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Green news from the UC Division of Agriculture and Natural Resources
Hills
Comments:
by Jana Botkin
on May 5, 2015 at 8:13 AM
Something that never gets addressed when advising to mulch is the sow bug problem that it causes. Any advice here? Thanks!
Reply by Pamela Kan-Rice
on May 5, 2015 at 10:42 AM
I'll check with Karrie Reid to see what she advises for controlling sow bugs in mulch.
by Karrie Reid
on May 8, 2015 at 6:11 PM
Jana, S  
Sowbugs and pillbugs actually help break down mulch and return its carbon and other minor nutrients to the soil to increase the biological activity. They mostly feed on the decaying plant material beneath the mulch (including the decaying mulch), and aren't usually harmful to plants. Although they may occasionally feed on seedlings, they are usually only a real problem if the soil surface stays too moist, so try letting the soil dry down more in between your irrigations.
by Jeffrey Donnelly
on May 9, 2015 at 2:11 PM
Biochar! Biochar! I am very surprised this is not mentioned here! Adding Biochar soil ammendment in gardens and ag large small etc farms saves 10-20% on water use by holding onto both surface water and nutrients like a sponge. As well crop yield increases of up to 600 percent have been observed and 200% are common. BIOCHAR = GREEN + H2O save CA = + larger cash crop yields + carbon sequestration + greenhouse gas reduction + food security for USA!!!
by Kevin
on May 28, 2015 at 5:57 AM
Those are impressive ways of reducing the usage of water for garden. Thanks a lot for sharing your knowledge. I'm sure that this information would be useful for the gardeners.  
 
Impressive write-up, indeed!  
 
- Artificial Grass GB
by simon
on November 4, 2015 at 11:30 PM
WIll try there ideas ,thanks!
by rachel frampton
on May 24, 2021 at 6:59 PM
My sister would like to have an irrigation system installed in her backyard since this will help water the plants evenly. Thank you for sharing here as well the importance of checking the water depth too. It's also a good thing that the chosen spray heads must be of good quality.
 
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