Healthy Living Soil

“Healthy Living Soil” in very simple terms is the ability to support plant life, while unhealthy soil does not support plant life.  In good soil, you can find an abundance of life:  earthworms, ants, slugs, centipedes, springtails, and more.  According to Lowenfels & Lewis (2006) “good soil is absolutely teeming with life…there are up to 50 earthworms in a square foot [0.09 square meters] of good soil…there is a whole world of soil organisms that you cannot see…”

All the life in the soil interacts together into what is termed the soil food web.  The figure below is a simple diagram of a soil food web.

This food web shows who eats whom in and on the soil (note that this is a straight-line food chain instead of a more realistic food chain linked and cross-linked to each other to represent the different kinds of organisms in the web.) 

With organic matter as the initial primary food source, the bacteria, fungi, actinomycetes and nematodes in the food web feed and release nutrients for plant uptake. Then they themselves are fed upon by larger soil organisms such as arthropods, earthworms and so forth.

Why Should Farmers/Gardeners Know About Soil and Soil Food Webs?

It is very important for farmers and gardeners to know about the state of their soil and how the soil food webs work because they can better manager their own soil by using techniques that will reduce – or possibly – eliminate the need for fertilizers, herbicides, fungicides, and pesticides.  According to Lowenfels & Lewis (2006), gardeners and farmers can “improve degraded soils and return them to usefulness.  Soils will retain nutrients in the bodies of soil food web organisms instead of letting them leach out.”

“Your plants will be getting nutrients in the form each particular plant wants and needs so they will be less stressed.  You will have natural disease prevention, protection, and suppression…The organisms in the soil food web will do most of the work of maintaining plant health.  Billions of living organisms will be continuously at work throughout the year, doing the heavy chores, providing nutrients to plants building defense systems against pests and diseases, loosening soil and increasing drainage, providing necessary pathways for oxygen and carbon dioxide.”

Why are Earthworms Important?

NOTE:  This information about earthworms and earthworm castings is for general educational information purposes only.  It does not imply that our BWCN Worm Farm Premium Earthworm Castings product contains the ingredients listed below.  Our Premium Earthworm Castings product is labeled simply as a soil amendment.

Earth worms are not only the most recognizable of all the animals in the soil food web, but also one of the most important to gardening and farming.  According to a study done by Cornell University (2007), “Large macroscopic organisms such as earthworms…are important for improving aggregation, soil drainage, and aeration due to their burrowing/-channeling nature.” 

Lowenfels & Lewis (2006) agree with the benefits of the earthworms.  “They shred debris so other organisms can readily digest them.  They increase the porosity, water-holding capacity, fertility, and organic matter of soils.  They break up hard soils, create root paths, and help bind soil particles together; they cycle nutrients and microbes all that benefits…a notable worm population is a clear sign of a healthy food web community.  It means organic matter, bacteria, fungi, protozoa and nematodes – all necessary to support a worm population – are in place.  With these at the base, chances are the other parts of the soil food web are in order as well.”

In addition, earthworm castings (or vermicastings) are very important to the soil.  Lowenfels & Lewis (2006) state that vermicastings are “50% higher in organic matter than soil that has not moved through worms…vermicastings are as much as seven times richer in phosphate than soil that has not been through an earthworm.  They have ten times the available potash; five times the nitrogen; three times the usable magnesium; and they are one and a half times higher in calcium…All these nutrients bind onto organic matter in fecal pellets.  Furthermore, The Scientific Earthworm Farming (1975) state that, "Earthworms castings are the best imaginable potting soil for greenhouses or houseplants, as well as gardening and farming."

More Information about Healthy Soil and Soil Food Web

Over the years the concepts and understanding of the importance of the soils’ physical and chemical properties have been well accepted.  However, it has not been until recently that the importance of understanding soil biology and biological properties has become a focus. It has been even more recent that researchers and growers have begun trying to manage the soil in a way to improve its biological properties.

To learn more about the importance of soil and the soil food web, we recommend the following:

1)  Cornell University , College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, Cornell Health Assessment Training Manual, 2007 http://soilhealth.cals.cornell.edu/extension/manual.htm

2)  Lowenfels, Jeff and Lewis, Wane.  Teaming with Microbes:  A Gardener’s Guide to the Soil Food Web, Timber Press, Portland, OR , 2006

3)  The Natural Farmer – “Building Organic Soil,” NOFA Education Fund, Barre, MA , Spring, 2009, Edition, Vol. 2, No. 80 – tnf@nofa.org

4)  D.E. Douglas, Scientific Earthworm Farming, “Earthworms for Ecology and Profit,” Vol. 1, 1975, p. 175