RE: [compost_tea] Re: microbial food

From: TaChung Huang <tachung_h_at_yahoo.com>
Date: Sun, 18 May 2003 08:59:39 +0800

Tom: Thank you very much for your elaborated response. It is very very
helpful.
Sorry that I did not get a chance to meet with you before I left US.
I am working with local farmers on watermelon and tomato using CT and
help them to go through the transition.
 
 



Regards
TaChung Huang (¶À¤j©¾)

-----Original Message-----
From: TPiatkowsk_at_aol.com [mailto:TPiatkowsk_at_aol.com]
Sent: Sunday, May 18, 2003 3:56 AM
To: compost_tea_at_yahoogroups.com
Subject: Re: [compost_tea] Re: microbial food


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


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Received on Sat May 17 2003 - 21:38:45 EDT

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