[compost_tea] Re: Compost Tea Best Practices - Ingredients INPUT REQUESTED

From: chriscreid <reidchris_at_earthlink.net>
Date: Mon, 08 Dec 2003 03:26:22 -0000

--- In compost_tea_at_yahoogroups.com, soilfoodweb_at_a... wrote:
> Does that answer the question?

Actually, Elaine, what I want to understand is what the practice of
growing out the fungi in tea compost prior to brewing actually does
differently in the soil than simply using the same tea compost in a
brew.

What happens in the soil, when spores are added versus hyphae? If
you make sure you're really adding hyphae when spraying foliage,
active hyphae make clear sense -- everything sticks to the leaf when
it's active and can outcompete pathogens better from the start.

To try to understand more about how fungi work, I read through a
chapter of David Sylvia's soil microbiology text. This is my
layperson's understanding of what he is saying. Fungi are built for
survival. If hyphae pieces are introduced, they not only can survive
and grow in this form, but also will quickly reproduce via creating
spores if conditions are not good for the hyphal survival. Thus,
whether we put down spores or hyphae in the soil, if the conditions
where they land are not favorable for their growth, it is my
understandng that they are going to either stay in spore form or go
into a dormant spore form very quickly.

On the other hand, if conditions are good for the fungi in spore
form, how long till they start growing out? From Jeff's
experiments, sounds like significant growth can occur in 3 - 5
days?

Since it is going to take 3 - 5 days to grow out this compost to put
in the tea, and the hyphae *may* get hung up in the application
procedure, it seems to me to be equally acceptable to apply the tea
made from same type compost (known to be good because you've test-
grown it out one time) and let the spores grow out in the soil 3 - 5
days later?

If so, it takes the same amount of time to "hit the ground
running". Anyhow, no matter how many hyphae we grow out, if
conditions are not optimum, the same thing will happen -- the hyphae
will revert to spore form to survive, no?

It's sufficiently challenging to coordinate the tea to get it done
at the right time and place for that particular customer's
application. If I am not gaining something clearcut by growing out
the compost each time, I'd prefer to skip that step for soil
applications and use it instead when doing foliar apps.

Chris Reid






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Received on Sun Dec 07 2003 - 22:50:55 EST

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