4” minus gypsum ‘ag fines’,, Blood meal, bone meal, humic acid,, dolo-lime, azomite,, and bit of epsom salt.. I get my Myco,, from a huge old (15 yrs) pile of decomposed wood chips/shreddings... I speed the process of decomposition,, by covering this old 6’x2’ ft stock tank,, with clear plexiglass.. Cooks the stuff like spinach.! Also kills noxious seeds and insect eggs!! 😊❤️✌️
Hi Patrick-I get so excited when I see fugally dominated compost amongst my leaves and woodchip. I work with several clients who bring in sample of fugally compost and not know what it is they get all scary until I explain to them what it is and they get excited and go home and put it back and be happy they have that natural process going on in their backyard.
***** Kaye, in some ways wood chips are even better than leaves! They make a great mulch, retain moisture in the soil, and provide an excellent habitat and food source for mycorrhizae. I think they'd be especially beneficial in your area given the droughts and water restrictions. Happy New Year!
Much to my surprise, I think I am getting it. I have been watching very closely how you make different composts and fertilisers, and whilst I don't think I am able to do it yet on scale that you can, I do believe that I am starting to appreciate the principals and can start the process. Many thanks for all your dedication. All I can really say is that in this little corner of the world it is very much appreciated. Or maybe it is mulch appreciated, if you appreciate puns. All the best.
Ohhhh that white white thing call fungal I see that under my woods chips didn't know what is it .... I look at it & scary thing to me 👩🤣funny dumb sometimes if we poor in knowledge....thanks so much for your loving garden & knowledge many things💜
It is humbling for us to know there is very little we know about the world around us. Many of us who study sciences, know this. It is totally fine to recognize you do not know something, to even fear it, and yet it is courageous of you to be open to learn about it.
I'm going to be very curious what happens in our garden next season, because the only things we put in it are free - horse manure, leaves, wood chips, chop & drop weeds, spent plants & comfrey. I sometimes mix liquid ingredients to feed, but the soil is what I'm really interested in seeing develop. It's coming up on 3 years since we started using those things, so we'll find out! Last year, we saw a lot of mushrooms in the wood chips and they're breaking them down at a pretty rapid rate.
As you know, I'm very confident that the approach you're taking (and I've been using for years) will work great! Please let me know how it goes next season!
E careful with the horse manure . It can have nasty chemicals in it . Put some horse manure in your worm farm , if the worms don’t tough it you know you got a problem.
Thank you! Very informative, and great timing since I'm also watching the movie Symphony of the Soil, which was linked to on The Garden Professors Blog. So much to learn.
I basically do the same thing you're doing except I run everything thru a chipper first. It breaks down the material faster than waiting for mother nature to do it. The only soil addition I buy is peat moss which I mix in with my compost. All my plants love it.
I love leaf mould! I also hate the wait. Before I start a new pile I attach a 4.5 inch rubber coupling to the end of some PVC pipe. I have predrilled holes in various places along the pipe. Then I place my leaf vac's exhaust to the coupling and let-er rip. The occasional airflow through the pile seems to break it down much faster than it normally would. If you are having a hard time imagining what I'm saying I have pictures.
That is super information! So much to learn... Thank you for all your hard work and sharing your information. Merry Christmas to you & your family! Peaches
Greene Garden I agree. I didn't mean to imply that the mycorrhizal fungi would develop in the compost itself, but that compost would support development of mycorrhizae once added to the garden.
Unfortunately, even then it won't help since arbuscular fungus for vegetables are obligate biotrophic symbionts. Roots are the only thing that increases their numbers. The organic material would be better used as mulch. Then a whole range of organisms would be encouraged to drag the organic matter into the soil and aerate it. I do pile the very highest carbons such as wood chips and spray with honey water just to decompose a little before I put them on the soil. And even very few of the saprophytic fungi are ectomycorrhizal.
Greene Garden Thank you for sharing your expertise, Greene Garden ! As I said in the video, I agree that mulch is more effective in supporting mycorrhizae. And I don't claim that compost increases their numbers, but that it supports their development. I also question product claims as to the extent fungally dominated compost supports mycorrhizae. Here are a couple of the sources I used: Dr. Jeff Gillman, in "Decoding Gardening Advice", states that "the best way to keep soil inoculated with mycorrhizae is simply to make sure that it is well fortified with organic materials such as compost and mulch." In "Mycorrhizae: So, What the Heck are They Anyway?", Dr. Linda Chalker-Scott states that "beneficial bacteria can assist in mycorrhizal activity". Of course, beneficial bacteria would be more abundant in bacterially dominated compost. This is why I said more research is needed to test the claim that fungally dominated compost better supports mycorrhiaze. In the same article, Dr. Chalker-Scott states that "While the addition of organic matter has been found to stimulate growth of native mycorrhizal populations, applying commercial mycorrhizal amendments is generally ineffective and unnecessary, given the widespread presence of indigenous inoculum."
