Good questions!
Once you start regularly adding organic matter, it doesn't much matter what kind, your soil becomes a living thing with an appetite. As the fungi, bacteria, insects and in- betweens become established in the (hopefully) 3-4% of your soil that's organic matter, you get a restructured soil that holds moisture better. So, when you add biodegradable soil amendments, you get texturizing agents that keep working forever as long as they get moisture and renewed food supplies.

Once soil is brought to life, it will devour mulch quickly, often netting a slight boost in organic matter.

In CA, I've often heard that deep continuous mulching contributes to problems with snails, so you may want to check with local folks on that question. I think the problem is worse in some areas than in others. Putting the garden through a "clean" cycle, i.e. raking up snail-ridden mulches when the garden is relatively vacant, composting them hot to kill eggs, and starting over clean is supposed to help.

Here is a link that might be useful: my website

Thanks for the input. I pretty much know about everything you just stated. I'm looking for something more specific. Like, how peat has tons of micropores that hold a lot of water, or something a long those lines.

Snails aren't a problem, primarily because I leave beers with the top cut off and buried at soil level, they're attracted to it and fall in, then die. Also if you sprinkle DE (diatomacious earth at the base of the plants + copper before that you make it almost 100% impossible.

They have to go over copper, then walk past the ever so temping beer and then crawl over essentially broken glass shards that suck moisture out of their bodies. I have no snail problems :D

i just have one question, well for now anyway.

doesn't soil have the bacteria and all that in it already?
or does adding compost and compost tea add huge numbers of bacteria & co. to the soil? or does it create a greater diversity.

reason i ask, i'm going organic, didn't take much to convince a man w/ poor soil. i just added alfalfa pellets to the lawn, i haven't really applied any compost, but i always use to cut lawn and leaves clippings,

how long does it take to get "alive" soil?

"doesn't soil have the bacteria and all that in it already?
or does adding compost and compost tea add huge numbers of bacteria & co. to the soil? or does it create a greater diversity."

Yes, your soil will already have the necessary organisms there. Compost or compost tea will add huge numbers to whats there but I don't it would create a greater diversity.

I'm probably going to get flamed for this, but personally, I don't think Compost tea really does much more then feed the organisms that are already there. I say this because I feel plane sugar water will do the same, for the soil as the tea, because the organisms are already there.

What's the big deal about spraying tea that has organisms and sugar in it; when there's only so much sugar to feed them??

With compost, you're not just getting organisms to work the soil. You're getting food, in the form of organic matter, and organisms. You can't knock that!

Compost has the best ability to retain moisture, or in the case of clay soils to make the moisture that is locked in that soil available to plants. Beyond compost, any organic matter will improve the moisture holding capabilites of any soil. Whatever you can get at no, or low, cost is better than anything you need to spend lots of money on. Peat Moss is a non renewable resource that should not be used unless there is nothing else available.

If I wanted to use unsustainable products then I would already be using peat. I was simply using that as an example. As I already stated, I have taken many sustainable ag classes... so I know what you're talking about.

I found steer manure for $1 for 1 cu ft bags (weed seed free and sifted), so I couldn't pass it up. I know that there is an O.M. that has better water holding capacity then others. For now I'll be making a blend of charcoal, and manure. This should reduce the amount of watering I need to do.

About adding extra bacteria via teas: I see no downside to adding extra bacteria. Now... is it necessary, no. I'm personally more about increasing my fungi populations, as I see them as being more beneficial.

how do you do that?

Do what? Sorry I don't know what you're talking about.

lol, sorry, increase fungi populations.

I doubt that any one thing is going to retain moisture. A collection of various sources of organic matter is probably your best bet.

Have you had a soil test done? What's your pH? Where do you stand with your mineral nutrient level? If your nutrient level is seriously skewed in any direction, your soil's water retention ability is going to be leaning either to holding too much, or not enough. In the flatlands of SoCal, you may be leaning toward a higher pH, sandy soil, and possibly low calcium and maybe high magnesium. You're probably deficient in boron and sulfur, and possibly high in sodium. If so, your soil needs more than just something to hold water. If you're in a mixed conifer area, you could have a lower pH, with a whole different set of problems.

The ideal soil has 45% minerals, 5% humus, 25% air, 25% water. And those minerals need to be in the correct proportion.

Fungi tolerate acid soils below pH 6. Bacteria survive well above pH 7. But both do well on a soil that has balanced nutrients and the resulting pH of around 6.3 to 6.5, and you really want both.

Sue

"conventional kind are a known carcinogen and nerve toxin"

Not an expert but maybe leave that stuff out. :)

Here is a purely anecdotal story, no tests have been conducted to prove nor disprove the following:

The field I worked 300 metric tons of yard waste into during the summer of 2006 has a few low spots that always have water in them after the spring melt. In the spring of 2007 there was little standing water anywhere and any that was there, disappeared rapidly. An adjacent field had standing water in its low spots for a much longer period. The only difference between these two fields was all the OM I worked into my field. I suspect that the OM had a lot to do with it. Hopefully I will get the same results on the field I spread the yard waste onto in 2007. Not having to wait for those low spots to dry out is a bonus for seeding the wheat.

As to what type of OM is best, I don't know but any OM is better than none.

Lloyd

i'd like to see pics where someone experimented with OM, compost, n stuff, I think i saw one long ago where a dude applied compost tea on a small strip right down the middle of this lawn, like 3 ft wide, it was by far greener and growing better than the rest of it.