---------- Forwarded Message ---------- Subject: compost tea faq updates & soil ecology info Date: Mon, 03 Sep 2001 16:26:44 -0700 From: Walter Epp <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: jeff owens <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Soil Foodweb Inc (www.soilfoodweb.com), run by Elaine Ingham of Oregon State University, has a laboratory that does soil microbiological tests, and sells a comprehensive Compost Tea Brewing Manual, about which see www.soilfoodweb.com/multimedia/compostteamanual.html for details. The website also has freely viewable newsletter. The most recent issue at www.soilfoodweb.com/ezinearchives/july2001.html has an analysis of various microbial brewing machines for propagating soil microorganisms (be sure to get both the comments at the beginning of the page and the manufacturer contact info & additional comments in Q&A #12 near the end of the page). Soil Biology Primer by Elaine Ingham etal, 54-page booklet produced by the Natural Resources Conservation Service, available from the Berkeley Ecology Center bookstore, or [EMAIL PROTECTED] or 1-888-LANDCAR www.swcs.org; online version of the text without the graphics: http://www.statlab.iastate.edu/survey/SQI/SoilBiology/soil_biology_primer.htm Excellent general introduction to life in the soil, though it has nothing on restoration, brewing, or natives, except this tantalizing tidbit: "Some researchers think it may be possible to control the plant species in a place by managing the soil bacteria community". Understanding Compost Tea by Vicki H. Bess >From BioCycle, Journal of Composting & Organics Recycling October 2000 http://www.jgpress.com/BCArticles/2000/100071.html Great article with examples of how compost tea brewers are increasingly being used by commercial landscapers and municipalities for ordinary landscaping as well as by farmers. Also has a quite dramatic success story on use of tea for landslide erosion control, and it's interesting to note the sequence of steps they took: first plant soil & microorganisms, then plant worms, then plant seeds. "Growing Soil": establishing sustainable native plant growth on drastically disturbed soils in harsh environments by Peter McRae, Mir-M. Seyedbagheri, John Steinbacher www.nativeplantsalliance.net/growingsoil.html Detailed, focusses degraded situations, but very good reading. A few excerpts: We are growing soil organisms first and foremost, in order to sustain vegetative cover on site through the stages of plant succession in our efforts to ultimately re-establish climax native plant species. The rationale for pursuing the re-establishment of soil microbes is predicated upon the recognition that grass, forb and shrub species indigenous to the semiarid West are dependent upon mycorrhizal fungi associations to exist. The objective is to introduce plant species that will aid in re-establishment of mycorrhizal colonies. To do nothing invariably results in non-mycotrophic weeds invading the disturbed sites rapidly and competing with desired species for water and nutrients. Attempts to grow native plant climax species with industrial fertilizer invariably meet with a similar fate. Without mycotrophic host plants present on the site to colonize, airborne spores of indigenous mycorrhizae are unable to persist. Disturbed sites, invaded by and subsequently dominated by weeds, have reported no mycorrhizae for up to 10 years. Generic soil inoculates attempting to introduce soil mycorrhizae have proven to be disappointingly ineffective in the semiarid West given the site specific adaptations of fungi common to this region. Use of industrial fertilizers, especially those containing super-phosphate, should be discouraged since they can drastically inhibit mycorrhizae formation. Use of fertilizer with native plantings will result in weeds and non-native species occupying the site. >From http://www.revegetation.com/plant_prop.asp (Bitterroot Restoration Inc): When soil is disturbed, the populations of mycorrhizal fungi and other microorganisms that aid plant roots in absorbing water and nutrients can be damaged or destroyed. Studies clearly demonstrate the importance of healthy fungal colonization of root systems if plants are to make it through that critical first year. For this reason, BRI is committed to mycorrhizal inoculation of all plant species. >From an article by Donald Marx in American City & County magazine: It is estimated that transplant failures of trees and other plantings in grounds and roadside projects cost city and county governments millions of dollars annually. Federal agencies, like local governments, once maintained large replanting budgets out of necessity. Reforestation projects, especially those on distressed soils, yielded large losses of first-planted trees that were unable to make the transition from the nursery. In the '70s, the U.S. Forest Service (USFS) began researching ways to reduce those losses, and eventually found answers below the soil with mycorrhizal fungi. See http://www.mycorrhiza.com/downloads.htm for a bunch of articles on use of mycorrhizae in habitat restoration, mostly in California. >From www.mycorrhiza.com/myc-netwrk1.htm: Ruderals (weeds) tend to require more available nutrients in the soil than perennial natives, and the fact