To start with we need to look at the fact that we live in the southeast where decomposition already happens very rapidly in our environment…..The main reason I point this out is so that you get the idea established that organic matter is in a constant state of decay and the soil and other environmental conditions dictate the rate of that decay.

Now like I’ve been showing in the last few pics……our actual end goal is the refined product of humus (the black dirt particles)…..We want to not only protect what we have already produced…..but we want to keep increasing the % of it or the richness of it in the soil……Just think about when you see someone’s garden that you think of as being “really rich”….That’s what were after……that’s created from decomposed OM…….In order to build that humus up over time though then you have to basically turn your soil surface into a layered mulch pile. In order to slow down the decomposition process you need the soil to be covered over not only in dead vegetation on the top but also you need to have the different layers and stages of decomposition of that hay or organic matter……This creates a buffer zone across the surface that regulates gas exchanges……

Think of it like a fire and oxygen……If we want a fire to burn slow and low for a long time and not burn up all of our fuel rapidly then what do we do to it??….. We smother it, right…..limit the oxygen to it…….This is a very similar effect to what is happening with your soil OM……If you go out there and completely cut in all the OM you’ve grown then you’ll get a very rapid decay and burn of that OM but there will be little growth in humus % overtime……You wont be growing it but rather just making rapid annual burns of it. That is why when you look at my old pics you see nothing but sand……I wasn’t “building” soil organic matter……I was just burning up any annual growth that I had and perpetuating the condition of being just sand…….This pic is from a few years ago but same field as I’ve been showing…..You can see how the OM is building as compared to the old pics of white sand.