Hi Patrick, The dry beet pulp is leftover from making molasses. (I think.) I'm a cabinet maker so I produce lots of sawdust. It all goes into the garden. The problem is, it seems to break down very slowly. That is why I incorporated the Alphalha, and beet pulp in with it. I am also throwing in some granular molasses to speed things up. I'll let you know how my experiment goes. Thanks again for all your practicle advice.
+Allen Clark You're welcome, Allen! I'd be careful about using sawdust as mulch. It's great for compost, but when used as mulch it tends to get incorporated into the soil and cause nitrogen robbing.
There ya go, making me doubt myself, again. LOL. This topic confuses me so much I have pretty much abandoned "Lazy" piles for the much more satisfying-in-the-short-term "Hot" piles. I do a lot of pruning (I have about 100 feet of Laurel Hedge (ugh)) and bought a chipper to deal with it. I get prodigious amounts of wood-chips. At first I investigated all the wood-chip advocates (Back To Eden) and was a convinced acolyte for a while. But eventually I read/saw enough evidence that claimed that wood chips actually ROB nitrogen from the soil unless they are allowed to break down for 3 years. So, I quit adding it to my piles and now use it exclusively on my perimeter, ornamental beds. I also quit dressing my raised beds with wood chips (in the winter to prevent compaction from the rain) and went back to only leaves. Purely anecdotal: but I feel my beds have done better since I quit using wood chips in them. Oh well, it's a learning curve and I count on guys like you and Stephen to help me out. Thanks.
You're very welcome, Zerkbern ! Yeah, there really is a lot to learn. Regarding wood chips, they do not rob nitrogen from the soil in any significant way when used on the surface and not mixed into the soil. They deplete a small amount of nitrogen on the surface, but not down in the root zone where it matters. Both wood chips and leaves should help prevent compaction. If I had to choose between a fungally dominated compost or a mulch, I'd go with the mulch every time. I hope this clears some things up!
Some misinformation in this old video. The fungi shown in the shot with woodchips is not mycorrhizal fungi (they are strictly associated with roots). What's shown are saprophytic fungi which are useful, but do not form the symbiotic relationship with plant roots that mycorrhizal fungi do.
Patrick, thanks for all your effort to give us tips on how to garden well year round. This question is specific to zucchini and squash. I live in Zone 7b/8a I am dealing with powdery mildew on a few leaves of a zucchini plant. Any tips on how to effectively stop this fungus without damaging our fungally dominated compost? I have seen tips on using baking soda mixes, but thought you'd have some advice! Thanks again.
Hi Joseph! My understanding is that the typical home remedies don't have much of an impact. I think there's some research showing that baking soda solutions slow powdery mildew when sprayed before it's onset, but it won't stop powdery mildew. I've never used any of these remedies.
Try a milk/water solution and spray on the plant in daylight. The milk protein changes the environment. Other folks I know use hydrogen peroxide/water and with a cotton ball wash each leave. One of my mentors is a cannabis farmer and this is her solution (pun intended). You are talking about one plant and she walks into gardens with a thousand plants. She swears by it. This would not affect the soil. Others use Neem oil sprayed on the plant. Baking soda/water does work because it changes the pH on the leaf making it impossible for the mildew to grow. migardener.com/prevent-kill-blight-powdery-mildew-baking-soda/
I had a straw bale that I was mulching my tomatoes with and it was sprouting some very strange mushrooms and full of mycelium. Then I scored a couple more leftover from other's Halloween festivities sitting out by the curb just waiting for me... That's what I mulched my raised beds with this year. If you want fungus find some straw.
Fungally dominant soil is best suited for berries and strawberries. Pasture forage should be 50-50 fungal to bacterial according to Dr Elaine Ingham. My question is this: Have you any information on using mushroom spores on wood chips? Does it break down the chips faster in terms of prepping for fungally dominant compost? Or is it more for growing mushrooms?
To get that fungi in the soi, what is better: a high carbon mulch or fungally dominated compst? I lean towards the mulch method since it is less work, and mulching has other benefits as well. No to metion the fungi never get disturbed in transport or sifting....
As far as carbon content of the compost pile goes, can you use carbonized rice hulls or carbonized coconut shells? These are basically charcoal/biochar made up of rice hulls and coconut shells.
