Re: [compost_tea] Re: Neamatoads

From: <soilfoodweb_at_aol.com>
Date: Sun, 1 Feb 2004 21:54:59 EST

John wrote:
I'd love to increase the beneficial nematodes in my (vermi)compost
and thus in my tea. If I add Steinernema or Heterorhabditus to my compost,
how would I make them feel at home and willing to raise a big family? Should I
worry about C:N ratio or temp or ph? Would the same environment encourage
predatory nematodes?

Steinernema and Heterorhabditus are entomopathogenic nematodes, and thus they
need insect larval stages to consume. You need to have the microarthropods
in your worm compost. Mark Sturges does this all the time, and has often has
great Steinernema and Heterorhabditus populations in his worm compost.

To get predatory nematodes, you have to have bacterial and fungal feeding
nematodes, so the predatory nematodes have something to eat. You also need to
NOT disturb the compost much. No turning, mixing. Also, you need to maintain
the compost at ABOVE 50% moisture at all times. Predatory nematodes are
slow-growing and don't often reproduce. You need a normal seasonal cycle to get the
predatory nematodes to go through reproduction. But don't let them freeze,
and don't let them fry. They are very much like the earthworms in their
requirements to grow.

Probably the best books on nematodes are in Dutch. Do you read Dutch? Tom
Bongers is a good resource. There's also a couple books by Gregor Yeates.
Wait! Deb Neher at University of Toledo would be a great person to talk to!
Yep, check her by internet, ok? I don't have her address with me.
Alternatively, check with my husband, Russ Ingham. russ.ingham_at_comcast.net He knows
alot about nematodes - grin!

Elaine Ingham
President, Soil Foodweb Inc,
1128 NW 2nd ST., Suite 120
Corvallis, Oregon
Soil Foodweb Inc., Australia
Soil Foodweb Inc., New York
Soil Foodweb Inc., New Zealand
Soil Foodweb Inc., The Netherlands
Soil Foodweb Inc., Mexico
Board Member, Sustainable Studies Institute, Eugene, OR

"Hope is not a feeling. It is not the belief that things will turn out well,
but the conviction that what we are doing makes sense,
no matter how things turn out."
-- Vaclav Havel, former President of the Czech Republic




Received on Mon Feb 02 2004 - 00:03:28 EST

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