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leafy soil. What is turf land: types of land mixtures. The use of sod land

Flower growers are often faced with the fact that turf land or a mixture of it with various fillers is recommended for planting. Experienced summer residents usually have a good idea of ​​what it is, but for a beginner, such a concept may be new. Today we will analyze in detail what turf land means, where to get it, and what effect it has on the growth and development of plants. If this is your first time transplanting a plant, then sometimes it seems that it is easier to buy a ready-made substrate in the store. In fact, the soil mixture prepared at home is no different from the one that you will be offered in a beautiful, factory-made package.

The basis of floriculture

Mixtures for planting houseplants can vary greatly in composition. The main difference is which ingredient predominates in it. Knowing their properties well, you get the opportunity to take into account the individual characteristics of each potted plant and select the soil in which they will develop favorably.

Turf land is considered the main one in floriculture. It is used in the manufacture of most soil mixtures. Plants adapt very well to it, developing intensively.

Substrate differences

Sod land is a term that refers to various garden soils. At first glance, it is enough to simply remove the top layer of soil, which contains plant humus. However, garden soil can be obtained from the decomposition of sod or other organic matter. The original substrate will affect the physical and Chemical properties the resulting soil mixture. Therefore, today we will consider several options, as well as the possibilities of their optimal combination with each other.

sod land

It is very rich in nutrients. And potted plant will be provided for several years ahead, without requiring additional fertilizing. It is obtained mainly from meadows and pastures, as well as fallow lands. The main selection criterion is the presence of grass-clover herbage in the places of the final collection of the substrate. However, it cannot be said that it will be the same in any case. Distinguish:

  • heavy sod substrate, which is characterized by a large amount of clay;
  • average;
  • light, which has the most sand.

seasonal factor

And we continue to deal with the concept of sod land. What it is, where to get such a soil mixture, now we will tell you in detail. Harvesting is carried out in the summer. To do this, you need to choose the period of maximum herbage. At the same time, the calculation is made in such a way that the sod will have time to partially decompose before the winter cold. But it will take much more time to get the finished substrate. Initially, the turf is cut into layers, 20 cm wide and 8 cm thick. Now it is necessary to fold it in stacks, up to 1.5 meters high. To accelerate decomposition, the layers are moistened with a solution of slurry. Another task is to reduce acidity. For this, lime is added. The next summer, you need to properly shovel the stack 2-3 times. Only after two seasons will it be ready for use. In the second year, in the fall, it is recommended to pass it through a screen and clean it indoors.

Gathering place

You already know what turf land is, but collected in different places, it will be very different. It is necessary to cut it on the clover, where the herbs grow especially violently and do not have a nutritional deficiency. This is easy to evaluate from appearance. All herbage should be bright green, without yellowing and spots, speckles and dry tips. If, on the meadows accessible to you, the grasses are stunted, they begin to turn yellow and dry early, then taking land here does not make any sense. It is poor in nutrients.

The location of the meadow also plays an important role. Since you can cook soddy land only directly in the meadow, choose the highest places. In swampy lowlands, the soil will be too acidic. Medium loams will be optimal in composition. Sandy loam turf is characterized by high water and air permeability, but at the same time it is poor in nutrients, for which it is used in gardening.

leaf humus

As you can see, the preparation of sod land is not difficult, you only need access to open meadows. If there is nothing like this near you, then you can try similar mixtures, which are also perfectly perceived by house plants. Now we will discuss in detail what kind of substrate is used to replace soddy soil. First of all, it is leaf land. It is characterized by friability and lightness. On the other hand, this drawback is easily corrected by mixing different mixtures and obtaining the optimal composition. Particularly good results are given by leaf humus mixed with heavy, soddy soil. Often flower growers use leafy soil mixed with peat and sand. It turns out an analogue of the heather mixture, light and nutritious.

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Even in urban conditions, you can easily find a place to harvest leafy land. If you can go out of town, into the forest, then here you can find its natural deposits. Year after year, the leaves fall and rot under the trees, forming a nutrient layer. In city parks, you can collect during the period of mass leaf fall in parks and gardens. Linden and maple leaves are considered the most suitable, fruit trees. But willow and oak are completely unsuitable for these purposes.

