Soil Food Web
What horticulturists and soil scientists refer to as the soil food web is an intricate network of life forms, mostly microbial, that work together to create the support needed for the foliage above. The trees on your property are largely dependent upon life on a microscopic level within the soil beneath them. A cross-section of the earth beneath a healthy forest would reveal millions of small life forms that are all working to make the soil a living, breathing "web" in which tree roots can anchor themselves at much greater depths than what is found in urban and suburban settings.
The two most important conditions for this network of life forms are oxygen and water.
Beneficial fungi and bacteria that assist plant roots with the absorption of water require oxygen to live. Earthworms, which create channels for root growth as well as nutrients, must respire underground. Most importantly, tree roots themselves require oxygen and water in order to perform their life-sustaining function.
Aeration devices placed in the garden and throughout your lawn will broaden and deepen the profile of available oxygen and water for all of these organisms to live. The deeper the soil food web is extended, the deeper tree roots can grow. Deep tree roots support trees that are better anchored, and more tolerant of drought and temperature extremes. Ask your arborist about aerating your tree roots. You will be amazed at the difference when your trees' roots can grow deeper.
A more robust soil food web means a more robust garden, and healthier, stronger trees.
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More About Soil Remediation
Good Tree Root Health: Oxygen. — In the tips of the roots where absorption takes place, oxygen is critical to root life.
Good Tree Root Health and Microbes. — The forest floor provides an ideal environment for their propagation, and they are constantly cycling through the soil food web. In contrast, urban and suburban soil can be seriously lacking in these microbes.
Root Aeration Tubes — There are numerous options for root aeration tubes. A popular design involves PVC plastic pipes.
Rootwell Products — The Rootwell Products, direct-to-root system has been engineered to permanently enhance a tree's natural ability to absorb oxygen, water, and nutrients.
Soil Compaction — In the built environment where most of us live, soil compaction is a necessity.
Soil Composition — When we consider the make-up of soil we are looking at the percentages of three different components, sand, clay, and silt.
Soil Food Web — What horticulturists and soil scientists refer to as the soil food web is an intricate network of life forms.
Soil Structure — Soil structure essentially refers to the amount of macropores in the soil.
Tree Root Health: Watering Trees. — What we see in lawns that are irrigated conventionally is tree roots growing at or near the surface in the only space that they can live.
Trees Suffering From Drought? — Take a walk in an established forest in this area, and you will see that the problem is not really the drought.
Water Is Not Enough — This tree is watered daily by an automatic irrigation system. Despite the abundance of water, it is stressed and losing leaves in July.
Why is That Tree Not Growing? — Why is it that the trees in some landscapes never seem to grow past the half-way point of their mature size?
