Microbial Revolution: Restoring Soil for Plant Health

Thanks to good economic times in recent years, new housing developments are springing up everywhere in Florida and Texas. Farms, ranches, woods, and open land are cut away to provide clean building sites for new development. This cleaning-out process often removes or destroys existing soil, leaving a sterile environment in which new plants are struggling to grow in. As a result, gardeners are using expensive chemical fertilizers to keep plants growing and healthy.

The Organic Solution
Many people would like to restore the soil to a healthy condition, but they don't have the time, energy or inclination to make the quantities of compost needed to improve soil health. Fortunately there is an alternative. The same results can be achieved with a mix of organic fertilizers and microbial injections. An organic blend of fish emulsion and kelp is an effective food source for plants and microorganisms.

Microbial inoculants -- products loaded with microbial populations of beneficial fungi, bacteria, and protozoans -- can reestablish those populations in depleted soil. The inoculants are available in water-soluble powders for use with hose-end applicators and in granular form for application with a standard spreader. The fertilizer-inoculant blend restores exhausted soil to a vigorous condition replicating a wooded environment. Winter is a great time to spread these inoculants. You'll find them garden centers everywhere.

The Role of Microbes
Microbes perform a variety of functions to maintain healthy plants. They decompose organic matter in the soil and help the plant to absorb and use the nutrients released from organic matter. The nutrients released are the same as those provided by fertilizers but are available on a slow, consistent basis, as plants need them. These microorganisms also can minimize fungal plant diseases caused by Pythium, Fusarium, Rhizoctonia, and Phytopthera.

Photo by Robert Haehle/National Gardening Association

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