Sonoma Mountain Institute

After 5 weeks there has been no significant difference between the control and the one time treatments in both the oak leaf litter and the harding grass thatch bins. Here is a picture taken at 5 weeks…page down and compare to the initial photo…

The next phase will begin with a once a week treatment following the initial amounts of compost, compost tea and water. (see 1-3 listed below). I will continue this until total decomposition.

1.    Control Bin – this bin will receive 4 cups of water with each treatment session (to establish the same amount of added moisture as the Tea Bin)
2.    Tea Bin – this bin will receive 1 cup of compost tea mixed with three cups of water evenly distributed over the top layer of thatch and leaf litter.
3.    Compost Bin – this bin will receive 2 cups of compost and 4 cups of water with each treatment session (the 4 cups of water is to establish the same amount of added moisture as the Tea Bin)

Here’s the update:

Comparing teas made with different amounts of Fish Hydrolysate

Thus far I have completed three rounds of testing for each amount of Fish Hydrolysate, which are no foods, 150ml, 250ml, and 500ml.  My observation is that our fish hydrolysate product improves fungal activity and increases total fungal biomass, though both have a fair amount of variability.

Please note that this sheet is not directly comparable to the sheet analyzing different amounts of Turf Pro, as the compost mix used was slightly different for each trial.

Jacob

Our perennial dry grassland community is dominated by Phalaris aquatica (harding grass). Phalaris aquatica has a large biomass creating a thatch layer that can be over six inches deep. The thatch build up inhibits the potential of other species to germinate and become established, leading to a monoculture of grass opposed to a variety of plant species found in a healthy native community.

Dr. Ingham’s hypothesis is thatch buildup in the grasslands is due to low fungal activity.  She believes we can achieve significant to total litter decomposition within a month’s timeframe.

In previous experiments, the biological treatments used had no appreciable effect on either thatch buildup or fungal activity biomass [see grassland experiment, Biology Analysis].  Possible explanations include, 1) fungal foods inadequate, and/or 2) the correct species composition is absent and/or the number of decomposition fungi is not adequate in our previous compost/compost tea.

In this small-scale trail, we will be looking at the effect of compost and compost tea as the biological amendments as treatments for breaking down the thatch layer of Phalaris aquatica and the leaf litter of Coast Live Oak.

Set Up

Phalaris aquatica thatch
Fill 3 bins (24-gallon totes) with 2 inches of grassland soil from the perennial dry community and cover the soil with 4 inches of Phalaris aquatica thatch. The thatch collected was ½ laying on the ground and ½ cut from standing dead plant material

Oak Leaf Litter
Fill 3 bins (24-gallon totes) with 2 inches of soil from the oak woodland and cover the soil with 2 inches of leaf litter.

Treatments
The initial phase of this trail will be a one-time treatment. The final thatch/leaf litter remaining will dictate our next step.
1.    Control Bin – this bin will receive 4 cups of water  (to establish the same amount of added moisture as the Tea Bin)
2.    Tea Bin – this bin will receive 1 cup of compost tea mixed with three cups of water to evenly distribute the tea over the top layer of thatch and leaf litter.
3.    Compost Bin – this bin will receive 2 cups of compost and 4 cups of water (the 4 cups of water is to establish the same amount of added moisture as the Tea Bin)

Testing:
Direct observation of soil (inches of soil, inches of litter)
Compost Test & Compost Tea Test

Week One: 3/17/08
Phalaris aquatica – All Bins
no change – 2 inches of soil and 4 inches of thatch
Oak Leaf Litter – All Bins
no change – 2 inches of soil and 2 inches of leaf litter

Week Two: 3/23/08
Phalaris aquatica – All Bins
no change – 2 inches of soil and 4 inches of thatch
Oak Leaf Litter – All Bins
no change – 2 inches of soil and 2 inches of leaf litter

Week Three: 4/1/08
Phalaris aquatica – All Bins
2 inches of soil and 3.5-4 inches of thatch (it appears that the thatch has settled more. Possibly  due to rains last week. No change in soil depth)
Oak Leaf Litter – All Bins
no change – 2 inches of soil and 2 inches of leaf litter

Week Four: 4/9/08

After the initial work in our grassland we became curious…Is there a difference in the soilfood web of native and non-native plant species? So we went ahead and took a “look see”. Jacob and I went to a local preserve containing a good population of native species in their grassland. Within this particular area the delineation is clear between the native species and where the non-native species are established. We took samples from the root zone of four plants, each plant was dominant in that particular area. (Phalaris aquatica – invasive, Hordeum brachyantherum – native, Elymus glaucus – native, and a combination area of Danthonia californica and Nassella pulchra – native).

Pepperwood Sample Spreadsheet 04.01.08

Along with this data, the monthly soilfood webs on three grassland communities are dominated by three non-native species, Phalaris aquatica, Holcus lanatus and Avena sp., Check the last post for data comparison.

Note that the two starthistle samples were taken from an area that had been treated with an unknown chemical three years previous. This year it is finally showing a little plant life…so out of curiosity I took two samples. The other, Nassella pulchra is taken next to one of the chemically treated areas as a comparison.

Within these few samples taken from the preserve and the monthly monitoring project, I am not seeing any standout data, other than the chemically treated starthistle areas being much lower in microbiology. For a follow up we are going to go back next week to take two more samples from each area for replication.

Here is an updated spreadsheet of the seasonal grassland monitoring project.

Seasonal Grassland Monitoring First 5 Months