Merf

Somehow I think people with lawns don't really want greater levels of biological activity near their home.

Yeah that's correct.

The PNW has aot of podzols because of the volcanic parent material and because of the rainfall. A lot of it wasn't glaciated so it's also had time for those eluvial processes to occur, vs. further north in BC.

Neat, a lot of the mushroom books just say podzol but I believe they also grow in some "sandy soil habitats" as the mycologists say so would that be an example of a spot where it's not actually podzol as you're saying?

The books also say we have podzol "everywhere" in the Pacific Northwest from the volcanic activity but I expect that to be a generalization.

I had to do a bit of googling to figure out what you were talking about, but I'm glad I did. I'm not a mushroom guy at all.

Podzol isnt the best term for what you're describing, if I'm splitting hairs. What you're talking about (the gray horizon) is referred to as an eluvial (leached) horizon. All podzols have them, but not all soils that have eluvial horizons are podzols, if that makes sense.

Brunisolic/spodsolic orders, for instance, have subgroups that have eluvial horizons, but they don't meet the criteria of podzols. Similarly, Luvisols have eluvial horizons, but it's clay that's been leached out of the eluvial horizons rather than iron or organic acids like in podzols.

I know. Too much information. I'm a turbo nerd about this stuff, and like teaching people about it. Even if you take a small bit away, I'm a happy guy.

That's what Matsutake grow in, one of the key identifiers for Tricholoma murillianum is that the base of the stem will be covered in podzol.

in related news, water is wet. It's almost like moncropping sod or grains with high inputs isn't the way to go

Private gardens, the land-use type with the highest levels of soil organic carbon and nutrients, exhibited the greatest biological activity, whereas lawns showed the lowest, with croplands and grasslands falling in between

If you needed another reason to ditch your lawn...

Oh yeah, the hori hori is a damn versatile tool. And it's hard to beat a mora either. Those suckers are tough

We use Hori Hori knives or other fixed blades to poke around the pit. I was partial to the wood handled Mora knives early on in my career. They were about $10 - much cheaper than they are now. I found a good substitute in the later part of my career which had a blunted point. That held up pretty well.

Man, I ain't even remotely knowledgeable about soil sciences, but that is immensely satisfying visually.

Also, I love that kbar (or other brand of the same design) showing its life as a working tool ::

I was this close to banning you lol.

Nice, thank you ❤️

Podzol is a dirt-type block that naturally blankets the surface of the old growth taiga and bamboo jungles, along with their respective variants.

Minecraft wiki.

And /s just in case.

acidic soils. That is a really nice cross section in the picture though.

What is podzol anyway

A - topsoil Horizon. This should have a modifier, but for some reason doesn't

E - Eluviated horizon - means stuff washed out

Bhs - subsoil with accumulated organic and sesquioxides (Fe and Al oxides)

Bs - subsoil with more sesquioxides

Bw - subsoil - minimal soil development

Normally there is a C horizon, which indicates parent geological material, but I don't know why they didn't call it here.

That the soil has a heart rate of 78 I believe.

what's all that mean? good picture!

Grown in moon humus

Moon hummus. delicious

Hell yeah!

I'm that nerd. Structure like this comes from the soil containing 2:1 clays - clay is made of sheet like chains of silicone and oxygen

Depending on its structure, two sheets can bind together imperfectly, leaving a gap in the middle. Water gets in the gap and forces the sheets to expand (and contract when it dries out). Over decades to centuries you get structure forming. You get prismatic structure because hexagons are the most efficient shape in nature, so shear planes form when clays smush against themselves - it's the same mechanic with basalt columns, but there is volcanism driving it

No I'm asking, with a guess. Is it maybe salty? Looks like the giants causeway which I think has something to do with salt. I assume there is some kind of crystalization going on to cause this prismatic effect you're speaking of. I guess we will have to wonder until a greater nerd shows up.

What do you mean? Why is it prismatic and blocky shaped?

Why? Crystal?