Mulch does matter! What type of mulch used also matters! Two commercial lime farm sites in FNQ Four different approaches to mulching - Rhodes grass hay, tree tea mulch, southern pine woodchip and side thrown interrow as the normal practice. Over three years of testing soil and overlaying yield results this citizen science project between Wet Tropics soil care, our farmer led soil health group and Terrain NRM sure had some interesting insights for us. - Hay or tree tea mulch is better to use than just side throwing inter row plants/weeds and spraying under your trees - Avoid using green soft wood woodchip as the effects are detrimental to yield however will be eventually good for soil health outcomes - Woodchip needs to be ramial (branch wood of less than 7 cm in diameter) and from hardwood tree species. If you don’t know what tree your woodchip comes from or if it is woodchip from a soft wood sp, you must rest the woodchip for 6-12 months before application to release the tannins and allopathic effects of the softwood woodchip. Links to the reports are at the bottom of the media release below👇
The link to part A of the report for Milinder Farming Lime orchard, Mutchilba FNQ https://terrain.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/mulch-trials-milinder-site-2020-to-2023.pdf
Great work you are doing Sally & all involved. I love the citizen science approach over a few years and that you have incorporated a holistic monitoring program encompassing physical, biological and mineral aspects of soil health.
Consultant at Natural Fields Solutions
9moA short video we put together about these mulch demo sites https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NwvnUJTK7Ps&t=6s