[APWG] Five species of mushroom with natives+ acid pH with weeds

[Garry Rogers]

Craig,

Thank you for your comments.  My review of soil microorganism literature
indicated that continuous livestock grazing eliminates both the biological
soil crust and the arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi.  I guess it could be
expected that other fungal networks would be destroyed as well.


Garry

Garry F. Rogers
grogers at sigmaxi.net


On Thu, Oct 10, 2013 at 8:18 AM, <craig at astreet.com> wrote:

> Dear All,
>
> The Soil and Plant Lab in San Jose just ran some soil nutrient tests on
> native grassland sites and also from soil where the worst weeds are
> growing.  The medusahead grass, was an indicator of low calcium, low
> nitrogen and very acidic soil due to the low calcium, about 10X more acid
> than normal.  Also low in zinc and iron.  This low calcium and acidic soil
> was on the hillside that have received the most intensive cattle grazing
> over the last 200 years, and the grazing depleted the soil calcium levels
> so that only the weeds can survive in those soils today.
>
> Also a note about the living soils that are fostered by native plants.  In
> my tiny 20 x 40 foot Poppy Project patch at Arastradero preserve in Palo
> Alto, I counted five different species of mushrooms sprouting up last week,
> whereas there were zero mushroom species in the adjacent exotic weeds
> surrounding the natives.  I have never seen so much fungi diversity in such
> a small area before.
>
> I strongly believe that when we look closely at our grassland weed
> infestations, we might find that those weeds are just indicators of changes
> in the soil that our grazing animals have made over the decades to hundreds
> of years of nutrient mining that the animals  have done, especially in the
> Great Basin, California and the arid West.
>
> And the weeds are obviously also indicators of the spatial extinction of
> the native species in those areas, but until we correct the soil problems,
> it is unlikely that we can successfully eradidcate or manage the weeds.
>
> Sincerely,  Craig Dremann 9(650) 325-7333
>
>
>
>
>
>
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