Solarization : Healing the soil affected by Nematodes

What is Solarization?

The term "Solarizing" may sound fancy, however is nothing but spreading the soil evenly and building up heat in the soil with the help of the sun for about 2 weeks or more.

Why Solarize?

This is for the pest control.

In container gardening, it becomes important to solarize the soil once you are done with one round of crop in that container.

Solarization during the hot summer months can increase soil temperature to levels that kill many disease causing organisms (pathogens), nematodes, and weed seeds and seedlings.

Identification

You may not be able to visually make out seeing the topsoil that it has been affected by nematodes. hence keep a check on the roots when you are done with the crop and uproot the crop. The plant also hints us that it is affected with nematodes, by sudden halt of growth and the leaves withering, and when none of the remedies seem to work, nematodes may be the cause because it has directly affected the roots of the plant! Overall the plant suddenly becomes weak, and perishes.

Nematodes and Nitrogen-fixing nodules are different!

A snippet from here - " The appearance of the galls on the roots can be confused with nitrogen-fixing nodules common in the legume family. However it is easy to distinguish between them, as the nitrogen nodules can be easily rubbed off while the nematode galls cannot be removed. "

Procedure to Solarize

1. Empty the potting mix from a container on a tarpaulin sheet (newspaper would not do until the potting mix is in smaller quantity in balconies; the sheet should be strong and waterproof in case water falls on it, or the pets step on it, the wind may be strong etc) as shown in the below pic.

2. Spread it evenly, breaking it down with gardening tools if required.

3. Separate the roots from the potting mix. 

4. Observe these roots. If they are affected by nematodes , or ants may have layed eggs and would be building a community, as in below pics.

The root at the left is "normal" root, where as at the right is affected by "nematodes" because the roots have knots kind of structure

A closer look of the nematodes affected root.

If the roots are affected with nematodes, solarization of soil is required for 4-6 weeks. If not, 2-3 weeks is good enough.

5. Spread it evenly and irrigate the soil to keep it moist (the heat builds up when the moisture exists) and cover the tarpaulin sheet completely as shown in below picture and keep some weights on the sheet so that it is not affected by the wind. 

6. Wash the container thoroughly (some suggest washing it with bleaching powder and exposing it to direct sunlight for drying, if affected by nematodes)

What after 6 weeks?

After 6 weeks of solarization, add about a handful of neem cake to this potting mix. A handful of Honge cake is also beneficial. It further heals the soil. As a general practice, it is always recommend to add these cakes to the potting mix to prevent such incidents. 

Then for the crop rotation, it is recommended to plant marigold in this potting mix to further heal the soil and after the marigold crop, you could confidently use this potting mix for the next veggie crop.

What if I do not solarize?

Looking at the wait time (6 weeks), it is very easy to get tempted to just discard the affected roots and re-use the potting mix for next crop, without solarizing. But the sad news is that the potting mix is STILL affected and the next crop you put in there will also fail for sure.

Prevention is better than cure

The use of Neem Cake and Honge Cake in the potting mix is for prevention, which should be preached and practiced!

Composting : Do some homework and then start!

Bad experiences on composting

I have often seen people wanting to start off with composting with full "josh" after knowing that such thing exists and after a few weeks, they get disappointed that the result was not so good or as not expected. With a heavy heart, they thrash the half done compost.

All in vain!

Such experience also pulls us down to take that step again.

If one attends the exams without studying the subject and comes back complaining that "it is not for me" - who has to be blamed? :)

What should you know, before you begin

Even though we cannot wait to do a thesis on composting for years and then start doing it in practical, and even though composting is a simple procedure, people MUST AND SHOULD do a basic study of :

1. How to setup the bin in first place
2. How much carbon component is required
3. What to expect during the process
4. What troubleshooting techniques are available 

How to setup the bin in first place

Decide the way you want to start composting : Aerobic or Anaerobin

If you go for Aerobic and a "Do It Yourself (DIY)" setup, 

Aerobic = Needs Air = The bin should breathe. 