Collected leaves or forest floor are formed into piles and moistened with slurry. It remains to compact the stack well and leave until next summer. Over the next warm season, it will be necessary to shovel the leaf mass well several times, moisten it with slurry and add lime. That is, you will get high-quality leafy land only by the end of the second summer.

Compost land

Summer residents use this term quite often, so we will also mention it. Compost is an analogue of turf and leaf soil. Their essence is the same - it is the rotted remains of plant organic matter. The quality of compost land depends on the type of waste, that is, the material used. This is an intermediate link between turf and humus soil.

To prepare it, you will need compost pit, although some gardeners use heaps or stacks. During the summer, they collect all plant and animal remains, weeds and garbage, food waste. As it accumulates, the remains are sprinkled with lime and moistened with slurry, and covered with peat on top. In the second and third years, the mass needs to be shoveled. By the end of the third year, the land is completely ready for use. Now you already know what turf and leafy soil is, how to make compost, and you can choose the basis of the substrate for your house plants.

Preparing a mixture for plants

So, it's about to land. Usually, gardeners begin to do this by spring. The soil prepared since autumn is warmed, disinfected and an ideal substrate is prepared from it. The main characteristics are:

  • Moisture capacity. The soil should easily absorb water. Do not pass through yourself, as is the case with sand, but do not delay, as clay does.
  • Water and breathability. This is understandable, the substrate must be loose to ensure air access to the roots.
  • Nutrition.
  • Suitable pH level (most often the absence of acidification).
  • Purity, that is, the absence of toxic substances.

Optimal proportions

Most often, 1: 1 soddy land is mixed with a component such as leaf humus. This is easy to explain, since it acts as a baking powder. Some flower growers recommend adding earth from molehills in similar proportions. It is loose and nutritious, and also does not contain pest larvae. Humus is another important component. It is a black, homogeneous mass, which is obtained from well-decomposed manure. It is highly nutritious, but often contains seeds of weeds and pathogens, so it is extremely important to season the mixture before use.

Baking powder

In order to ensure optimal air permeability of the soil, it is necessary to observe the proportions of soddy soil and sand. It is important that only Fine is used will only make the substrate denser. Before adding to the soil, the sand is well washed. This is necessary in order to wash out all the dust and leave the necessary small pebbles. In this form, it is added to almost all mixtures for indoor plants providing better breathability.

For each greenhouse crop or group of crops, mixtures are made from pre-harvested meadow and forest lands.

The mixture should contain a sufficient amount of nutrients in an easily digestible form, pass air and water well, and also have a certain reaction - neutral (pH 7), acidic (pH below 7) or alkaline (pH above 7). Most plants grow well in neutral soils.

The main components of the mixtures: turf, humus, leaf and peat soils, as well as coarse sand (in different proportions).

1) Turf land contains a lot of plant residues; it is rich in essential nutrients gradually used by plants. It is better to harvest it in June - July on upland meadows or old pastures with cereals and legumes.

To increase nutritional value and speed up, the turf is overheated and layered with cow manure (1 cubic meter of manure per 4 cubic meters of turf), and lime is added to neutralize acidity (1-2 kg per 1 cubic meter). A recess is made on the stack to retain rain and irrigation water.

During the summer and autumn, the stack is mixed 1-2 times, pouring slurry or water over it. In the spring of next year, it can be used, but the best soddy land is obtained after two seasons. A longer preparation period leads to the loss of the main qualities - the porosity and elasticity of the soddy land.

Before use, the earth is passed through a screen with cells 3-4 cm in diameter to separate large clods and impurities. Small semi-rotted parts of the roots are the main value of sod land, they cannot be removed.

There are heavy soddy soil harvested on clay soils, and light - from light sandy soils. A cubic meter of heavy earth weighs 1.5 tons, light - 1.2 tons.

2) humus land obtained from well-decomposed manure, it is a black homogeneous mass, rich in essential nutrients with a predominance of nitrogen. Such land is often called a greenhouse, as it is formed in greenhouses from rotted manure. For the preparation of humus land, you can also take fresh manure. It is stacked in a shaded place for 1-3 years. During the summer, the stack is moistened and mixed 1-2 times. Before use, the earth is sifted through a screen.

The humus earth is used in those cases when the mixture needs to be more nutritious (for most potted crops and seedlings of annuals and plants that do not tolerate fresh manure). A cubic meter of humus earth weighs 0.6-0.8 tons.

