Mulching of soil

You can mulch the soil with loose materials( peat, sawdust, straw, needles, leaves, etc.), as well as with polymer films, paper, cardboard and dark nonwoven material, for example, lutrasil. This method was studied in our country in the 1940s by V.I.Edelstein at the Vegetable Station of the Timiryazev Academy, in the 60s - at the Agrophysical Institute in Leningrad, in the 80s - at the Central Research Institute of Paper and LDPE Gardening of the Non-chernozem belt. Positive results were obtained in the cultivation of both annual and perennial crops. It is better to mulch the soil before planting the plants, but if this is not done, you can put the mulching material under the already planted plants. It should be noted that the brightest film has the greatest efficiency in terms of thermal conditions, since the sun's rays penetrate through it and directly heat the soil( this is the basis for the decontamination of the soil, called solarization).When soil is mulched with dark materials, the soil heating mechanism is different: it does not heat up from the sun's rays, but from the mulch. And of course, weeds will grow superbly under the light film.

Therefore, the most widely used light-tight( dark) mulching materials. They have the following advantages:

- significant reduction in weediness in plantings;

- increase of soil temperature and smoothing of its diurnal fluctuations;

- stabilization of soil water regime;

- preservation of the soil structure by eliminating the destruction of its soil and the formation of soil crust;

- improvement of conditions for vital activity of soil microorganisms;

- decrease in the development of fungal diseases in plants( strawberries, tomatoes).

There are such numerous advantages of reception. But for the sake of justice, it should be noted small shortcomings, which are observed in the implementation of this method. Firstly, it is more difficult to plant plants with an open root system on the mulch cross-shaped slits on a film that has been wrapped with film or other materials. But cuttings, bulbs, tubers, as well as seedlings in pots can be planted on mulch with the same productivity as on open soil.

Secondly, the mulch from the film does not allow moisture to evaporate from the soil under the plants, but at the same time it does not let moisture into the soil, which falls out as rain or watering. Therefore, in a separate very hot summer, there may be a shortage of moisture under the plants and even artificial irrigation can not immediately help, because water slides from the film strip to the edges and the saturation of the soil occurs only due to lateral filtration.

That's why a mulch made of non-woven fabric capable of passing water from above is more preferable.