The interactions between plants and their soil environment influence overall soil system health. Soil provides plants with the structural support, water, nutrients, and microbial interactions they need for creating biomass and for reproduction. Conventional agriculture practices degrade soil; however, small plots of native plants within agricultural settings have been shown to provide disproportionally large benefits to both ecological and agricultural landscapes. In other words, even small plots of native plants can improve soil health. Although small plots of mixed native plant species improve soil health, they offer little in the way of income opportunities for producers through seed collection and sales. However, plots of native monocultures may offer producers an opportunity to harvest and sell seeds, taking advantage of the increasing demands of the native seed market while also increasing soil health. Therefore, this study's objective is to quantify the effects of small native plant monocultures on soil health and compare them to soil health from conventional crop plots. We investigated biological indicators of soil health such as organic matter, organic carbon, and microbial communities as well as abiotic indicators like nutrient composition. We hypothesize that, compared to crop plots, native monoculture plots will have more microbial diversity and higher amounts of soil nutrients. We tested our hypothesis by comparing soil health characteristics from plots containing five established native monocultures: Dalea candida, Agastache nepetoides, Glycyrrhiza lepidota, Liatris ligulistylis, and Tradescantia occidentalis; and one crop plot planted with a corn and soybean rotation. During the second and third season of growth, monthly soil samples were taken, and soil indicator values were compared using Tukey’s HSD post hoc tests after performing an analysis of variance (ANOVA). Results suggest that native plant species influenced soil health differently than crop rotations after three seasons of growth. Compared to crop plots, soil samples from two species of native plants, Agastache nepetoides and Tradescantia occidentalis, had higher fungi-to-bacteria ratios (p = 0.0160 and p < 0.0001, respectively), and higher amounts of saprophyte biomass (p = 0.0040 and p = 0.0484, respectively). Soils from the Agastache nepetoides plots also had higher amounts of Pre18 cyclo fatty acids (p = 0.0022) and potassium (p = 0.0159). These two species of native plants show potential for improving soil health after three years of establishment. Adding these two native monocultures to marginal production land may add soil health benefits during early establishment periods while providing a marketable crop for producers.