Instead of humus soil, you can use compost, which is obtained as a result of the decomposition of plant and other residues within 2-3 years.

3) Leaf land, loose and light. To obtain it in autumn or spring, fallen or semi-decomposed leaves accumulated in the forest (forest litter) are collected in heaps. Oak and willow leaves, as they contain a lot of tannic acids, are undesirable. Leaves decompose faster if they are loose (should be shoveled); they are systematically moistened, preferably with slurry, along with which many microorganisms are introduced. When shoveling, it is useful to add lime (0.5 kg per 1 cubic meter). After 2-3 years, the leaves turn into a homogeneous, very light mass (weight 1 cubic meter 0.5-0.8 tons), which is sifted through a screen before use. Leafy soil is used to make light mixtures. In its pure form, it is used for sowing small seeds and picking seedlings (begonias, gloxinia, etc.).

Leafy soil mixed with peat and sand (2:4:1) is often replaced with heather, which can only be harvested in places where heather grows.

4) Peat land light, loose, well absorbs and retains moisture, significantly improves the physical properties of earth mixtures. It is obtained as a result of the decomposition of the peat of raised bogs, folded for 2-3 years in a pile, or the weathering of peat crumbs, collected in heaps and lain in the air for at least a year.

Peat is laid in a pile or a pile 40-60 cm high, pouring 3-4 kg of lime and 10-15 kg of phosphorite flour per 1 cubic meter. m. During the summer, peat is mixed 2-3 times and watered with water or slurry. Weight 1 cu. m of peat land 0.8 t.

5) Sod-peat the earth is made from turf taken from peat meadows. In its pure form, it is used in the cultivation of hydrangeas, azaleas, camellias, etc., in mixtures - for many greenhouse plants, sowing seeds, for laying the lower layer of the substrate or cuttings, as well as mulching the soil and making peat-humus pots. Weight 1 cu. m of peat land 0.6-0.8 t.

6) Vegetable, or garden, land is an arable layer, taken in the fall in areas freed from under vegetable crops, and lain in piles for one season. This land is well fertilized and used for growing seedlings. Weight 1 cu. m of vegetable land 1.2-1.3 tons.

Sand coarse-grained(river or lake) is used to give the mixture porosity (10-20%) and when rooting cuttings, and also fill them with small seeds.

Mountain sand is of little use, since it contains ferruginous compounds that are harmful to plants, so it must be washed in water before use. Weight 1 cu. m of sand 1.5 tons.

Moss, as well as sand, gives the earth friability and contributes to a more uniform moistening of the earthen coma. Use dried and crushed peat moss - sphagnum.

Chopped moss is necessary for the germination of large seeds of tropical plants (bananas, palm trees), for the cultivation of orchids, for wrapping trunks of plants that form aerial roots, for forcing lilies of the valley, etc.

Coal wood absorbs excess moisture in the ground, and when it dries it returns. It is added in the form of pieces in a small amount to earthen mixtures for plants that do not tolerate waterlogging.

The main land reserves are stored in piles under awnings or covered with insulating material (straw, dry tree leaves). In the open air, lands lose their valuable qualities.

Land in the amount of the annual need is stored in special rooms. The land used for growing flower crops for several years, depleted, when stacked is mixed with humus or compost and left in the air for 1-2 years, occasionally mixing and watering with slurry.

Mixes are made as needed. Sift each of the components separately, pour by volume (including sand), then mix well. Mixtures are heavy, consisting of clay-turf and humus soil with the addition of sand (3: 1: 1), in which plants with fleshy and thick roots are planted (krinum, clivia, old specimens of palm trees, etc.); medium - from soddy, humus, peat or leafy soil with the addition of sand (2: 2: 1: 1) for fast-growing plants with strongly developed roots (levkoy, fuchsia, pelargonium, etc.); lungs, composed of peat, or leaf, or heather, humus soil and sand (3: 1: 1) with the addition of charcoal, which are used for sowing seeds and plants with very poorly developed and thin roots.

nutrient pots(earthen cups and peat cubes) are used for growing seedlings.

The material is an earthen mixture, compiled taking into account the needs of plants.

