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We have all heard about the Wood Wide Web (not a typo!) and all the great things mycorrhizae and mycelium do in an old growth forest. But did you stop to consider what is going on in a regular ol’ garden bed? What are the plants talking and gossiping about?
There is an entire social network and millions of “conversations” going on right under your feet, in your garden, raised beds, hay field, orchard and vineyard. As humans, we tend to think that communication is all about talking, texting and emailing. The natural world communicates in many other ways, including via chemical interactions.
Above the soil our plants harvest the sun to create carbohydrates and other chemicals through the magic of photosynthesis. These are used above ground to ensure overall growth as well as producing fruit and seeds to support generational growth. Plants also send a large portion of this liquid carbon down to their roots as exudates to be shared with the entire biome below the surface.
Just as humans have developed an integrated immune system – the gut with all its bacteria playing a large part in our health – plants utilize the exudates to interact with other plants and protect against pathogenic invasion. And not only do plants interact with other plants through their root systems and the entire soil biome, they also utilize chemical warfare to destroy invading pathogenic microorganisms. Plants in a sense “talk” to one another and help each other out by using a sociobiome network.
That is the good news. The bad news is that if all the plants are the same – as in a monoculture environment – they are limited in what types of “ammunition” (in the form of chemicals) are available to ward off an invasion. A biodiverse garden, field, vineyard, orchard or hay field will provide a greater variety of chemicals to protect all plants in the area. A healthier soil environment promotes more vigorous plants that can create more nutrients to be harvested in the form of grapes, apples, hay, vegetables and flowers.
This video, “Cover Cropping for Carbon Capture in an Orchard or Vineyard”, is well worth its long viewing time. It provides a fantastic discussion about the use of multiple and biodiverse cover crops in orchards and vineyards. The information can be applied to any garden – be it flower, vegetable, raised-bed or just a few fruit trees. Nature thrives in a biodiverse environment that promotes “social” support between various grasses, forbs, shrubs, trees, mammals, birds and insects above ground and millions of microorganisms below ground.
In a biodiverse environment, liquid carbon is naturally sequestered as plants send their exudates into their roots and the mycorrhizal network. It is only in an environment devoid of mycorrhizal fungi – such as a monoculture garden – that the carbon leaves the soil in the form of CO2. Science has proven that the mycorrhizal fungi are key to soil sequestered carbon. Fungi in turn depend upon a biodiverse soil for their survival. Biodiversity is the key that keeps biological organisms above and below happy, healthy and in a chatty mood to communicate with the other plants.
You can take this conversation to another level by including local native plants in your biodiverse garden, field or orchard.
Additional Resource:
https://www.csuchico.edu/regenerativeagriculture/ra101-section/cover-crop-biomass.shtml