Re: Beneficial Soil Microbes

From: Elaine Ingham (Soilfoodweb@AOL.COM)
Date: Sun Dec 15 2002 - 21:16:29 EST




I think we already established that molasses is NOT a simple substrate.
Please see previous posts.

AND compost tea NEVER has just molasses in it. You need kelp and perhaps
humic acids as well. Plus all the soluble carbon materials from the compost
itself.

PLEASE, realize that the NOSB did NOT accept the Compost Task Force
recommendation that molasses, sugar and soluble carbon materials not be used.
 They found, as others have shown, that the "research" the Compost Task Force
was told about was bogus.

No reputable science has been published to document that compost tea, made
with decent compost, has E. coli or human pathogens just because you add
molasses, sugar or soluble carbon material.

Do you shift the sets of organisms when you add food resources? Yes, but the
reason you add these food resources is to grow BENEFICIAL bacteria and fungi.
 The particular beneficial species lacking in the soil because they have been
killed by pesticide sprays, by pesticide drift, by air pollution, by high
levels of inorganic fertilizer addition.

Aren't these beneficials present in the soils of an organic farm? If you
live on the earth today, your soils have been impacted by pollutants of one
kind or another. You need to add back some of the beneficials that have been
killed.

Which ones have you lost? You can send samples into SFI and have us test
your soil, compost, or compost tea for the presence of those organisms, or
you can just figure you have lost a serious number.

How do you get them back? Make GOOD, aerobic compost with a maximum
diversity of good starting materials, or use BD preps such as 500, 501, 502
(yes, well-made BD preps contain a HUGE biomass and diversity of beneficial
organisms, we tested them). Spread that compost out on your soil.

If you don't have large amounts of good compost, or the BD preps, then make a
compost tea from them so you inoculate these organisms, and some of the
soluble carbon materials from them, into your soil or onto your leaves. If
you know your forest soil is healthy (do you know that for certain?), then
add a handful of your forest soil to the compost, so you can increase those
beneficial organisms to high numbers to inoculate them out onto acres of your
land.

That's the beauty of compost tea. If you don't have enough good compost, or
if you have a hard time spreading that much compost, tea makes it easier.

Elaine Ingham


> Won't growing these thousands of bacteria and fungi in a very
> simple medium (like molasses solution) radically change the
> bacterial/fungal composition/ratios compared to what exists on the
> soil, which is an extremely complex growing medium?
>
> Roberto Verzola
> Philippines
>


President, Soil Foodweb Inc.
www.soilfoodweb.com


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