To increase the nutritional value of cubes and pots per 1 cu. m earth mixture add 1.5 kg of ammonium nitrate, 3 kg of superphosphate, 0.5 kg of potassium salt.

Leafy soil is light, loose soil, obtained as a result of decay of fallen leaves. Leafy soil is not as nutritious as humus, but is well absorbed by plants. It has a slightly acidic reaction (pH 5...6), since a large amount of acids is formed during the decomposition of the leaves. It has a good structure, consists of air- and moisture-permeable lumps, dries quickly, it is added to loosen the substrate in various soil mixtures for growing indoor plants.

Leafy soil is great for all plants with thin, delicate roots. It is required for , . For cultivation, not completely rotted leaf humus is used, but with particles of unrotted leaves, so that the substrate is very loose.

Leaf ground is harvested in autumn in deciduous arrays. The best are the leaves of birch, linden, maple, elm, hazel and fruit plants. The leaves are raked in heaps, moistened if the weather is too dry.

The period of decomposition of the leaves depends on the type of tree. Quickly, within a year subject to compliance right conditions the leaves of most deciduous trees (birch, oak, maple, hawthorn, mountain ash, hornbeam, hazel, etc.)

The production of leaf humus is not too laborious, it is only important that the leaves are wet. You can add raw grass from a lawn mower. Make sure that the autumn rains regularly moisten the future humus. During the summer, it is advisable to water with slurry and mix.

Heaps of leaves are a great home for overwintering insects, so when adding leaf humus to the mixture, sterilize it to clean it of insects and their larvae.

In ornamental gardening, there are many specially mixed soils in various combinations. All of them are the result of the decomposition of peat, manure, leaves, turf, etc., contain the necessary amount of nutrients for growing plants, but depending on the substrate used for their preparation, they have different chemical and physical properties.

On farms, the following types of land are most often harvested: peat, compost, humus, leaf and sod. The most porous, resilient and heavy of them is turf, while others are lighter. The success of plant cultivation mainly depends on the method of harvesting and subsequent tillage, on the ability to choose the right soil mixture.

Soddy soil is harvested on perennial fallow pastures and meadows, best of all in those places where a good herbage has grown. Sod land should not be harvested in low areas with high acidity. The preparation of the soil begins in the last decade of June, by this time the height of the grass reaches its maximum height, and the turf will have time to partially decompose by the time the cold weather sets in. The turf cut into layers is laid in piles up to 1.5 m high and wide. The stacks are periodically watered with slurry from above so that decomposition occurs faster. To reduce the acidity of the soil, 2 kg of lime is added to the heaps for every m 3 of earth.

leafy soil

In autumn, leafy soil is harvested in parks, groves and forests. It is best not to use the soil from under the willow and oak, it contains a lot of tannins. Sometimes leaf litter is harvested to obtain leaf soil, choosing the top layer by 2-5 cm, the collected leaf soil is stacked in piles up to 1.5 m high. In autumn, when laying the pile, it is necessary to water the leaves with slurry and compact well.

After two years, the leaves will perepere well and turn into nutritious leafy soil. This soil is loose and light, but it contains less nutrients than soddy soil, it is an ideal ripper for heavy soils. Leafy soil is well suited for sowing crops with small seeds - gloxinia, begonias, etc., it must be used in cases where manure humus cannot be used for plants.

humus soil

Often such soil is called greenhouse soil, the reason is that it is obtained from old greenhouse soil and rotted manure. The litter of domestic animals put in the spring as a biofuel in the greenhouse completely rots by autumn, light humus is obtained from sheep and horse manure, and heavier humus from cow manure. After cleaning the greenhouse in the fall, the humus is placed in a pile and left for a year, during the summer it is shifted several times. After that, the humus is sieved and used to fertilize plants growing in open ground.

Mucky soil is oily, loose, light, and very nutrient-dense, high in nitrogen. Used as a potent ingredient in soil formulations for growing fast growing plants, this soil is essential for growing seedlings of annual crops and for many potted plants.

This land is harvested mainly in peat bogs, sometimes it is prepared from peat chips or briquettes. Peat is also placed in heaps up to 80 cm high, every 25 cm the layers are sprinkled with lime and watered with slurry. In the first and second years after harvesting, the collar is shifted, and used only for the third season.