1. Earthen pot suits the best for DIY setup.
2. If you want to choose a plastic blue drum or bin, ensure the bin you choose has enough holes for air to circulate at the top of the bin.
3. Do not use a bin that is suffocated and then complain that it stinks. You are setting up it wrong in the first place!

Pic Courtesy  : Smitha Lobo-Mascarenha

DIY Composting in Earthen Pots

Anaerobic = Does NOT need air = It should be tightly closed and not opened now and then (I can understand your curiosity, but it is a NO! :) ) 

How much carbon component is required?

For successful composting, the below ratio has to be calculated approximately. 

Compost -> Nitrogen (Kitchen Waste) + Carbon (Dry leaves/sawdust/cocopeat/soil)

Ratio should be 1:30 (Nitrogen:Carbon) 

So, just know that dry leaves should be more than the kitchen waste and not vice versa. Do not do the vice versa and complain that the bin is stinking and the leachate is too much.

What to expect during the process

Important : Leachate

Leachate (liquid that oozes out of the bin) is an EXPECTED by-product during composting. 

Have you tried keeping the veggie waste in the dustbin for 2-3 days and see some liquid would have formed? Yes, it is a natural process and first step towards decomposing. 

So, you should expect leachate to be formed in either Aerobic or Anaerobic process (even though the amount of leachate is lesser in aerobic method, sometimes it can get messy). So, if you have decided to go for Aerobic DIY setup, ENSURE that you have made a hole at the bottom of the bin for the leachate to drain out! 

Do not come back complaining, that now the bin has filled up and it is stinking because there is no space for leachate to go out and it is messy to drain out the leachate manually by hand.

If you choose to have a anaerobic DIY setup, fit a tap that can drain out this leachate. 

Quantity of leachate generated in any type of composting, depends on what has gone into the bin. If too much of watermelon peels and papaya peels, the quantity is obviously higher. 

Fungus

Formation of fungus is expected and the first step towards decomposing. Do NOT discard the pile thinking something went wrong and hence the fungus. It was just taking the next step and all the efforts would be put in vain if you discarded it!

Fruitflies / Maggots 

Insects help decompose the matter. It is nature's job and this is expected! Few of them are good when they exist. But do not let them multiply in abundant in the pile!

To drive away fruit flies : cover the top layer of the pile with a lot of dry leaves and then a full sheet of  newspaper (not just lightly... press it in so that itis properly covered.) if there are too many fruit flies, spray lemongrass solution.

Maggots : If there are too many, put a teaspoon of red chilli powder or neem powder.

Available troubleshooting techniques

Almost EVERYTHING is covered in dailydump's page : 

1. Common Mistakes
2. Troubleshooting

Be well equipped to face the challenges!

Failures should not discourage us, rather should motivate us to think - "when all of them out there can do it, why not me?" And try to find solutions to it. 

We all learn by failures, but the baseline for all should be clear, so that we do not waste our effort and time in doing wrong things.

Helpline

Still have doubts? Do not hesitate to ask even the SILLEST doubt in below FB groups : 

• Home Compost
• Waste Segregatoin and recycling 
• Organic Terrace Gardening

But remember, to do  A LITTLE HOMEWORK BEFORE YOU BEGIN!  If not, the tendency  of disappointments may be more that can be demotivating and we want you all to succeed! 

Its OK to fail, in composting, it will STILL be a success one day

Sometimes, even with a lot of theroy knowledge, we fail, it is OK... nature is very forgiving.. she gives us all a second chance to learn from the mistakes. We learn by making mistakes and sharing about it with others. Composting can NEVER be a failure, becasue it may takes minimum of 2-3 months or maximum of 1 year - it STILL composts eventually!

Good luck with making lovely Black Gold ! :) 

Leaf Composting

Burning dry leaves is dangerous! 

Have you seen the dried leaves being burnt in the parks and your street?

STOP it, immediately!

Dry leaves are Carbon and burning them produces Carbon-di-oxide. It is learnt in school days that carbon-di-oxide reduces the oxygen and is poisonous!

