Orizon Blog - Soil Health

Soil health seems complicated. Many terms like carbon, biome and organisms are thrown around in long-winded and often confusing ways. I'd like to try and simplify it from the perspective of a non-expert.

For those of you with short attention spans, here's the abbreviated version:

Soil health is all of those terms, coming together in a symbiotic relationship. Healthy plants create an array of carbon strings that they secrete into the soil to attract micro-organisms (and some times larger ones). These organisms eat the carbon and in-turn secrete the nutrients the plant needs to survive. The biome this creates is one of mutual growth based on two life forms "bartering" nutrients, just like in the good 'ol days!

That's it. It's that simple. Soil health is creating a safe "marketplace" for this "bartering" to occur!

Okay - now for the long-winded version:

We've all heard that "Plants breathe in carbon dioxide and breathe out oxygen" - but we don't talk about the magic of what happens to facilitate this. Plants breathe in carbon dioxide (CO₂) from the air using the same biological process that humans use when breathing oxygen with our lungs! But where humans use the oxygen to feed our muscles, plants use photosynthesis to harness the energy from light & the water they have absorbed to induce a chemical reaction that separates carbon dioxide into oxygen and carbon atoms. During this process, the plant combines these carbon atoms together into an organic carbon chain - or sugar as it's sometimes called. The plant then releases the excess oxygen back into the atmosphere (the same way we breathe out!). Many different carbon chains are produced in this process, and they have many different uses in the lifecycle of the plant, including stem growth, leaf growth, and most importantly - secretions!

Okay - so now we know that plants are magical - they create sugar and oxygen by cleaning our air! But what do plants do with this sugar? Well this is where things start to get crazy. The plant secretes (yes, just like we do) these sugars into the soil, and what happens when you leave sugar out? That's right. Bugs come to eat it. This is no ordinary sugar though, and these are no ordinary bugs! These bugs, or organisms eat the sugar the plants secrete, and then they in-turn have their own secretions, which is what the plant was after!

The most notable example is mycorrhizal fungi. This fungal network consumes some of the sugars produced by the plant and in return, it enhances the plants' root systems' absorptive area! This fungus grows underground in a much finer and wide-spread area than the plant's roots do, because it doesn't have to focus on growing a stem or leaves, whereas the plant must grow its roots, stems and leaves in equal proportions to maintain water/nutrient absorption rate and its photosynthetic capabilities. Many other fungi, bacteria and insects create small portions of this large ecosystem that can exist under a single plant!

Now this may seem like the plant is overcomplicating this, but if you were a farmer, and as a farmer you had to tend your crops, do your finances, sell your harvest and still look after your children all on your own, you'd be a very tired person. So you would get workers to tend the fields, an accountant to do your finances, a store to sell your harvest, and you'd be able to look after your children! And how are all these people paid? With money!

Now, from the perspective of the plant - it's getting similar assistance!
Please keep in mind that this is vastly oversimplified, but here it goes...
Worms give the plant extra nitrogen, mycorrhizal fungi give the plant a better way to absorb nutrients, bacteria improves the soil structure, protozoa lure the worms and other beneficial insects (such as spiders and butterflies) and nematodes help decompose other organic matter in the soil. And how are all these organisms paid? With sugars from the plant! So the plant is able to look after it's stem and leaves!

Soil health is the promotion of this vast and complex system, some organisms are part of it because they interact with something else that the plant needs (like some Nematodes that break down organic matter which attracts Bacteria which in turn attract worms!). This seems complex and intimidating but it's simple. Leave your soil alone and let nature do its work. By limiting chemicals and disruptions to the soil these organisms will be able to live, grow and thrive!

Nature is beautiful, let's keep our soil healthy!

Soil Health - an IT guy's perspective

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