Peat soil is very moisture-intensive, loose and light, it contains a lot of slowly decaying organic particles, and in its pure form, such a composition is unnutritious. Used as a ripper for various soil mixtures.

Compost soil

To prepare such land, various animal and plant residues, weeds, household and greenhouse waste are composted in pits and heaps. In the second year, a pile of compost is shifted 2-3 times over the summer, watering with slurry. The compost soil is completely ready by the end of the third year, it must be sifted before use.

The properties of this type of soil can vary greatly, they depend on the nature of the waste and the type of material used for composting, they are used in a mixture with peat and soddy soil.

Sod land.

Sod land is the main type of substrate for rooting cuttings and growing seedlings. It is prepared from sod taken from meadows, fallows and other areas where white and red clover grow, as well as cereals and soft herbs. The best sod is taken from pastures or summer camps for cattle and sheep. The topsoil here is well saturated with manure, and grass roots have the most powerful development. You can not take sod from marshy, podzolic places where the soil is acidic and plants grow that are indicators of high acidity, such as sedge, horsetail, buttercups. Thanks to a large number plant residues, it is porous, elastic, but compacted without additives during operation. According to the content of soil particles, soddy land is divided into heavy (based on clay), medium (clay and sand in half, light (with a predominance of sand). Heavy soddy land is more fertile and suitable for perennial cultivation grapes in tub culture, light is used for rooting cuttings, medium for growing seedlings with a closed root system.
It is prepared as follows: in the middle of summer, a layer of sod 8-10 cm thick and 20-25 cm wide (along the width of the shovel) is cut, stacked in stacks about 1 m high with grass to grass. It would be very useful to pour the layers bone meal(up to 2 kg per 1 cubic meter), cow dung, ash, wetting with water. After 30-35 days, shovel. Having prepared the sod in the spring, in the fall it can be added to the mixture for rooting or growing seedlings. For the winter, be sure to collect it in bags and put it under the roof.
It should be borne in mind that it is possible to use turf land only within a year after manufacture. With long-term storage, organic residues will completely decompose, and nutrients will be washed out by precipitation.

Leaf land.

Consists of decayed leaves. It is loose and light earth, rich in readily available nutrients and soil microflora. Easily replaces humus. The best raw materials for this type of substrate are the leaves of linden, maple, birch, ash, elm, chestnut. Oak and willow leaves are worse, they are of little use due to the content of tannins. When mixing heavy soddy and leafy soils, excellent physical and chemical composition substrates for rooting and growing seedlings.
Leaves are harvested in parks, gardens, and deciduous forests. It is better to collect them immediately after leaf fall, since after the first autumn rains, not to mention spring, they will begin to decompose, which leads to the loss of useful qualities. The leaves are placed on the allotted area in a collar in the form of a trapezoid. It is advisable to shed layers of slurry or a solution of urea. This technique will speed up processing and enrich the future substrate with nitrogen. In a thin layer, you can also add sawdust, shavings, rotten wood chips, chopped thin branches here. As well as soddy land, it is desirable to shovel leafy soil. The leaves are easily compressed and do not rot in this form. Such a substrate is ready for use no earlier than after 2 years.

Mucky land.

Humus land is often called a greenhouse, since earlier a layer of fresh manure was used to heat greenhouses. After the decomposition of such biofuel, a substrate was obtained with a high content of humus and a small admixture of ordinary soil. Immediately after unloading the greenhouse, it is impossible to use humus soil, it is necessary to fold it into a pile and let it erode in the air in order to reduce the concentrations of acid and ammonia resulting from the burning of fresh manure. The content of nutrients in the greenhouse land is high, 16 kg of humus soil replaces a kilogram of NPK. Therefore, it is used as an additive to increase the fertility of any soil mixtures.

Peat.

Peat is ineffective in its pure form, the content of nutrients in it is negligible. But on the other hand, it perfectly retains water, air and mineral fertilizers, loosens dense substrates, which reduces their density, increases uniformity, moisture and air capacity. Peat can be added to any substrate, from heavy to light, it will enrich the first with air, the second with moisture. Peat for crop production is harvested only the top, decomposed. And before applying, they keep it in an open-air pile for at least 2 years to reduce its acidity. Peat composts are of great value. These mixtures are obtained by co-composting organic waste mixed with peat. good land can be obtained by joint composting of manure and peat with the addition of lime. The joint laying of turf and peat in piles gives slightly acidic soils of high quality; for viticulture, this type of land must be limed when shoveling.