Nice work on keeping your pile 140 degrees for 3 weeks. The last pile I made only obtained 140 degrees for 7 days. I would prefer to have it above 130 for over two weeks. Looks like my next pile will need more coffee grounds. Did you add additional "N" during the initial 3 weeks or did the original compost materiasl stay that hot from the start? Thanks for sharing another great video!
Binky's Garden Thanks! The key has really been to continue to add brown and green layers as the pile cooks down. As a matter of fact, I just got back inside after adding this week's haul of used coffee grounds. Every time the pile dips below the top of the bin, I add more material.
OneYardRevolution Thanks for the layering tip. I will give it a try. I usually mix everything together and make piles but I am always interested in trying different compost methods. I like the circular cage/wire bin that you and ***** are using. Im picking some chicken wire this week.
I'm very interested in your explanation in the video, but there are still many farmers who think that various types of fungi in compost exist as pathogens. what do you think sir?. Greetings from Indonesian Organic Farmers
I forgot to add that the desired proportion of bacteria to fungi depends on the crop you are trying to grow. Most garden crops except for brassicas and beets require an approximately 1 to 1 ratio by weight. The latter like a much higher ratio. Perennial crops, shrubs and trees like much more progressively lower ratios with evergreen preferring ratios more like 1 to 1,000.
We use both bacterially and fungally dominated compost and mulch in our vegetable garden to provide a good balance. We mulch perennials with wood chips to to increase fungal dominance.
So I tried to find a more recent video where you're carting those paper bags of leaves around. I also did a search on your channel for "paper bags". Then I gave up and decided to ask here and just hope you still monitor comments on old vids! I'm so curious about the bags you use - what are they, where do you get them, are you using them (I assume) simply as an alternative to plastic, or is there some other magical reason I can't think of, are they easier/harder to work with than plastic bags?
Hi Ann! They're the yard waste bags that our city requires for yard waste pickup. Some of our neighbors give us the leaves instead of paying the city to take them.
I see that you put leaves on your beds in the fall and all over your yard. Is it for fungi growth before you use your soil in the summer? also, you had mentioned about the arborist... when I sign up, do they call and dump a truck load, or I can talk to them like Do you have a place where I can go a scoop some bags home, not alot, because I have mostly grass lawn, and that my husband does not want to. Let me know how this operates, bec I would like some shavings but affraid to try. thank you, and your videos are the best. I like your concept of growing mykorizy.
Yes, leaves promote fungi and other beneficial soil organisms, but also improve soil structure, increase water retention, and provide nutrients. Usually arborists will want to dump an entire load on your property. Could they dump it on your driveway?
no, I can't have my cars blocked. My husband said too much work. He just buy three bags and let me compost anywhere in the back yard as long as it's not against the fence. by the way, he loves grass, so I have to fertilize them and weed them, so that he doesn't pay someone else to spray his lawn.
Collected leaves, made a pile, added a piece of 'fungally infected' wooden border. Checked the pile and yes, the 'infection' is spreading in the leaf pile already. Do I need to protect my pile from frost? It is a chickenwire cirkle.
Have you considered getting a shredder to chop up the woody bits even further? I've been considering it for the last month or so but I need to make a good argument for hubby as he is not yet convinced that it will be a good investment.
Hi Keiko! We don't generate enough woody material on our property to invest in a chipper. There's no need to further chop up the wood chips we get from the city.
Hello, I am not good at English, can you help me ?? 1-I want to write the most prominent things in the video in order to translate 2-I want to answer some questions, including 1-What are the criteria used to test the microorganism in the fermentation process ?? 2-Do the conditions suitable for the living of living have an effect on the fermentation process and how can that be ?? 3- How can we judge the degradation of organic matter from the point of view of micro-organisms in the soil? thank you ....
I get so confused. So many opinions. we decided to just pick a method and stick with it. we chose the Mittleider Method but I have doubts now regarding mulch. So confused! We are developing our property now a in the creating the beds of a 1 acre plot.
Hi Jennifer! You're right. All the conflicting information can be very confusing. Our approach is very simple. We use homemade compost from a wide variety of inputs and a variety of organic mulches (e.g., wood chips, grass clippings, leaves). This approach works very well and we don't have to buy any fertilizer.
Hi, I was removing pine needle mulch from my flower bed, which was already there when I moved this house 2years ago, I found some white mold looking things all over underneath of it, can I still plant some sweet potato slips to grow them without removing them?
not all white, fuzzy mycellium is mycorrhizal. that mycellium is probably a saprophytic fungus. mycorrhizae only exist where there is a plant root, so in order to cultivate them, you need to grow host plants for them to live on. Rodale has a great article on how to do it. google "rodale guide to on-farm mycorrhizae production."
