[compost_tea] Re: Want to start a new thread? Biology as weed control?

From: Herb and Merla Barberie <herbnmerla_at_supersat2.net>
Date: Fri, 04 Feb 2005 15:40:44 -0800

   Date: Fri, 04 Feb 2005 06:45:43 -0000
   From: "dkemnitz2000" <dkemnitz2000_at_yahoo.com>
Subject: Re: Want to start a new thread? Biology as weed control?

Dennis,

Is barley allelopathic and could a soil drench of ACT with the right
ratio of fungal to bacterial microoganisms for barley cause it to be so
vibrant that it discouraged grasses which are more bacterial than
fungal? Did I get it right? I'm sure Dr. Elaine and the ACT consultants
on this list know all this.

It took me a long time to realize that a roadside situation shouldn't
necessarily be thought of as a farming situation which consists of
getting rid of all the native plants in order to monocrop or companion
plant for human food. A roadside situation, especially when it isn't in
a conventional agricultural area and there are spawning creeks along
side the road and lots of wild animals as well as children bicycling,
people walking their dogs, etc., and a wish by the neighborhood to keep
its natural look rather than to become the equivalent of a herbicided
lawn, that you need another weed control paradigm besides just spraying
"Curtail." How can knowledge about microorganisms in the soil in both
organic farming and in ecological rehabilitation after putting in a road
help us to do a better job than using "conventional" methods which
deplete the soil of microorganisms? How can we prove that a sustainable
world is more practicable as a non-sustainable one? Or are we soon going
to be in another ice age before we can do that?

Jay McCanan's book, Weeds and Why They Grow has a table in it that
describes soil conditions that different weeds like, e.g., "Spotted
Knapweed (Centaurea maculosa) does well in soil with very low calcium,
very high mg, very high salt, dominated by anaerobic bacteria." (Info
from Hugh <hri7064_at_msn.com> in a private communication in which he also
suggested that mycorrhizae and fungal to bacterial ratio could play a
part.) Is there a book or research paper somewhere that gives all those
great little details. Such tidbits are what makes Dr. Elaine's lectures
so interesting.

Merla


--- Great idea. I'm in. I used ACT on disced ground two seasons ago
prior to planting winter barley in the fall. I think the ACT kept
the grassy weed seeds from sprouting. Anyhow where ACT was soil
drenched there was very little if any grassy weeds. This past fall I
soil drenched the entire field before planting winter wheat. Will
evaluate later this spring. Dennis


In compost_tea_at_yahoogroups.com, Herb and Merla Barberie
<herbnmerla_at_s...> wrote:
> This discussion made me think of the kind of root system a plant
has and
> its rhizosphere. I do amateur "research" with non-herbicide
methods of
> weed control. 2004 was an unusually wet year for us here in
aridland.
> We have a test plot from several years ago that we have handweeded
every
> year to which we had introduced micro and macronutrients--
Biogenesis I
> and Pepzyme G from Bruce Tainio which was touted as a surefire weed
> control measure. The weed we were fighting was spotted knapweed
which
> has a long taproot with supporting roots coming from it. In this
plot,
> it was competing with orchard grass, vetch, some other grasses.



>







Received on Fri Feb 04 2005 - 19:01:38 EST

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