Although I clearly have seen results they have been slow and somebody mentioned that it was because my soil was too clay (ey) and didn't have enough organic matter. They suggested I begin a regimen of compost tea to help add microbial activity which would break down the fertilizer better.

It seems like my red clay would have a hard time supporting microbes. I live outside Atlanta but don't know what zone that is.

My question is, "Is compost tea the missing link here?"

Oh, and any tips for winter weeds? When the bermuda goes dormant they stick out like crazy!

2) Drainage. Dig a hole 1 foot square and 1 foot deep and fill that with water. After that water drains away refill the hole with more water and time how long it takes that to drain away. Anything less than 2 hours and your soil drains� too quickly and needs more organic matter to slow that drainage down. Anything over 6 hours and the soil drains too slowly and needs lots of organic matter to speed it up.

3) Tilth. Take a handful of your slightly damp soil and squeeze it tightly. When the pressure is released the soil should hold together in that clump, but when poked with a finger that clump should fall apart.

4) Smell. What does your soil smell like? A pleasant, rich earthy odor? Putrid, offensive, repugnant odor? The more organic matter in your soil the more active the soil bacteria will be and the nicer your soil will smell.

5) Life. How many earthworms per shovel full were there? 5 or more indicates a pretty healthy soil. Fewer than 5, according to the Natural Resources Conservation Service, indicates a soil that is not healthy.

Thanks for all the tips.

So let me get this straight.... I will have no microbial life in the soil until I raise the organic matter? Compost tea will do me no good?

I'm new to this organic strategy but been studying a lot. Had soil biology tests done on my soil and compost. Expensive, but I'm going to document and write on my blog about the before and after. From what I've learned so far, yes the microbes need organic matter to work their magic. Reading "Teaming with Microbes" by Lowenfells and Lewis, I've come to the understanding that 1) it is bad for the exisistng microbial populations to till or otherwise disturb the soil unless the populations are so low you can't hurt them, and 2) adding compost right on top of the soil along with compost tea will help boost the organic levels in the soil. The microbes will gradually pull the organics into the ground where they will really help. I'm in heavy clay too, and this method of top dressing with compost followed with actively aerated compost tea seems to be helping already. I'm also incorporating one or two core aerations per year into my plan. I plan on the aeration being done right before the compost. But I won't have the follow up tests for another year yet. I will eventually post the soil tests and my organic lawncare trials and tribulations on my blog, but can send the first tests (soil and compost) to you now if you want.

Good luck.

I just found this out about 1/2 hour ago. A contractor working at the house asked me what were all the little tiny piles in our side yard. He thought perhaps I had planted little sprigs of something. This is an area that is bare hard pan clay. Ignorant as I was over the past 11 years, I'd raked up all the leaves and treated this area with lawn chemicals in an effort to grow grass. Now I know the error of my ways. In the spring, I stopped all chemical treatment, and spread some compost around. About 6 weeks ago, I sprayed some left over compost tea over the area. I also planted about 8 native shrubs and mulched the plantings with generous heap of compost and leaves. The bare ground is still there and the recent rains puddled up quickly. Today, I wondered what the heck the contractor was talking about. I went out and found dozens and dozens of little tiny piles of dirt and recently fallen leaves. Each pile was about the size of a silver dollar. I never noticed them before. I took a small trowel and dug up three of these mounds. Low and behold, there were earthworms in each space. They had pulled leaves into their burrows and broken up the little bit of clay soil around them. Amazing. So, I take it that life is returning here. The natural way is working. Too dark today to get pictures, but I'll post some later.

Take care,
Hal

Thanks for all the information. I'd definitely be interested in continuing to follow your progress. I'm very interested to hear that you've generated some "life" in the soil. I've been doing a ton of research and have found that the key is to do just exactly what your doing.....build organic matter, promote, establish and add micro-organisms and continue to fertilize. Duh, seems to make sense doesn't it?

Peach - yeh it sure does makes sense. But it took me a long time to come to this understanding. Way too long. I was a definite chemical and synthetic fertilzer person. No longer though. Now that it is "obvious" to me, I'm trying to remember where I came from. I don't want to sound "radical" to others when I preach the organic way. I trust your "continue to fertilize" comment only refers to organic.

