Re: [compost_tea] Re: Elaine's microscope manual

From: <soilfoodweb_at_aol.com>
Date: Sat, 14 Aug 2004 21:44:02 EDT

Depends on how big the plant is.

Grasses, you can usually use a shovel to dig out the roots. Go out about 2
to 3 times times the drip line of the plant, and start digging down there.
Lift with the shovel, and see if the plant moves. Try to get completely below
the root zone of the plant.

But remember, you often can't see the roots, unless you use water to wash the
soil away. In the great picture of the grass plant, the roots were dug out
by digging a pit next to the plant, and then using a hose to wash the roots
away. It was a big undertaking.

With a tree, Carolyn Bledsoe used a fire hose to blast the roots away from
the tree, and found that the roots went down much much deeper than they
suspected. And much further out than anyone knew. Her work was in Ecological
Applications, back in 1993 or so.

Elaine R. Ingham
Soil Foodweb Inc., Corvallis, Oregon
Soil Foodweb Inc., Port Jefferson, New York
Soil Foodweb Institute, Lismore Australia
Soil Foodweb Institue Cambridge, New Zealand
Soil Foodweb Inc., Hilversum, The Netherlands
Laboratorios de Soil Foodweb, Culiacan, Mexico
Soil Foodweb Inc., Jerome, Idaho




Received on Sat Aug 14 2004 - 23:11:49 EDT

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