Peat soils, their improvement

There is an opinion among the people that such soils seem unsuitable for growing vegetables and berry bushes, but after two or three years of their development, most horticultural crops can already be grown on them.

But the approach to the development of each type of peat bog should be individual.- depending on what type of swamp there used to be in this place.

Peaty soils are very diverse in their physical properties. They have a loose permeable structure that does not require special improvement. But they all contain little phosphorus, magnesium and especially potassium, they lack many trace elements, primarily copper.

Depending on their origin and the thickness of the peat layer that forms them, peaty soils are divided into lowland, transitional, and upland.

Most suitable for growing horticultural and garden plants low-lying peatlands, often located in wide hollows with a slight slope. These soils have good vegetation cover. Peat on such peatlands is well decomposed, so it is almost black or dark brown, lumpy. The acidity of the peat layer in such areas is weak or even close to neutral.

Lowland peatlands have a fairly high reserve nutrients compared with transitional and especially high-moor peatlands. They contain a lot of nitrogen and humus, since the plant remains are well decomposed, the acidity of the soil is weaker, they have enough water that must be diverted into ditches.

But, unfortunately, this nitrogen is found in low-lying peatlands in a form that is almost inaccessible to plants, and only after ventilation can it become available to plants. Only 2-3% of the total amount of nitrogen is in the form of nitrate and ammonia compounds available to plants.

It is possible to accelerate the transition of nitrogen to a state available to plants by draining peat soil and enhancing the activity of microorganisms that contribute to the decomposition of organic matter by introducing a small amount of manure, ripe compost or humus into the soil.

Raised peatlands are usually excessively moistened, since they have a rather limited runoff of rain and melt water. They are highly fibrous, since they do not have conditions for a more significant decomposition of plant residues. This leads to a strong acidification of peat, which explains its very high acidity. Such peatlands have a light brown color.

Nutrients in high-moor peat, which are scarce in any peat soil, are in a state inaccessible to plants. And soil microorganisms that help maintain soil fertility are often simply absent in them.

When laying gardens and orchards on such soils, their cultivation requires high costs. In order for such soils to become suitable for growing horticultural plants, lime, river sand, clay, rotted manure, and mineral fertilizers must be added to them.

Lime will reduce acidity, sand will improve the structure, clay will increase viscosity and add nutrients, and mineral fertilizers will enrich the soil. additional elements nutrition. As a result, the decomposition of plant residues of peat will accelerate and conditions will be created for growing cultivated plants.

And in pure form high-moor peat can practically only be used as bedding for livestock, since it absorbs slurry well.

All types of peaty soils are characterized by low thermal conductivity, so they slowly thaw and warm up in spring, and are much more likely to be exposed to return frosts, which delays the start of spring work.

It is believed that the temperature of such soils is on average 2-3 degrees lower during the growing season compared to the temperature of mineral soils. On peat soils, frosts end later in spring and begin earlier in autumn. create a more favorable temperature regime on such soils there is only one way- by draining excess water and creating loose structural soil.

Peat soils in their natural state are almost unsuitable for growing horticultural and horticultural plants. But due to the presence of a large amount of organic matter in them, they have a significant "hidden" fertility potential, all four "keys" of which are in your hands.

These keys are lowering the groundwater level, liming the soil, applying mineral additives and using organic fertilizers. And now let's try to get acquainted with these "keys" in a little more detail.

GROUNDWATER LEVEL DECLINE

To remove excess moisture in the area and improve the air regime, peat soils often have to be drained, especially in new areas. Of course, it is easier to do this all at once in the entire garden, but much more often you have to do this only on your site, trying to create your own local simplest drainage system.

The safest way to arrange simple drainage it is possible, laying in the grooves with a width and depth of two bayonets of a shovel drainage pipes, pour sand over them, and then soil.

Much more often, instead of pipes, branches, cut stalks of raspberries, sunflowers, etc. are placed in drainage ditches. They are covered first with rubble, then sand, and then earth. Some craftsmen for this purpose use plastic bottles. To do this, they cut off the bottom, screw the cork, make holes on the side with a hot nail, insert them into each other and lay them instead of the drainage pipe.

And if you are very unlucky and you have a site where the groundwater level is very high and it is rather difficult to lower it, then there will be even more worries.

In order to prevent further contact of the roots of trees with these very groundwater, you will have to solve not one, but two “strategic” tasks at once- reduce the level of groundwater on the site as a whole and at the same time raise the level of the soil at the site of planting trees by creating artificial mounds from imported soil. As the trees grow, the diameter of these mounds will need to be increased annually.

SOIL DEOXIDATION

Peat soils come in different acidity- from weakly acidic and even close to neutral (in peat bog lowland soils) to strongly acidic (in peat bog highland soils).