+joecactus91 You're absolutely right. In the video, I talk about creating an environment that is conducive to beneficial fungi, including mycorrhizal fungi. If I didn't mention the importance of growing plants whose roots form mycorrhizal associations, I should have. The mycelium in the opening shot is from wine cap mushrooms.
Thanks for your fantastic vids! One question, when we talk about carbon:nitrogen ratios, are talking weight (mass) or volume. Also, moisture content would effect. thanks again...
You're welcome, Barry Winters ! We're talking about mass when we talk about C:N ratios. Here's a link that shows C:N ratios of common compost ingredients: www.planetnatural.com/composting-101/c-n-ratio/ In practice, I don't really think about C:N ratios when making a hot compost pile, but from years of experience, I know what works. For example, 2 to 3 parts leaves (by volume) to 1 part coffee grounds works well for hot compost. Sometimes when I first make the pile I don't get it quite right and have to make adjustments later. For example, if it doesn't heat up, I might add more green materials later. Moisture is very important. You want to aim for the moisture of a wrung out sponge. I hope this helps!
I've used small coffee can size (volume) almost full of organic wild rice in water couple days. Then splash in vinegar with the mother let it soak couple days or so. Then mix this all in with my finished compost. Let it sit, turn and use it on top of soil. Have the white micro roots growing Great. Seems to be very active. Please correct me if I'm wrong.
If I understand Dr. Elaine Ingham correctly, then she would disagree with some of your comments. Specifically, mycorrhizal fungi need living roots to grow and can spread by spores but generally not in fungally dominated compost. Second, worms don't consume decaying matter, rather they consume the bacteria and fungi in the decaying matter. Third, the recycling of nutrients, excluding by the mycorrhizal fungi, is accomplished when the protozoa and nematodes and worms eat and poop out the remains of the bacteria and fungi; thus effective recycling also requires healthy populations of beneficial protozoa and nematodes in the soil. (Worms can be nice but they are not native to our northern soils and have all been introduced from elsewhere.) So healthy, fertile soils require adequate populations of bacteria, fungi (including mycorrhizal), protozoa, and nematodes. Any of these can be completely missing in highly disturbed dirt: construction, farming/tilling, salt fertilizers, and any of the "cides" like insecticides, herbicides, etc.
I actually think we are mostly in agreement on these issues. 1) You are right. Mycorrhizae are associations between mycorrhizal fungi and plant roots. I didn't intend to imply that mycorrhizal fungi would grow in the compost itself, but that compost supports mycorrhizae when added to garden beds. My sources for this are "Decoding Gardening Advice" by Jeff Gillman, and this article from Dr. Linda Chalker-Scott: puyallup.wsu.edu/~linda%20chalker-scott/horticultural%20myths_files/Myths/Mycorrhizae.pdf. 2) You are right that worms are after the bacteria and fungi. However, they do ingest the decaying matter in order to consume the bacteria and fungi. 3) I agree with you on the third point. I'm not sure why you think we disagree on this point.
I though that most annual plants preferred their nitrogen source in the form of NH4 not NO3? In which case wouldn't your plants benefit more from a bacterially dominated compost because bacteria produce waste in the form of NH4? Also I thought fungi take a long time to grow and do better in perennial beds because you don't disturb the mycelia and they can form better relationships with the longer lasting roots.
We make both bacterially and fungally dominated compost. The annual beds get more of the bacterially dominated compost and the perennials get more of the fungally dominated, but both get a mix.
So fungi in my compost ( still experimenting with different materials- this pile has only fruit like orange peels, petals n no vegetable waste) is alright? I was wondering if i shld throw it away!
I wonder if you get good mushrooms in there? I collected tons of leaves in my neighborhood for the garden and ended up getting lots and lots of Blewits in the garden. Bonus!!
I was offered about 150 plastic bags of spent mushroom substrate (looks like sawdust with some small black mushrooms which the grower said got "contaminated" (and I don't know what he meant and his English was not great) anyhow I brought them home but I am not sure exactly what to do with them. After hours on youtube, I still have to wonder if I should pile them up and place a bucket or three of red worms in the middle or put them in my garden! Any suggestions?
Thanks, a lot I often collect leaf mold from the local forrest, for my garden plants. I have found these roots quite often and i was wondering why they are not melting to the soil, I didnt knew much untill now. Then I read about the beneficial mycorrhizae fungi for the garden plants, now thats a good diy if you figure out how to do it!
