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Re: [SANET-MG] BBC NEWS | UK | England | Tyne/Wear | Researchers hail organic potatoes



----- Original Message ----- From: "John D'hondt" <dhondt@EIRCOM.NET>
To: <SANET-MG@LISTS.IFAS.UFL.EDU>
Sent: Saturday, July 14, 2007 4:31 PM
Subject: Re: BBC NEWS | UK | England | Tyne/Wear | Researchers hail organic potatoes
.



I am probably a great disappointment to others in my profession of biologist but I have so far not had too much interest in species specific relationships in soil. We know there are at least 25.000 (maybe 40.000) different species of micro organism in an average spoonful of soil. The number of possible relationships between all these organisms is a bit too complex for my purpose (which was growing potatoes organically in Ireland without having problems with blight).

My reasoning was that there was probably some organism in all that lot that would live on Phytophtora infestans (blight) and that would thus protect potato crops from this disease if only it were plentiful enough. To get it plentiful I grew blight prone potato varieties and let the diseased plant-parts rot in situ then planted more potatoes on top that I left in the ground over the wettest winter imaginable.
I like the reasoning so far yet need to hear just a little more . after you planted more potatoes on top what is the rest of the story? the punch line ,like u use the soil from that or the seed potatoes or what . I would like to hear what happen to get u to planting success. so what ever was causing the blight was really there in the earth and you feel that what lives on that blight must also be there whatever it is called. that sounds sound . I can understand that i have seen in a lot of cases here that the benifical does not show up till there is lots of the plage here for them to work on. then what did U do. i know if you make compost tea out of the bad stuff you get more bad stuff. garbage in garbage out so im interested in just how u did not just grow the blight but instead and how did what u did turn it around. I would like to hear a little more.????.

thanks



Wishing you every success though,
John
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