Under deoxidation acidic soil understand the introduction of lime or other alkaline materials into it to reduce its acidity. In doing so, the most common chemical reaction neutralization. Most often, lime is used for these purposes.

But, in addition to this, liming peat soils also enhances the activity of various microorganisms that assimilate nitrogen or decompose plant residues contained in peat. In this case, brown fibrous peat turns into an almost black earthy mass.

At the same time, hard-to-reach forms of nutrients contained in peat turn into compounds that are easily digestible by plants. And phosphorus and potash fertilizers introduced into the soil are fixed in upper layers soil, are not washed out of it by groundwater, remaining long time available to plants.

Knowing the acidity of the soil in your area, alkaline materials are introduced in the fall. The dose of their application depends on the level of soil acidity and for acidic peat soils, on average, about 60 kg of ground limestone per 100 square meters. meters of area, for medium acid peat soils- on average about 30 kg, on slightly acidic- about 10 kg. On peat soils, in acidity close to neutral, limestone can not be applied at all.

But all these average doses of lime application vary greatly depending on the value of acidity, especially on acidic peatlands. Therefore, before adding lime, its specific amount must be clarified once again depending on the exact value of the acidity of the peat bog.

A wide variety of alkaline materials are used for liming peat soils: ground limestone, slaked lime, dolomite flour, chalk, marl, cement dust, wood and peat ash, etc.

INTRODUCTION OF MINERAL ADDITIVES

An important element in improving the physical properties of peaty soils is their enrichment with minerals.- sand and clay- which increase the thermal conductivity of the soil, accelerate its thawing and increase warming. At the same time, if they have an acidic reaction, you will have to add an additional dose of lime to neutralize their acidity.

At the same time, clay must be applied only in dry powder form, so that it mixes better with peat soil. The introduction of clay into peat soil in the form of large lumps gives an insignificant result.

The lower the degree of decomposition of peat, the greater the need for mineral additives. On heavily decomposed peatlands, 2-3 buckets of sand and 1.5 buckets of dry powdered clay per 1 sq. meter, and on weakly decomposed peat bogs, these doses should be increased by a quarter.

It is clear that such an amount of sand cannot be introduced in one or two years. Therefore, sanding is carried out gradually, from year to year (in autumn or spring), until they improve physical properties soil. You will notice this yourself in the plants grown. The sand scattered over the surface is dug up with a shovel to a depth of 12-18 cm.

INTRODUCTION OF ORGANIC AND MINERAL FERTILIZERS

Manure, peat-dung or peat-fecal composts, bird droppings, humus and other biologically active organic fertilizers are applied in an amount of up to 0.5-1 bucket per 1 sq. meter for shallow digging to quickly activate microbiological processes in peat soil, contributing to the decomposition of organic matter in it.

To create conditions favorable for plant growth, mineral fertilizers must also be applied to peat soils: for the main tillage - 1 tbsp. spoon of double granular superphosphate and 2.5 tbsp. spoons of potash fertilizers per 1 sq. square meter, and in the spring additionally- 1 teaspoon of urea.

Most peat soils have a low content of copper, and it is in a form that is difficult for plants to access. Therefore, the introduction of fertilizers containing copper into peat soil, especially on acidic peat soils, has a significant effect. Most often used for this purpose blue vitriol at the rate of 2-2.5 g / m2, previously dissolving it in water and watering the soil from a watering can.

Good results are obtained by the introduction of boron microfertilizers. Most often, 2-3 g are taken for foliar feeding of seedlings or adult plants. boric acid per 10 liters of water (1 liter of this solution is sprayed on plants in an area of ​​10 sq. M).

Then the peat soil, together with the mineral soil, manure, organic and mineral fertilizers and lime poured on top, must be carefully dug up to a depth of no more than 12-15 cm, and then slightly compacted. This is best done in late summer or early autumn when the soil has dried out considerably.

If it is not possible to cultivate your entire site at once, then master it in parts, but applying all the above amount of mineral additives and organic fertilizers to them at once, or first filling them with loose, fertile soil planting pits, and already in subsequent years, carrying out work on the cultivation of the soil in the aisles. But this is the worst option, because it is better to do all this at once.

On already developed peat soils, there is a gradual decrease in the thickness of the peat layer by about 2 cm per year due to its compaction and mineralization of organic matter. This happens especially quickly in areas where the same vegetables are grown for a long time without observing crop rotation, requiring frequent loosening of the soil.

To prevent this from happening, cultivated peat soil in gardens, and especially in garden plots, needs annual additional application of organic fertilizers.

If this is not done, then every year a gradual irreversible destruction of peat (its mineralization) will occur on your site, and in 15-20 years the soil level on your site may be 20-25 cm lower than it was before the development of the site, and the soil will become waterlogged.

At the same time, the soil on your site will no longer be fertile peat, but infertile sod-podzolic, and its physical properties will greatly change for the worse.

