Re: [compost_tea] Re: microbial food

From: <TPiatkowsk_at_aol.com>
Date: Sat, 17 May 2003 15:55:48 EDT

Huang,

I would like to make a few comments concerning the use of baking soda. These
comments are made from a commercial and crop production prospective. You want
to be careful about the use of Baking Soda, sodium bicarbonate. There are
some real phyto issues to deal with.

No doubt we all have a box in our refrigerators to keep them fresh. The major
activity is due to the bicarbonate portion of the compound. But, the
commercial use of bicarbonate to control powdery mildew and other fungal
diseases centers on the use of potassium bicarbonate not sodium bicarbonate.

This activity has been thoroughly researched at Cornell for over a dozen
years. There are two commercial products, Kaligreen and Armicarb. There is a
 consumer version of Armicarb but its name escapes me. One could call
Agritech 607.266.0181 for availability details.

Potassium bicarbonate is an effective contact fungicide and fits very well in
with ecological systems of crop production and vegetation management. It is
incorporated into my programs primarily because there are very few non
targeted effects from run off and over spray. When foliar applying
fungicides approx. 60% of the spray finds its way to the ground where they
continue to act as fungicides. If one is trying to build fungal biomass in
the soil it is a good idea to try to limit exposing the soil to fungicides.
There are circumstances where one needs to use fungicides to control disease.
The nice feature about potassium bicarbonate is, when it hits the soil
surface it is quickly neutralized and losses its fungicidal properties.

Potassium Bicarb acts as a contact fungicide and therefore the better the
coverage the better the efficacy. This is the difference between Kaligreen
and Armicarb. Kaligreen is the straight potassium bicarbonate and Armicarb is
formulated with a surfactant system that increases its coverage ability.
Consequently, the performance of Armicarb is much better than that of the
Kaligreen. This has been demonstrated repeatedly in field trials and
laboratory studies. The reason Kaligreen does not add surfactants is because
of patent protection.

Kaligreen and Armicarb are priced very closely. Kaligreen is available from
ag suppliers and Armicarb is available from Helena Chemical Company.

If your powdery is building make an application of potassium bicarbonate
according to their label. When sufficient control is observed, come back in
with quality CT and reestablish microbial diversity on the leaf surfaces.
Just like CT, it is another tool to be used when implementing sustainable
models of production.

Hope this is of value.

Tom Piatkowski
Highlands Soil & Water
www.healthysoil.com




Received on Sat May 17 2003 - 16:35:19 EDT

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