What are some signs and symptoms from a brief exposure to diatomaceous earth?.

How might I be exposed to diatomaceous earth?.

What are some products that contain diatomaceous earth?.

To learn more about UCCE Butte County Master Gardeners, and for help with gardening in our area, visit. The UC Master Gardeners of Butte County are part of the University of California Cooperative Extension system, serving our community in a variety of ways, including 4-H, farm advisers, and nutrition and physical activity programs. You may even develop a new appreciation for weeds.įor more information about weeds or help identifying them see UC Statewide Integrated Pest Management at. One year’s uncontrolled weeds can produce seven years seeds!. Controlling weeds by hand weeding or with herbicide before they seed will reduce future populations if done consistently from year to year. Identifying the weeds in your garden can be fun! In some cases knowing what their presence indicates may help you manage your soil. Sometimes, improving drainage by adding well-balanced compost, organic manure, or employing cultural practices may be all that is required to improve your soil’s tilth and nutrition. If you really want to know, a soil analysis or at least a pH test by a local agricultural laboratory will provide factual information to accurately guide the use of soil amendments. When you learn the type of soil some of these common weeds prefer you may be able to make corrections in the soil based on the information some weeds are giving you. Dandelions also indicate low calcium in the soil. In heavy clay or compacted soil you might see morning glory, plantain, Bermuda grass, chickweed, and dandelion. Alkaline soils support chicory, spotted spurge, sagebrush and woody aster. Sandy soils will have goldenrod, aster and toad flax. Dry soils with very little humus might support mustard, thistle, broom, and St. According to Pfeiffer, sorrel, plantain, horsetail, and knotweed are found in acidic soils. Pfeiffer, a European scientist and student of Rudolf Steiner, wrote an entire book on this subject in the 1950s: “Weeds and What They Tell Us” (still in print). If your soil is more alkaline the flowers will be pink.Įhrenfried E.

If your soil is acidic the flowers will be blue. We can remedy the problem by applying a nitrogen fertilizer (a 16-16-16 fertilizer is a good balance for turfgrass).Īnother useful indicator comes from growing hydrangea, a beautiful and common flowering plant. For instance, if our lawn is being taken over by clover we can note that clover thrives with low levels of nitrogen in the soil.

If we look at our own gardens we can use our weeds to tell us what we can do to improve our soil. Curly dock is a weed that’s typically found in wet saturated soils. Weeds have also been used to help indicate the presence of ground water. Weeds in the legume family fix nitrogen in the soil and are often used as a cover crop to help enrich the soil over winter. Many years ago various weeds were used for food and pharmaceutical products.Ĭurrently, foraging for wild foods and mushrooms has made a comeback. The plants then die back and decompose, becoming what is called green manure. This deep penetration enables weeds to accumulate trace elements from the subsoil, and bring them to the soil’s surface. Some weeds, those with large root systems or a taproot, penetrate deep into subsoil, breaking up compaction, which helps drainage and new growth. ‘The Real Dirt’ is a column by various local master gardeners who are part of the UC Master Gardeners of Butte County. They provide a cover and shade for soil microbes and insects. Weeds protect our topsoil from eroding away in heavy rains and strong wind. They can resist conditions like drought, acidic soil, lack of humus, and mineral deficiencies.

Webster’s dictionary defines a weed as “a plant that is not valued where it is growing and is usually of vigorous growth especially: one that tends to overgrow or choke out more desirable plants.” Every gardener knows that weeds are just plants in the wrong place.

7 days to die clay soil