To prevent this from happening, among other things, as mentioned above, a well-thought-out crop rotation system, saturated with perennial herbs, must constantly operate on your site.

In the future, it will be necessary to annually import and apply either a sufficient amount of organic fertilizers (10-15 buckets per 100 square meters), or other soil.

And if there is no manure or compost, then green fertilizer can help out. Sow and bury lupins, peas, beans, vetch, sweet clover, clover.

V. G. Shafransky

The composition of peat-marshy soils includes mainly components of organic origin. In addition, they contain a significant amount of nitrogen, presented in a form unsuitable for plant uptake.

There are two types of marsh soils: low-lying and high-moor, which differ sharply from each other in their properties. Low-lying swampy soils are formed in low areas when waterlogged by groundwater. Birch, alder, spruce, willow grow here, and from herbaceous plants - different kinds sedge, horsetail. Riding ones are formed in elevated areas during waterlogging. atmospheric waters or slightly mineralized. In such swamps of tree species, pine is most often found, less often birch, a lot of wild rosemary, blueberries, cranberries, etc.

The thickness of the peat layer and high and low bog soils ranges from 200-300 mm and can be from 2 to 5 m. If this layer is less than 500 mm, and strongly waterlogged gleyed horizons lie below, then the soils are called peaty- or peat-gley. The value of peat is determined by the degree of its decomposition. The higher the degree of decomposition of peat, the better its properties for plants. The degree of decomposition of peat in lowland peat soils is 75-90%, and high-moor bog soils contain only 2-5% of minerals and, therefore, they contain few nutrients for plants.

Peaty-marshy soils are poor in potassium and phosphorus. However, the latter is the main element of the so-called peat-vivianite soils. The phosphorus compounds present in them are not available for the root system of horticultural and horticultural crops.

Peat-bog raised (ordinary) soils are formed under conditions of excessive moisture by atmospheric waters in closed drainless depressions on watersheds under moisture-loving vegetation. The weak mineralization of atmospheric precipitation and the lack of nutrients contribute to the growth of sphagnum mosses, which are the least demanding on the conditions of mineral nutrition. Raised bog peat is characterized by low ash content, weak decomposition of organic matter, and high moisture capacity. The soil has a strongly acidic reaction and high hydrolytic acidity. Soils are characterized by weak biological activity and low level natural fertility.

Transitional peat (residually low-lying, sphagulated) develop on low-lying bog soils, which in some cases (when the groundwater level drops or when the peat layer grows rapidly) can break away from the groundwater horizon and lose contact with them, which leads to saturation of the upper peat horizons atmospheric precipitation waters and sphagnum mosses come to replace the abundant vegetation of low-lying swamps. In agrochemical terms, they differ from high-moor peat in a slightly lower acidity of the soil solution.

This type of soil is characterized high level water and air permeability. However, it is characterized by excessive humidity and does not warm up well. In structure, such soils are similar to foam rubber, which quickly absorbs moisture, but also easily gives it away.

cultural activities. Actions aimed at improving the physical and chemical qualities of peat-marshy soils should be carried out as follows. First of all, it is necessary to normalize the process of decomposition of organic elements, which results in the release of nitrogen and its transformation into a form available for assimilation by plants. At the same time, it is required to create favorable conditions for the development of soil microflora. To achieve this goal, it is recommended to regularly feed the soil with microbiological substances, compost, sawdust, slurry and manure. In addition, when carrying out measures for the cultivation of peat-marshy soils, it is necessary to improve them by introducing potash and phosphorus fertilizers. When processing peat-vivianite soils, the amount of phosphate fertilizers must be reduced by 2 times.

It is possible to increase the level of porosity of peat-marshy soils by adding clay flour, compost or coarse sand.

The soils of raised and transitional bogs are not very suitable for agricultural use, so they are most often occupied by forests and bogs.

High-moor peat is a valuable bedding material for animal husbandry. Raised peat soils are the main source of cranberry collection and are of great environmental importance.

How to increase soil fertility Hvorostukhina Svetlana Aleksandrovna

Peaty-marshy soils

Peaty-marshy soils

The process of formation of peat-marshy, or peaty upland, soils proceeds under conditions of excessive moisture. Traditional for them are such types of plants as sphagnum moss, blueberry, pine, wild rosemary, spruce, sheikhzeria, cloudberry, cotton grass, cassandra, cranberry.

Peaty-marshy soils are characterized by high acidity. The pH level is often between 2.5 and 3.6. In addition, they are characterized by high moisture capacity (from 700 to 2000%) and low ash content (from 2.4 to 6.5%).

Swampy soils Swampy soils are soils, the formation of which takes place with a prolonged or continuously excessive level of moisture and swamping of the horizon located under moisture-loving plants (rush, sedge, reed, cattail). Their range is usually