that mycorrhizal hyphae and roots remove them quickly is a key factor in suppression of weed growth by healthy native vegetation. The hyphal network is easily disrupted by mechanical disturbance. Disking a field, for example, can greatly reduce the ability of the soil to make new plants mycorrhizal, even though no fungal material is actually removed by disking. More severe disturbance, such as severe erosion or grading, goes far beyond disruption of the network, and actually removes the fungi from the site. >From International Plant Propagators' Society Proceedings 1981 p94 & 466: VA mycorrhizae appear to be inhibited in soilless mixes containing peat, bark, vermiculite, and perlite, which lack the P-fixing capacity that most soils have. Adding some soil to the mix appears to nullify that inhibiting effect. The absence of soilborne organisms in a propagation medium leads one to hypothesize that simply adding mycorrhizal inoculum back to a "sterile" medium is all the propagator will have to do to reap the benefits of mycorrhizal fungi. Unfortunately, this may not often work. Through the years, mycorrhizal fungi have become adapted to specific environments. There is strong evidence to suggest that what we call "helper" organisms may be necessary in order for colonization to occur and for hyphae to form. Mycorrhizal inoculation of California native plants in containers. Evans, M. International Plant Propagators' Society, Combined Proceedings 1997, 47:260-261. Unfortunately UC Berkeley does not have this volume and the Society website www.ipps.org only offers to sell whole volumes at $40 plus shipping. >From Earth's Natural Internet by Paul Stamets in Whole Earth Magazine Fall 1999: We believe that buffer zones around streams work primarily because of the mycelia resident in the first few inches of soil. Buffers with multicanopied trees and shrubs combined with grasses (and the debris fall-out they provide) afford a mycologically rich zone, filtering out run-off from adjacent farms, highways, and suburban zones. The mycologically rich riparian zones are cooler, attract insects which lay larvae (grub for fish), and then foster bird life. Once the riparian zones achieve a plateau of complexity, they become self-sustaining. Amazingly, I have not heard a single researcher ever mention the primary role fungi play in riparian buffers, let alone the purposeful introduction of mycelial colonies to protect watersheds. An inspection showed that the outflow of water from my property was jeopardizing the quality of my neighbor's shellfish, with the bacteria count close to the legal limit. The following year, after the mushroom mycelia colonized the beds, the coliform count decreased to nearly undetectable levels. Mycelia can serve as unparalleled biological filters. This led to the term I have coined, "mycofiltration": the use of fungal mats as biological filters. In still another series of experiments with Batelle, one significant discovery involved an old-growth-forest mushroom that produced an army of crystalline entities advancing in front of the growing mycelium. These three-dimensional pyramidal structures appear to attract motile bacteria such as Escherichia coli by the thousands, and to summarily stun them. The advancing mycelium then digests the E. coli. Of the estimated 6,000,000 species of fungi in the world, we have catalogued only about 50,000. The genetic diversity of fungi is vast by design, and apparently crucial for life to continue. Throughout the lifespan of a Douglas fir, nearly 200 species of mycorrhizal mushrooms can be joined in this most holy of alliances. The interrelationships of these species with other organisms in the forest are just beginning to be understood. What we do know is that fungal complexity is the common denominator of a healthy forest. The loss of nearly 50 percent of the mycorrhizal mushroom species in Europe in recent decades forebodes impending ecological collapse. Fungal mats are now known as the largest biological entities on the planet, with some individual mats covering more than 20,000 acres. Methods and principles of mycorrhizal research \ ed. NC Schenck, 1982, American Phytopathological Society, contains articles such as "Ectomycorrhizal inoculation procedures for greenhouses and nursery studies", "Procedures for inoculation of plants with vesicular-arbuscular mycorrhizae in the lab, greenhouse and field". Many ectomycorrhizae (associated with Alders, Willows, Oaks, and Pines among others) generally spread readily because they make mushrooms that disperse their spores through the air; others make truffles that are spread by animals. Endomycorrizhae (associated with most other plants) spores are generally made in the ground and spread very slowly and erratically without assistance, taking a long time in many cases to re-invade disturbed land. They move with soil or sediment in water, and apparently are dependent on earthworms and other vectors. Mycorrhiza Management in Bareroot Nurseries chapter in in Forest Nursery Manual: Production of Bareroot Seedlings, by USDA and Oregon State University, 1984, Detailed info including how-to. farmer's T-shirt at the Berkeley Farmer's Market: "Dirt First!" --- Walter Epp [EMAIL PROTECTED] -------------------------------------------------------
