The Forest Floor Model
A teaching aide for master soil making
While managing our worm-farms in the Forgotten Corner we keep models, an analogy in mind to guide our decisions. These are generally based upon our knowledge and experience of nutrient cycling in nature. One of our favourite models is to imagine a forest floor. What falls upon it, how it falls and what happens to it? The earth is the bank of our troops. The barracks of an army of de-composers. (We have a seperate chapter of our curriculum on functions in nature) All creatures and plants and elements have a role in nature. As Bill Mollison said 'everything gardens'. Our friends in the world of ecology have a term for these decomposing creatures. The 'Detritvore community'. Lifeforms that live off dead and decaying organic material. It comes from the word detritus. In Biology, detritus refers to the organic material shed by flora and fauna. The old or broken parts of the plant, the shed hair of mammals. The feathers of birds. For our purposes we include manures as well. This detritious becomes humus at the end of a long process of decomposition. And humus is the element of soil that we are making.
Many creatures are involved in that process. Some have the function of breaking the big chunks of organic material into smaller pieces (we refer you to the part of this curriculum where we discuss how to speed up decomposition). Some creatures specialise in penetrating the cell walls. Breaking open the castle gates. Through which other microbial stormtroopers rush in to decompose the cell interior. An army of Detritvores.
Can you imagine what the forest floor would look like if detritvores did not exist? Instead of that rich sweet smelling earth we would be neck high in leaves and detritus. These creatures, great and small turn rubbish into soil. As a worm farmer you are replicating this. Building up a bank of Detrivores. This community of de-composer, of recyclers is vast. Many specialise on certain materials whether that be high carbon leaves, high nitrogen grass, protein full feathers, animal or bird manures, the branches and trunks of fallen trees, dead insects, dead animals - Bones and all. To build up this variety of life they must be fed their favourite food. (We examine how not all castings are created equal in other parts of our worm keeping curriculum). Thus variety in the form of food and bedding is key for a superior worm casting product. It will make your worms healthy and your soil truely an ecosystem. Aside from worms, we are interested in the smallest of detritvores. Namely Bacteria and Funghi. They are critical to plant health just as the friendly bacteria in our stomachs. Everything in life has its day. When that day has gone it moves into the great soil nutrient recycling bank from which all new life and growth spreads forth. To make the best worm-casting soil possible you must have a barrack of bacteria and funghi. This is why it is best to think of worm casts as a probiotic rather than a fertliser. We lay out this idea in bite sized chapters throughout the curriculum. This probiotic repairs the soil food web (check out our chapters on this in our fundamentals) and speeds up the decomposition of your future waste. Your worm farm is full of the beneficial microbes. Your goal is to build a barrack of Detritvores with all the specialised troops you require. (Read 'Not all castings are equal in the Fundamentals section). And that is good. That is our real goal. You are not farming worms only. You are growing beneficial microbes as well. This bank of lifeforms is your aim. When a piece of detritus drops to the forest floor the presence of its favourite food brings alive the specific creature(s) who's job it is to decompose and recycle that material. It feasts and multiplies and begins to break down the organic matter. It might be a type of bacteria, a species of fungi, a woodlouse, a beetle or a worm. The leaf litter is the equivalent to 'worm bedding'. When we start out on Vermiculture many of us get confused about bedding versus food. Especially when we learn that the worms eat their bedding! It is rich in carbon with little nitrogen. Autumnal leaves make ideal bedding but this can be replaced with shreaded paper or cardboard. Nature shifts the leaves around. The wind blanketing the food source and making a safe environment for the de-composers. The food source is the detritus. Parts of plant bodies, hair, feathers and the like. Our bedding replicates the fallen leaves.
Later we will explain how microbes need carbon and nitrogen to breed and how the balance of those elements is important. Elsewhere we will explore the fundamental of the carbon to nitrogen ratio.
Then waves of different organisms move in. Each adding to the overall break down of organic matter. The forest floor can cope with any organic matter thrown at it. It has the specialised troops it needs. They may be on standby, they may be on the bench, on ice. But they are there. Waiting for their moment. Their call to arms. This concept of waves helps to understand what happens in your worm bin. The fresh food you apply to the worm farm is of no use to your worms. The first wave is bacterial... maybe fungal if the organic material is woody. They start the process of rotting down. (Read about speeding up decomposition in the fundamentals section) The worms move in later. Feeding on surplus bacteria and the 'excrement' of them. Adding their special sprinkle of fairy dust in the form of growth hormones and Humic Acids (We write about Humus and Humic Acids elsewhere in the curriculum) Worms don't have teeth- Like Hens they use grit in their gullet to grind their grub. The first responders attack the cell walls of the dead, fallen material, slowly breaking the cell walls down. This is cellulose. A hard material to deconstruct. Plants such as Seaweed and Duckweed (two superb worm feeds) have very little cellulose as they are not land plants needing the strength to stand against wind and gravity (We discuss the potential of Duckweed as a high protein free worm feed elsewhere in the curriculum. Likewise Seaweed) To speed up decomposition is a simple task. Firstly increase surface area of that food. Break it down into smaller bits. You are replicating the function of insects and creatures like woodlice in the Detrivore Army. In nature, on the forest floor, this can be observed by invertebrates. Seen munching on leaves or woody stems. You can chop up the vegetable peelings. Or even blend them in a food processor. By doing that you increase surface area. Making more room at the table for more microbes. In doing so you are manipulating time. Hastening the process. Some worm wranglers freeze the food.This damages the cell walls, making it easier for the beneficial bacteria to break into the cells through the cellulose cell wall. It also allows them to store in a fruit fly free form for their weekly wormery feeding system. The freezing creates chinks in the cell walls which creates weak spots for the Bacteria or Fungi to break through more quickly. And then the wave of worms come through. In their turn feasting and reproducing. The most important element in the forest floor model is the oxygen rich moisture. The presence of this is essential for all of our army of Detritvores. They need aerobic conditions. Moist, but full of Oxygen. Learn this as it is essential knowledge. (Read about aerobic & non aerobic decomposition in the fundamentals section of the website ) (Read about worms breathing also in the fundamentals) At 'We-make-soil,' we think of the dripping rain drops, their decent from the skies filling them with air. And this is critical to understand. It's a fundamental. It is the difference to the forest floor being a loamy, earthy wonderful place. Or a smelly, nasty, sludge of natures toxic by products of anaerobic decomposition. This is largely the home of 'bad' bacteria. Not the good guys we are breeding. Nasty stuff that causes disease. To us and our plants. You will know when you have an-aerobic conditions. Your nose will tell you. (Learn how to fix anaerobic conditions in the fundamentals section and the Washing-up Bowl Worm farm series)
Note- Anaerobic conditions can occur within parts of a farm. Generally from soil/castings compaction. Sometimes referred to as a 'pan' in gardening whereby soil has become crushed and compacted into a kind of a lid that stops oxygen rich rain drops seeing down. Nature doesnt want this. An-aerobic decomposition or indeed an-aerobic respiration is the poor cousin of both biological processes. An-aerobic respiration is when you are forced to run more and faster least the sabre toothed tiger gets you. Your lungs can't keep up. The oxygen in your blood drops but you don't have the time to stop and gasp for air. That pesky tiger is still on your heals. Your body knows it needs to move.. and move now. To do so it sacrifices less energy release from the sugar in your blood AND accepts a build up of toxic waste in your blood in the form of lactic acids. This eventually causes painful stitch. But needs must when the sabre toothed tiger drives.
The take away note of this forest floor model is to describe the creation of Humus by an army of Detrivores of which composting worms are the last wave. And the skill of a master worm wrangler and worm composter is building this army.