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considered soil biodynamics, soil moisture
The interdisciplinary team approach has
S
m
o
u
p
l
h
c
i
h
s
i
ticated
toward meeting these high plant demands for water
l
in the future.
pests, and beneficial insects.
evels, soil structure, soil nutrient levels,
t
paper mulch, spray on paper mulch, Greater
To various degrees, mulches of different types—
consider: “climate change”. This
We now have an additional parameter to Vancouver Regional District composted sludge and
necessitates more careful scrutiny of the
m
echniq
n
u
g
es
K
data regarding soil moisture retention and
were increases in soil carbon and nitrogen
elowna biosolids—all had beneficial effects. There
total amounts of water required to grow wa
a
y
y


t
go a long
percentages and increases in the cation exchange
fruit trees and mature an excellent quality
m
oward capacity of the soil (This is an indication of the
dessert fruit.
soil’s ability to hold and retain nutrients).
dimension that will be critical. Tree
Suddenly the use of mulches has a new
p
eeting high
d
l
attributes; water infiltration was increased,
In addition, there were enhanced physical
moisture management will be an
therefore less runoff of rainfall and irrigation water.
important focus. Various models for
w
e
a
m
nt
ands
Soil biodynamics was improved—in fact,
climate change have indicated as much as
fu
a
tu
te
r
r
e

.
in t

h
fo
e
r
earthworms were increased several times in treated
a thirty percent increase in demand for
plots over checks.
water by plants as global temperatures
increase.
increased yields. In particular mulches increased
Mulches increased growth and generally
growth of newly planted apples on dwarfing
have to meet crop demand, but we are not likely to get
We need the water allocations that we
any more water than our current allocations. There are
trees.
rootstock and increased the vigour of established
certainly efficiencies in equipment and sophisticated
application techniques, many of which we are using now.
topical herbicide had to be applied to control weeds
It must be noted that in most mulch treatments a
One that we can use more extensively is irrigation
where a herbicide was not included in the mulch (spray-
scheduling (where trees receive only daily requirements).
on paper mulch in some treatments had Casoron
But we will need to move beyond what these will attain.
incorporated in the liquid paper).
Sophisticated mulching techniques may go a long way allocations of water for agriculture in order to sustain
As I mentioned above we must retain our current
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