Subject: [compost_tea] Re: plants that attract/support microbes?

From: "jery_morgan" <[email-masked]>
Date: Wed, 21 May 2003 23:38:24 -0000

I think i heard the soil under banannas and bamboo are rich in 
beneficial soil life.  I think one probably banannas high in bact. 
and probably the bamboo high in fungi.  does that sound right?  

--- In [email-masked], George and Paulette Mouchet 
<geomouchet@Q...> wrote:
> I posted this question awhile back and didn't get any response.  
I'll try again:
> 
> Are there specific plants that attract and support high colonies of 
beneficial soil organisms?
> Paulette

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From: "Terence Dodge" <[email-masked]>
Date: Fri, 23 May 2003 03:52:58 -0000

> and probably the bamboo high in fungi.  does that sound right? 
 
Read a note in a bamboo publication that the same species of bamboo in two different but close location one near a stream the other not, had I recollect a bacterial dominance near the stream but somewhat more fungal in the grove away from the stream. Bamboo is a grass and grasses tend to be bacterial"but" depending on the soil (clay, sand, loam mix) a fungal bacterial blend is probably a good guess. Bananas well ask Dr. I, she has worked with banana growers in Australia.

---

From: "Lawrence F. London, Jr." <[email-masked]>
Date: Fri, 23 May 2003 00:44:49 -0700

Terence Dodge wrote:
> Read a note in a bamboo publication that the same species of bamboo in two different but close location one near a stream the other not, 
>had I recollect a bacterial dominance near the stream but somewhat more fungal in the grove away from the stream. 
>Bamboo is a grass and grasses tend to be bacterial"but" depending on the soil (clay, sand, loam mix) a fungal bacterial blend is 
>probably a good guess. Bananas well ask Dr. I, she has worked with banana growers in Australia.

Here's more about that from the sanet-mg list:
[a reply to Jeff Lowenfels]
-------- Original Message --------
Subject: Re: fungal vs bacterial/ till no? No till?
Date: Sat, 19 Apr 2003 14:13:58 +0000
From: gil carandang <[email-masked]>
Reply-To: Sustainable Agriculture Network Discussion Group <[email-masked]>
To: [email-masked]

jeff,
thanks for the information.  it is really of great help.  currently, we do a
lot of experimentations and observations on several vegetable families.  we
do our own microbial culture using lacto bacilli, forest and bamboo
microorganism.  apparently, the forest ones are much fungal and the bamboo
much bacterial.  lactic acid bacteria however is our main workhorse in
composting, digestion and arresting foul odors.  we do a lot of anaerobic
fermentation.  in fact, we ferment our materials first before we really
compost them.  we make special designer compost that includes several
diversed materials of which we inoculate with beneficial indigenous
microorganisms and add lots of bionutrients we normally extract from herbs.
our designer compost we add rice bran and rice hull charcoal aside from
microbes and bionutrients.  this compost is what we will start using for our
compost teas.  anaerobic to aerobic? well, let's see.
again, thanks. gil

[a reply to Elaine Ingham]
-------- Original Message --------
Subject: Re: fungal vs bacterial/ till no? No till?
Date: Sun, 20 Apr 2003 03:12:58 +0000
From: gil carandang <[email-masked]>
Reply-To: Sustainable Agriculture Network Discussion Group <[email-masked]>
To: [email-masked]

dear elaine,
i appreciate greatly your response.  in fact, you are right.  there's a
difference between the putrefactive and fermentative processes.
putrefactive anaerobic results in real foul stinky smells like sewage.
fermentative has much sour but not rotten smell.  there are definite
subtleties on the smells and experience is our best teacher.  some people
like the EM people also test the pH.

anyway, you definitely can use the yogurt.  i however, make our own lacto
bacilli in a very simple way.  we do a two stage process.  we first trap
several microbes to its food like carbohydrate and then saturate them (on
the second stage) with milk.  in this manner, we eliminate the other
microbes and keep a pure lacto bacilli culture.  we then add another kind of
food to keep them alive rather than the customary refrigeration.  in the
countryside, at least in the philippines, we don't have refrigeration.  it
is very cheap to produce that it is almost unbelievable.  i have a booklet
on this process that i distributed at the recent ecofarm conference.  anyone
who will be interested would simply need to e-mail me at:
[email-masked].
i was also told that lacto bacilli is both anaerobic and aerobic.  i guess
it is more anaerobic or may we call facultative.  lacto bacilli is really a
microbial workhorse.  it is normally associated with the word probiotics.
and in organic agriculture, especially livestock, they use a lot of these
and combined with immune booster herbs like aloe vera. again, most of highly
nutritious foods are fermented foods.  and lots of them are lactic acid
fermented.  in the same token, the microorganisms that we get from the
forest are assumed by natural farmers to be beneficial (as you observe where
you get them) and maybe more fungal in association.  and the bamboo
microorganism we use can be said to be more bacterial for its roots exudates
attract a lot of beneficial bacteria.  as natural farmers, do i still need
tests and counts?  probably yes.  although most practical farmers will not
have to.  through our experimentations and observations, we should be able
to "see".  we natural farmers always believe that if we open our eyes, ears,
heart and being to nature, nature will start to unfold its mysteries to us.
the ultimate answer to all our agricultural questions lie not on man but on
nature herself.  as long as we align our methods to the workings of nature,
we should be in good position. it is our holistic approach and broader
realization and appreciation of nature that will guide us and not
discriminating and dichotomized mindsets of the reductionist science.

[...]

again, thanks.
gil carandang
herbana farms
philippines

<><><>
-- 
L.F.London
[email-masked]
http://market-farming.com
http://www.ibiblio.org/ecolandtech