Take care all
Hal

So, Kimmsr, your saying that the application of compost teas is a waste of time and money? "They" being the microorganisms will simply show up if you have organic matter in the soil. Seems to fly in the face of almost every single thing ive read so far......

These are pictures of the piles of organic matter made by the earthworms that are returning. This is an area that I tried to grow grass in for years. For twelve years, I used synthetic lawn chemicals and raked up all the leaves. This became a very dead, dry, clay surface. Water puddled with the sightest rainfall. This spring I stopped chemicals. Two months ago I sprayed leftover AACT here. Now life is starting to return. I dug up several of these little piles to find earthworms actively pulling leaves and other organic bits into the ground. So no more chemicals, And this year, I'll let the leaves cover the ground.

http://members.accesstoledo.com/hfmann/gardening/organic matter - earthworms.jpg

http://members.accesstoledo.com/hfmann/gardening/organic piles - earthworms.jpg

http://members.accesstoledo.com/hfmann/gardening/closeup - Single pile organic matter.jpg

Lowenfells, by the way, is a master at compost tea. I used to participate on a forum with him, and he really knows his stuff. As far as I know he has written the first book to take into consideration the recent (1990s) findings that there are tens of thousands of species of microbes in the soil. Prior to that all the books by the experts assumed no microbes and that compost was the only "fertilizer" you needed. I call them "Rodalians" after J.I. Rodale, the previous guru on organic gardening. Rodale was working without the knowledge of the microbial population. Now we know that compost is not a fertilizer but a source of microbes. And we know that animal feed is a fertilizer and source of enzymes, vitamins, and minerals for the soil microbes.

One important thing about compost tea: In most of the country you cannot make it right during the heat of summer. If you are making it in an air conditioned space, then fine. If you are making it outdoors, it is too warm to support the multiplication of microbes that you can get with cooler water. The water temp must be between 50 and 70 degrees F to get the best results. Colder than that and the microbes go dormant. Up around 80 degrees F the microbes cannot get enough oxygen to survive. 70 degrees would be a great temp.

Kimmsr, you really sound like you know your stuff and I'm sure you have a wonderful lawn. However, most homeowners/lawnowners don't have the benefit of having worked on their lawn for 45 years. (nor do I expect that they would plan on doing so.) All of your numbers are swell but I'm not sure it applies to what we are discussing.

What I've gathered from all of my reading........and all of your bickering.......is that having a nice lawn is definitely based on the soil but that isn't limited to just improving the SOIL food web. You must also find ways to increase organic matter, you must find ways to provide natural sources of nutrition and you must deal with pests. Proper mowing and watering are also extremely important.

I'd also say that adding more microbes to an existing situation is better and that they most certainly wouldn't go to waste.

Having solid grey clay, as an experiment I'm going to drill with a three quarter inch diameter, sixteen inch long auger, holes every few feet, in a section of our property, lay down compost, a little nit of lava sand, and sweep and water it in.

I'd like to see what happens in a side by side comparison, where no holes are drilled but ammendment is laid down. The area is all grass. I'm kind of excited about it.

A lot of people have clay, it takes years it seems to get to a point where the clay actually becomes superior to all other soils.

I believe there is a hard pan issue in a section of our property, that's the thing about clay. You screw with it too much, it becomes worse. You handle it with care, it's awesome material.

Maybe it's what you have if your yard was farmland at one time. If you'd like to try my experiment, it is better than tilling becaus tilling is what causes a hard pan.

In our backyard, as an experiment, I trained our bermuda to be four inches high all summer. Very deep, deep, infrequent watering.

Surprisingly, the bermuda is very deense and foot traffic doesn't effect the clay or grass out there at all. Very surprinsing, since I had always thought that bermuda needs to be cut short. As a matter of fact, it stayed green and hardly grew at all. I mowed four or five times this summer...

I have observed that once clay is up to par as far as organic content, a long, long soaking, and you can walk away for a week or two or more, even in drought.

Clay is unique in it's capacities and approach. I'm going with it, not that I have a choice, and may the force be with you as well.