[APWG] Smell soil to see if you have dead soil causing weeds?

[Robert Layton Beyfuss]

I doubt if grant funders will provide restoration money based on smelling the soil. Dogs can be trained to smell certain cancers. Maybe we can hire them. Is there really any data regarding minimal nutrient thresholds for native plants? We have known for years that nitrogen is a tricky element to measure because it likes to quickly change forms from ammonia to nitrate, nitrite, etc . Any nitrogen measurement is a snapshot of a moment in time. Phosphorus is also turning out to be a tricky character due to mychorizzae. I have University lab soil test results from soils that list 0 pounds per acre of P, yet these soils are covered with healthy forests.



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From: APWG [apwg-bounces at lists.plantconservation.org] on behalf of craig at astreet.com [craig at astreet.com]
Sent: Tuesday, September 24, 2013 4:24 PM
To: apwg at lists.plantconservation.org; craig at ecoseeds.com
Subject: [APWG] Smell soil to see if you have dead soil causing weeds?


Dear All,

I am going to suggest an even easier test to check for soil problems that can cause weed infestations--is to smell the soil?

Where I have the worst weed problem at my site in Palo Alto, the Italian thistles and the medusa head grass, I noticed that when I dug up the soil for the soil nutrient tests on those sites, there was no visible organic matter below the weed thatch, and there was no smell to the soil.  The soil is dead, nobody microscopic like the fungi and yeasts, alive any more.

Then if you go 20 feet away where there is no medusa head or Italian thistles, when you dig past the surface thatch, you can see visible organic matter, and if you breathe in, you can sniff that somebody is still home in that soil.

I am suggesting that along with soils being below the nutrient threshold for native seedling survival can cause weed infestations, that you can also have a case of weeds as symptoms of dead soil.  The weeds could be looked like flies gathering on a dead body, and we may need to resurrect the soil microbes in order to chase away the weeds?

Sincerely,  Craig Dremann (650) 325-7333


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