Re: [compost_tea] Re: Molasses as fungal food

From: <soilfoodweb_at_aol.com>
Date: Sat, 01 Nov 2003 14:31:30 -0500

Ted -

Both bacteria and fungi increase in biomass, or GROW, in the tea. (Strictly speaking, fungi don't reproduce in actively aerated compost tea - that is, they don't produce spores of any kind within 24 hours in stirred liquids. Picky point, but I am an academic. Bacteria can reproduce quite rapidly in tea).

Both bacteria and fungi have to be extracted from the compost.

It depends on the growth conditions you provide whether bacteria will be better able to grow, or fungi better able to grow.

Fungi typically need a bit more help in tea than the bacteria. Beneficial fungi need a surface to attach to. Most bacteria do not.

Molasses at LOW concentration help bacteria grow. At HIGH molasses concentrations, you CAN select for fungi, as long as the other conditions I mentioned are also present.

Certainly, high concentrations of molasses are not the best way to help the fungi. But the focus on molasses goes back to some poor science that was done a year or so ago, and adopted by the Compost Task Force of the NOSB, that said molasses causes human pathogens to grow. Molasses doesn't cause E. coli to grow to a greater extent than it causes ANY bacterium that can use molasses to grow. Nothing selective about molasses for only E. coli growth!

so, we did some experiments that show thatshow that molasses does not cause E. coli to grow. If you don't have E. coli in the compost, E. coli will not grow. If you have some E. coli, low concentrations of molasses does not cause E. coli to grow. Really high concentrations of molasses will inhibit E. coli, and prevent its growth. Careful there, though. I said growth. Not presence. Even the reviewers of the scientific paper didn't get that straight in the first review.

But regardless of past history, what you are doing is learning the conditions, with your brewing machine, that result in the organism mix best for your plants and soils.

Sounds like you are doing a great job!

Elaine Ingham
President, Soil Foodweb Inc.
SFI Corvallis, OR
SFI Port Jefferson, NY
SFI Lismore, NSW, Australia
SFI Hilversum, The Netherlands
SFI Cambridge, New Zealand
www.soilfoodweb.com

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Received on Sat Nov 01 2003 - 19:11:21 EST

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