The leaves have been shedding in abundant this season and we have been provided with natural rich resource by nature, that we are burning out, unknowingly!

Pic Credits : Srikant Kapuganti

Leaf Composters

Leaf Composting is VERY easy and cost effective than any other kind of composting. There are many commercially available Leaf Composters too, but a simple DIY is good enough.

Just push all the leaves to a corner of the garden or the park and retain moisture level by pouring water on it 2-3 times a week and thats it!

You could use these DIY methods too, which is done by my gardening friends :

Pic Courtesy : Veena Rao

Pic Courtesy : Amar Daniel Gabrian

Pic Courtesy : Manju Mohan

After gathering ideas from my friends who were already leaf composting, I picked up my way of doing it :  two old laundary bags:

And set them up on top of each other as below :

How much time does it take to be composted? 

It takes about 3 months to get the composted.

Any accelerators could be used?

To speed up leaf composting, you could use cow dung slurry or leachate from composting bins.

Further Reads 

If you are on OTG group, you could read these threads too :

• Is there any DIY LEAF COMPOSTER technique you use?
• Can we use any accelerators to fasten leaf composting?
• Related Albums by Vani Murthy on Leaf Composting can be found here , here and here.

Got Honge Tree? You are luckier!

If you have HONGE trees around your house, you cant get LUCKIER!  Leaf shedding, will soon be followed by flower shedding, which will be THE MOST nutrient compost. Add it up to the leaf compost pile and see the difference in the veggie quality you grow!

Pic Courtesy : Vani Murthy

                                                                      Pic Courtesy : Vani Murthy

Learn to ignore :-P

While selfishly picking leaves, ignore the people staring at you, thinking you as a "well dressed rag picker" :-P

Just Happy Composting! :)

Going to be on TEDx stage! March 14th 2015, BNMIT College, Bangalore

I am honored and overwhelmed to be invited as a Speaker by TEDxBNMIT, scheduled this Saturday, March 14th, 2015.

Theme this year

The theme is "Next Is Here" - Inspiring stories of  people who are doing things what would become a necessity in coming days.

TEDx say - "For many years now, the future has been looked at as a utopian concept. A concept that sounds exciting but one that we always thought was too good to really exist. But on numerous occasions in history, some individuals have shown us that it is possible to create a future that we dream of. The weak while “believe only when they see”, the strong “see what they believe!” And today, more than ever before, nothing seems “too good to exist” because of the efforts of some ordinary people who had some exceptional ideas. In the true spirit of ideas worth sharing, TEDxBNMIT is proud to have brought together an elite group of such achievers. With their skills, ideas and tenacity they're bringing the future, to the present. At TEDxBNMIT we believe that it isn't the time to ask “What's next” anymore, because Next is here."

Speaking on

• Organic Kitchen Gardening 
• Importance of Waste Segregation and Composting

The direct link to the announcement is here.

For people who do not have a facebook account, here is the content :

Who can attend? How to buy tickets? 

The event is open for Public to view it LIVE, (tickets to be booked via bookmyshow.com). As a confirmation of your booking, kindly send your booking ID, name and email ID to tedxbnmit2015@gmail.com

Or the video would be uploaded in YouTube by TEDx within a week of the event for anyone to watch anytime.

Venue 

B N M Institute of Technology

12th Main Road, 27th Cross, Banashankari Stage II

Banashankari

Bangalore, KA, 560070

India

Are TED talks different from TEDx talks?

For all the people who might be a little confused about what TED and TEDx is, here's a lovely little video from TED explaining the difference between the two.

The challenge I am facing while preparing for it 

TEDx talks are restricted to 18 minutes only. Preparing the talk for 18mins on such a VAST subject is more than tough I could have imagined! This is the most challenging part for me right now!

My all time Support System 

My OTG friends have been so very supportive to me congratulating me and telling to "go for it". I am so thankful for them for such an encouraging spirit!



Looking forward for a lovely interaction with co-speakers and audience that day. Wish me luck folks!  :)