Improving Your Soil Out of Thin Air
- Jeff Main
- Sep 29
- 3 min read
Being a plant lover, you might know that plants need air in the soil they live in. What you may not know is why else this matters. Yes, plant roots themselves need air to breathe, a process referred to as respiration. But something much more important is happening down there, and it requires an abundant source of air. There's a lot more than just dirt and nutrients in the ground. And where do the nutrients come from anyway? In this article, I'll give you an idea of other things living down under (spoken in my best Australian accent) and why proper aeration is so vitally important not only for the plants but also for the ground they live in.
What's going on down there?
Realistically, there's a lot more than meets the eye in those dirty little places our plants call home. There are whole communities living in the soil—communities that breathe air like you and I do to stay alive and keep things running in tip-top shape. Microbial communities full of functioning individuals doing their part in the cycle of life, or should I say the nutrient cycle of life. These tiny communities are made up of workers and doctors, believe it or not. Workers and doctors that must do their part, or everything in these areas gets sick and could end up taking the dirt nap.
Give me the dirt: who are the workers and doctors of the soil?
Essentially, what I mean when I say workers and doctors are the aerobic microbes that make up these communities. These microscopic organisms are the cleanup crews for the soil. They pick up the trash by eating the dead plant and animal matter in the soil. They break it down into nutrients that plants can use. What type of nutrients, you might ask? It's the same nitrogen and phosphorus-packed stuff that cows turn grass into. That's right—little microscopic bovines tramp through these underground fields, gorging themselves and doing all the crap the plant needs to thrive.
And did I say something about these so-called doctors of the earth? No, I'm not speaking about naturopathic physicians. It turns out that there are many different types of aerobic microbes, including disease and pathogen-suppressing types like Trichoderma fungi that compete for space and nutrients against disease-forming microorganisms like plant-pathogenic fungi. They produce certain types of enzymes that break down the cell walls of the pathogens like melting ice. Mycorrhizal fungi promote root recovery caused by pests, flooding, and diseases by connecting to the roots and forming large networks of hyphae called mycelium—the furry-looking, thread-like structures. You've seen it before on fruits and vegetables that have sat out too long and are now growing white hairs. These networks create additional surface area for the roots, increasing water and nutrient uptake and helping recover damaged areas.
To reiterate, like cows in the field chewing their cud or fungal beauticians performing root extensions, these tiny little aerobic microbes perform their field operations that keep the plants healthy. But without a sufficient source of air, they all die and the cycle stops. They don't call them aerobic microbes for nothing. That's where Dirty Girl Organics Insertion Aeration comes into play.
The benefits of Insertion Aeration:
Here's the lowdown on Insertion Aeration, or IA as I like to call it. IA is an aeration method created by yours truly (Jeff Main) of Dirty Girl Organics LLC that supplies more than enough air to support both the plants and the aerobic microbial community's respiratory needs. Insertion aeration is a method that uses an aeration device (Root Fan) to deliver air where the roots and organisms live, ensuring stability and sustainability throughout the growing cycle to the harvest.
What did we learn?
Ensuring an abundant air supply is a key factor in soil health because we should all understand that there's more going on in our ground than just soil, water, fertilizers, and roots. There are beneficial communities down there working hard by keeping the space clean, fertilized, and pest-free. But they can't do their jobs without air to breathe. Air needs to be introduced into those spaces, and Dirty Girl Organics has the solution to the insufficient aeration problem.
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