LINKS CONTACT:  podcast@worldorganicnews.com   Podcast Like a Pro: mrjonmoore.com   FREE .PDF One Square Metre Garden: square@worldorganicnews.com   Blog: www.worldorganicnews.com   Facebook Page:  World Organic News Facebook page.   WORLD ORGANIC NEWS No Dig Gardening Book: Click here 7 Ways to Kill Soil Microbes: and why this is a bad idea…. https://chelsiesquared.wordpress.com/2017/12/31/7-ways-to-kill-microbes/ This is the World Organic News for the week ending the 26th of March 2018. Jon Moore reporting!   As I discussed last month with the new vision statement for the podcast and blog, “Decarbonise the air, recarbonise the soil.”, in mind I’m calling on my listeners to put forward ideas for an interview episode once a month. If you know anyone who is doing either part of the vision, I’d love to hear from them or, indeed, from you if you are on the front line doing the work.   This week we continue our journey through the soil with a post from CHELSIESQUARED entitled: 7 Ways to Kill Soil Microbes: and why this is a bad idea….     The author Chelsie Anderson comes to this post from two separate events which we adverse for her worm farm. In one case the worms went walkabout when too many coffee grounds were added to the worm bin. The second was a result of using chemical laden potting material from “off farm”. Earthworms make great canaries, in the sense that miners used to keep canaries to check for poison gas in mines. If the earthworms are leaving, we have a problem.   They will, naturally enough, no pun intended, move away from things that will kill them. And they are sensitive to changes in their homes. They require bedding and food. Should either be out of their comfort zone, they will decamp.   Keeping earthworms has many benefits but as canaries in your soil might be one you hadn’t thought of yet.   Top the seven killers:   Chemicals This one would seem self evident. We too can be poisoned by chemicals so it’s not surprising earthworms and other soil biota suffer the same consequences. Now chemicals can cover anything from excessive amounts of coffee to artificial fertilisers. The dose is, of course, important. This is why earthworms and other soil biota can survive low levels of NPK fertilisers. As directed by the manufacturers, they are lethal to soil biota. The apocryphal tale of the Romans plough the field of Carthage with salt gets the message across. As does sea water inundation in low lying island in the Pacific. Salt will kill soil biota. Salt is also suggested as a “natural” herbicide. Yes salt is natural, yes it will kill weeds and snails and beneficial plants and soil biota and earthworms. It has no place in the soil. Salt Quote: This is another weed killer. If you buy a horticultural grade vinegar (7-20% vinegar) and spray this on young weeds in the spring, they will die back, at least temporarily. The problem is - vinegar kills indiscriminately, so it will kill other plants if accidentally sprayed, as well as the critters of the soil, including microbes.  End Quote So it is again “natural” but not something to used. Vinegar This one is a dosage matters with poison situation. Chlorine gas was used in WW1 to kill humans. It is used in swimming pools to kill  microbes. It is in public water supplies for the same reason. The key words there are kill microbes. Garden hoses from the mains water supply will contain chlorine. I smell the stuff if I have the first shower in the morning. To avoid this peril in the garden will require some form of rainfall harvesting. I understand this is illegal in some parts of the world. This is to control mosquito breeding places, apparently. The other solution, as suggested by aquarium owners is to let the water stand, uncovered overnight to allow the chlorine to dissipate. Best advice, try to avoid chlorine. Chlorine This one is difficult to see, obviously with microscopic biota, but earthworms again act as a canary in the mine. I’ll quote from the piec