Plants-indicators

If you are involved in gardening, it doesn't matter on what scale, you have probably experienced the following situation. You worked with the seed, planted it at the right time, fed it and protected it from pests, the year was rich in moisture and everything should have been fine, but the harvest turned out to be far from what you expected. That's what happens. There is another factor that affects the yield - it is the quality and composition of the soil.

Personal experience

In the second half of the 90s, Ukraine was going through a severe economic crisis. Everyone found a way out as best they could. My parents decided to buy a plot of land outside the city to grow vegetables there for their own consumption. This would reduce food costs.

In the first year of work on this plot of land, we noticed that we have quite unusual weeds growing - horsetail and wild sorrel. As it turned out, these plants were trying to tell us that there is something wrong with our soil.

If you're gardening, keep an eye on the weeds. They are the ones who can tell you how to improve the quality of the soil.

What do plants tell us?

Indicator plants are plants that grow in certain conditions. If they grow in your area, it signals that these conditions are present in that area. Of course, this is not an exact laboratory analysis, but it is a rough clue. At least it worked in my case.

Soil acidity

^Horsetail

Plants that prefer acidic soil: horsetail, mint, chamomile, sorrel, moss, plantain.

^Plantain

As you can see, my weeds signaled to me that the soil in our area has high acidity. At the time, we solved this problem by adding lime. After that, horsetail and sorrel stopped growing, and soil fertility increased.

^Clover

Plants that prefer slightly acidic or neutral soil: clover, cornflower, buttercup, field birch.

Wild poppies and field mustard grow in alkaline soils.

Water regime of the soil

Moisture-loving plants, also called hygrophytes, like to grow in moist, sometimes waterlogged soils. Among these plants are cloudberry, pondweed, meadow geranium, forest reed and others.

Plants that will tell you about a sufficient supply of moisture, but not waterlogging, are mesophytes. Among them creeping wheatgrass, meadow clover, Phrygian cornflower, lingonberry.

Plants of dry environments are xerophytes. Such are european feather grass, terrestrial lichens.

The depth of groundwater

Some plants can tell you quite accurately at what depth the groundwater is. This is very valuable information.

For example, sedges signal that in this city groundwater is at a depth of 10-15 cm, meadowsweet - 50 cm, meadow clover and creeping heather - 150 cm.

Conclusions

I gave only a few examples, since the translation of plant names from Ukrainian to English turned out to be a difficult task. If you are interested in this topic, you can get to know it in more detail on your own. There are many sources of information on the Internet.

It should be noted that indicator plants are not an exact scientific approach. However, they are reliable clues. If the presence of certain plants indicates, for example, a violation of soil acidity, then more accurate analysis methods can be used. Indicator plants will never tell you exactly what the pH is, but they are still a reliable source of information. Agree, in a dry place, where there is always a lack of precipitation, reeds will never grow.