Trees Need a Thriving Soil Food Web
Rebuild and rejuvenate the soil food web to improve the health of your trees and shrubs. Excellent health is a plant’s strongest line of defense against pests and other problems.
Trees and shrubs grow from the soil. It makes sense that the health of the soil dictates the health of the plant.
The forest is full of happy trees growing from healthy soils. Unfortunately, where there has been development and other human activity, we usually find dirt, not soil. Dirt is lifeless.
Healthy soil is full of life! It has nematodes, earthworms, bacteria, and many other organisms that make up the soil food web. As these critters eat, grow, reproduce, and go about their daily lives, they create a healthy soil food web, which produces clean water, clean air, and healthy plants, just to name a few.
Did you know that a teaspoon of good, healthy soil contains a billion bacteria, several yards of fungal hyphae, several thousand protozoa, and a few dozen nematodes? Soil is alive!
If you want to increase the vitality of your trees and shrubs, you must focus on rebuilding and reviving the soil food web.
You must provide optimal living conditions for all the organisms that make up the soil food web. They need adequate water, oxygen, and food.
If the soil food web is flourishing, your plants will be healthy. Excellent health is a plant’s strongest line of defense against pests and other problems.