Bio-drilling and Avocado
by Laurie Meadows
Created 06 June 2019
Last updated 07 June 2019
Introduction
Anyone growing a few avocado trees may find at some point they
become infected with the root-rot causing fungus Phytopthora. The
disease is easily spread on garden tools, in potting mix, and on
footwear.
Currently, the disease can be managed with a mix of measures -
adding appropriate mulch, treatment with formulations of phosporic
acid, improving aeration and biological activity in the soil
surface, and by improving drainage.
Soils such as those developed over volcanic material, sands and
similar may already be free draining and need no further work. But
suburban homes are hardly bought on the basis the soil may be
suitable for a few avocados! The same may be true when buying a
farmlet. So your soil may be 'sub optimal' - wet and lacking
aeration. Even if it is 'fairly good', usually draining well, there
may still be high-rainfall periods when the soil becomes saturated
and practically without oxygen. And Phytopthora spreads in soil
water, so these conditions allow it to infect more roots. Treatment
with phosphoric acid may not be practical for a non-commercial
avocado grower, so the best that can be done is to improve soil
organic content and soil structure, and to improve drainage.
This article is focused solely on a single element of drainage
interventions - 'bio-drilling' - a cheap and easy method to
improve drainage.
What is bio-drilling?
Bio-drilling is the practice of growing annual or biannual plants
that have a long tap root so that once the plant dies the root
leaves a channel in the soil for water to drain away. According to
soil scientists, some tap-rooted plants are able to penetrate
compacted soils, even to depth of several meters. Where plants with
tap roots create vertical channels of various depths, fine-rooted
species like grasses make horizontal channels in compacted soil,
creating limited vertical drainage.
How effective is this practice?
There is not much scientific information outside of a 'broad-acre'
commercial vegetable or annual crop context - and almost none in the
context of avocado growing. According to scientists, tap-rooting
species have the longest roots in relatively friable soils - where
their services are not needed so much. Paradoxically, while water
drains a way quickly in friable soils, deep vertical soil channels
may help avocado access moisture in the lower soil horizon in times
of drought. (This is my speculation, and may not be true.)
Bio-drilling may be very useful where lower soil horizons drain
reasonably well, but the upper soil surface horizon has become
clogged with excess organic matter, impeding drainage. This can
happen when green mulch, leafy mulch, lawn clippings, or large
amounts of chipped tree foliage and twigs have been applied. The
volume reduces available oxygen, thus slowing decomposition, forming
a wet and heavy topsoil layer. If the impeding organic matter is
pulled aside (it can be reapplied in late spring or summer),
tap-rooted plants can be sown under the canopy. They will quickly
form a taproot that penetrates the wet layer, and when they are
later sprayed out the dead roots will hopefully have created a
network of effective drains.
Dense sowings of radish (in particular) might compress and compact
the soil due to the lateral expansion of the thick upper vegetable
root. This supposed effect may be confined to denser, clayey soils.
And may be offset by the improved drainage, and by the spongy
organic matter left by the dead root in the 'drill hole'. Again,
there is little actual data on this consideration.
Bio-drilling is not a panacea for poor drainage. If there is nowhere
for drainage water to go, low points still fill with water. If low
points can't be drained away, then without the possibility reshaping
the growing area (mounding or raised-gardening) there is little
point in bio-drilling.
Which plants are best?
The plants should be annuals or biennials, grow quickly, be able to
be sown in autumn, not cast too much shade (if planted around young
establishing avocado trees), and be easy to kill with non-hormonal
herbicides such as glyphosate.
In the context of planting under existing larger avocado trees where
there may be a lot of shading, then shade tolerant species seem
obligatory.
Many of the Apiaceae (Umbelliferae) family have tap roots. Commonly
known members of this family includes parsley, carrot, fennel,
caraway, celery, and the weed Queen Anne's Lace. The Brassicaceae
(Brassica family) also includes members with tap roots - notably
some cultivars of radish.
When to sow, when to remove
For avocado, it is probably best to sow once soil moisture has
replenished after summer. Any time from late summer to early winter
would likely suit.
The bio-drill plants should be sprayed out once a reasonable tap
root has been formed, and before the tops are too tall. Winter soils
dry out best when there is no ground cover, so the sooner they can
be mowed and/or sprayed the better. Radish it fast to 'do the job' -
seed to sufficient maturity is about 8 to 10 weeks. Experimentation
is needed.
Proven bio-drilling plants
Daikon radish (Raphanus sativus)
Long rooted cultivars of daikon radish is recommended for its
ability for the vegetable to form wide holes from 20 to 40 cms (8 to
16 inches) in the upper layer. As importantly, the long thin
terminal root extends even further down to form narrow channels
penetrating deeper into lower layers. Radish seed germinates and
grows very quickly.Once killed, radish plant foliage decomposes
rapidly, helping winter soil surfaces to dry out. On the negative
side, radish won't tolerate constantly wet soils (neither will
avocado!).
Daikon cultivars vary in the length of the swollen 'vegetable' part
of the root. I have found no information on total root
length of different cultivars. According to a New Zealand seed
seller (Kings Seeds) the F1 hybrid cultivar 'Minowase Long White'
has a swollen vegetative root 40cm long and 6.5cm in diameter. It is
counted as being mature in 55 days from sowing. Minowase Long White
seed is also sold on trading boards, and if this is home-saved seed
from an F1 planting the vegetative root length may be shorter than
the F1 culrivar.
Possible bio-drilling plants
Angelica (Angelica archangelica)
A biennial member of the Apiaceae family grows broad glossy leaves
in its first year. I don't know how much taproot develops in a year.
Fennel (Foeniculum vulgare)
Fennel grown in late summer will be at least 30 cm high by the end
of autumn, and have a tap root of at least 25 cm. Fennel plants are
ultimately very tall, but they will have made good tap roots long
before the plants get too big. Florence fennel is a smaller variety
of fennel, and it may be better suited to bio-drilling.
Salsify (Tragopogon porrifolius)
A member of the daisy family (Compositae), and sometimes called the
'vegetable oyster' for its edible taproot, this plant is a good
candidate as a bio-drill.
Black salsify (Scorzonera hispanica)
Closely related to Salsify, biennial, and with a thicker and
possibly longer root (up to a meter). Supposedly tolerant of some
shade.
Blue Lupin (narrow-leaf lupin, annual lupin) (Lupinus
angustifolius)
Blue lupin has a fairly short taproot of 10 - 26 cm. It is 7 -
14 mm at the top. Tap root length and thickness varies by
cultivar. These plants are intolerant of acid soils, and don't
produce a good taproot is heavy soils. They may be best used for
drilling a top layer whose drainage is impeded by poorly decomposed
vegetative matter.
Reading
https://articles.extension.org/pages/64400/radishes-a-new-cover-crop-for-organic-farming-systems