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The Soil Food Web
The soil food web is an ingenious nutrient cycling system designed by nature . Everything is connected in the soil food web . Nothing goes to waste and everything has multiple functions . Look at the forest . No one fertilizes or waters there , yet it is lush and green . This is the soil food web at work . This intelligent system works perfectly when it is supported by the soil ’ s environment , starting with the root system . All of the action happens in the rhizosphere . This is why nature does not like bare soil . No roots , no soil life . The root exudates are made up of sugars , carbohydrates , and protein , much like a sweet dessert in the microbial world . Bacteria and fungi can ’ t get enough of them . Then , the nematodes , protozoa , and arthropods come along and eat up the bacteria and fungi , turning them into waste that is chelated and readily available for plants . Even better , this waste contains all the essential macronutrients and micronutrients that the plant needs , instead of the select few they might receive from a bottle . These microorganisms act as storage units for nutrients . Without them , these valuable vitamins and minerals would wash out of the soil into our groundwater . The bacteria and fungi also create the soil structure and tilth you find in healthy soil . The bacteria create a kind of glue that holds all the silt , sand , clay , rocks , and pebbles together . The fungi grow filaments that bind these soil aggregates together . This creates a structure that holds space for oxygen , water , and root systems . Earthworms , protozoa , nematodes , arthropods , and even mammals can now tunnel through the soil and create more of these pockets because the soil is not compacted . Aerobic , oxygenated soil is essential for a healthy soil environment . In fact , once the soil starts to compact and go anaerobic , you will start to see pathogenic bacteria and fungi move in and create problems . However , these pathogens simply cannot survive in well-oxygenated soil . In modern agriculture , we till the soil to break up the compaction , bring in oxygen , and release nutrients . Unfortunately , when we do this , we are also harming members of the food web and breaking up the soil structure that the biology has worked so hard to build . The ratios of microorganisms in the soil also play a role in its pH . The biology creates the chemistry . Too many bacteria will create an alkaline environment , but mycorrhizal fungi will release acids and balance the soil , keeping it in a range between 5.5 and 7.0 . Healthy , balanced soil needs both mycorrhizal fungi and beneficial strains of bacteria to thrive . Additionally , different plants need different ratios of fungi to bacteria . For example , grasslands do well with bacteriadominant soil , whereas old growth forests need fungi-dominant soil . In current agricultural practices , we tend to create unhealthy soil environments where pathogens flourish , then try to clean up the mess , which ultimately makes the situation worse . In fact , the very products we go to for help contain salts that harm the soil biology . We use these products because our soil is already unhealthy and we are dependent on them to do the jobs that the soil life would normally do .
84 grow cycle