Soil Restoration Experiments in Australia using Sheep's Wool...

[electric_blue68]

I couldn't copy anything so I'll do my best. From daily galaxy.
I've had a moderate interest in gardening; floral, and food for decades.

This is in Queensland, Australia.l They've been watching former farming areas get depleted. Have used synthetics for restoration, but they've expensive, and carry their own environmental costs.

Someone(s) came up with trying sheep's wool in aiding soil restoration. This is not your wool for making yarn, but the short fibers [the long fibers interlock better for creating yarns]. It seems this wool is a financial bother to get rid of by the sheep farmers.

The wool is made up of keratin and contains nitrogen, sulfur, carbon that are needed for soils, and crops. The keratin breaks down slowly, letting these nutrients stay in the ground longer; and longer than the synthetic applications which leach into groundwater relatively quickly.
They put down a layer a few centimeters thick.

There is a 35% increase in moisture retention. Wool can retain 1 1/2 to 2xs it's weight in moisture. This helps increase certain microorganisms that break down the keratin, among other things, and create real soil that roots can grow through.
It's tturned dusty areas that blow away in the winds into healthy soil again.

The wool has problems in clumping; so it's either being broken down into pellets that can be mixed into the ground, or made into a composite containing organic matter. These both help keep some holes in the soil as well, helping with air circulation. Turns out it's the only thing so far that promotes moisture retention, and aeriation.

There are now start ups doing wool recycling into these soil making applications; creating new jobs in rural areas.

Europe is now investing these methods.

[Emrys]

1. Shoddy - short-fibred waste, often wool from carpet manufacture - has a long history as a soil improver

Recycled material could also be used to make a low-quality fabric, a process said to be invented in Batley, UK in 1813. You can buy it in domestic quantities as a mix with other compost or mulch materials - e.g. https://www.dalefootcomposts.co.uk/products/wool-compost-double-strength.p.aspx

Here's a letter from a local newspaper in the English Midlands describing this use:

'Shoddy' fertiliser

12th December 2007

TO answer Laurie Abraham's letter regarding carpet fertiliser, what he has seen is good old shoddy, which is a waste product from the making of woollen carpets.

It contains a high level of nitrogen which is released slowly over a period of thee years and is ploughed into the soil to benefit most crops.

It is an organic fertiliser. Little is available these days as it is difficult to keep separate from the nylon also used in the carpet industry.

I have loaded and spread many tons from the carpet factories in Kidderminster in the distant past.

ROB BLAKEWAY Chaddesley Corbett

https://www.kidderminstershuttle.co.uk/news/letters/1894156.shoddy-fertiliser/

Using raw wool if there's a surplus and little supply from industrial waste products sounds like a good idea, though I wonder if they'd need to go to special lengths to wash out the lanolin, as it would likely slow down the decay processes. Lanolin byproducts obviously have their own uses.

[electric_blue68]

2. Ha! Interesting! Maybe...

When they turn the raw wool into pellets; before do that they get rid of the landlines. It was mentioned.

The3rd time (and I thought I caught it) that autocorrect turned "lanolin" into landlines ! 😑😄

[Emrys]

5. I'd guess they're on to this sort of idea already,

but there are industrial processes for making unwoven fabrics, such as J-Cloths, from various fibres.

This might be an alternative or addition to the pellet method - lay it down as a mulch, which would break down over time.

You could even pierce and plant through it, as some folks do with potatoes and anything from cardboard sheet to old underlay or carpet as a weed suppressor.

[WestMichRad]

3. Sounds somewhat similar to biochar

… which improves water retention, aids nutrient availability and improves soil aeration.

[electric_blue68]

4. Looked it up. Interesting. Ty