Compost land.

One of the best views garden lands. It is obtained by the joint decay of any organic residues - from stumps and snags, to kitchen waste and paper. But the physical and nutritional properties will depend entirely on the raw materials and composting conditions. Read more about composting here. The result may be a soil similar to soddy soil, and maybe leaf humus. But, in any case, this is a good basis for any substrate. Compost soil is used in a mixture with soddy and peat lands, significantly increasing their nutritional properties, and largely replaces humus soil.


Heather land.

It is a very light, porous and loose earth. It is harvested in places with thickets of heather. After removing the large above-ground parts of the heather, they remove a layer of turf 5-6 cm thick with roots and small above-ground remains of heather, lingonberries, blueberries, etc. The removed turf is piled up and processed in the same way as leaf ground for two years.
Heather soil is of limited use. It is added to the mixture when growing some plants that need slightly acidic soil. Due to the limited use and difficulty of harvesting, heather soil is often replaced with a mixture of two parts of leaf, three parts of peat soil and one part of sand.

Woodland.

Woody soil is prepared from the decomposition products of wood: stumps, roots, deadwood, wood chips. Also used for this purpose is rot from the hollows of old trees, etc. Woody soil is light, it is close in composition to leaf ground, but is significantly poorer in nutrients and can turn sour.


Moss sphagnum.

It is harvested in sphagnum bogs. Dried, chopped and sifted sphagnum moss, when added to soil mixtures, gives them lightness, friability and increases their moisture capacity. In its pure form, moss is used when germinating cuttings of grapes, currants and other easily rooted crops. It has a slight bactericidal property, does not rot.


Fern roots.

The roots of the Polypodium vulgare fern are sometimes used as a drainage layer at the bottom of the cultivation tank. Currently, expanded clay or coarse sand is used for this purpose.


Sand.

It goes to the preparation of all earthen mixtures, usually in a ratio of 1/5 part (in heavy lands) to 1/10 (in light lands) of the mixture. In its pure form, sand is used when cutting plants. The best is coarse-grained sand from fresh water. For the preparation of mixtures, especially intended for grafting, red quarry sand is unsuitable, since it contains ferrous iron compounds that are harmful to plants. Sand used for the preparation of substrates is usually consumed without pre-treatment. Sand for grafting and sowing is thoroughly washed from clay and organic particles in tubs with clean water.


Preparation of mixtures.

Ground mixtures are prepared as needed. Previously, each land is taken separately in the required quantity, sieved through a large sieve to remove large undecayed residues, after which the mixture is prepared. If necessary, the earth is crushed with a sharp shovel with a straight blade. The composition of mixtures is determined by the requirements imposed on them by various plants. Land mixtures are divided into three types: heavy, medium and light.
For the preparation of heavy mixtures, the following lands are used (by volume): heavy sod 3 parts, sheet or humus 1 part, sand 1 part. For medium mixtures take: heavy turf 2 parts, sheet, humus, peat or heather 2 parts, sand 1 part. For the preparation of light mixtures, the following are used: heavy turf 1 part, light organic (leaf, etc.) 3 parts, sand 1 part. When using other, lighter soddy lands, the ratios of the components in the mixtures change towards a decrease in light lands, especially sand.

Plants in different periods growth have different requirements for nutrients and therefore soil mixtures. At the beginning of growth, they need light earth with readily available nutrients. With age, plants need more and more dense soil. Perennial large plants need heavy soils. For sowing seeds and primary rooting of cuttings, light earth is needed. Seedlings are grown on medium lands. Plants in tub culture at the age of five to seven years require heavy land.


Storage of garden land.

Lands are usually harvested annually, and, consequently, their stocks are renewed annually. However, they can also be used for several years. For this purpose, the storage of substrates should be organized. They cannot be stored outdoors, as they quickly decompose, lose their structure, compact and leach. Therefore, they are stored indoors, where there are bins for each type of land. Their dimensions must correspond, but at least to the annual need for land reserves, from a bucket to several cubic meters. It is advisable to use non-freezing rooms for storage. Sand is stored outdoors as it does not decompose or compact.