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Re: [compost_tea] Re: microbial food
Huang,
I would like to make a few comments concerning the use of baking soda. These comments are made from a commercial and crop production prospective. You want to be careful about the use of Baking Soda, sodium bicarbonate. There are some real phyto issues to deal with.
No doubt we all have a box in our refrigerators to keep them fresh. The major activity is due to the bicarbonate portion of the compound. But, the commercial use of bicarbonate to control powdery mildew and other fungal diseases centers on the use of potassium bicarbonate not sodium bicarbonate.
This activity has been thoroughly researched at Cornell for over a dozen years. There are two commercial products, Kaligreen and Armicarb. There is a consumer version of Armicarb but its name escapes me. One could call Agritech 607.266.0181 for availability details.
Potassium bicarbonate is an effective contact fungicide and fits very well in with ecological systems of crop production and vegetation management. It is incorporated into my programs primarily because there are very few non targeted effects from run off and over spray. When foliar applying fungicides approx. 60% of the spray finds its way to the ground where they continue to act as fungicides. If one is trying to build fungal biomass in the soil it is a good idea to try to limit exposing the soil to fungicides. There are circumstances where one needs to use fungicides to control disease. The nice feature about potassium bicarbonate is, when it hits the soil surface it is quickly neutralized and losses its fungicidal properties.
Potassium Bicarb acts as a contact fungicide and therefore the better the coverage the better the efficacy. This is the difference between Kaligreen and Armicarb. Kaligreen is the straight potassium bicarbonate and Armicarb is formulated with a surfactant system that increases its coverage ability. Consequently, the performance of Armicarb is much better than that of the Kaligreen. This has been demonstrated repeatedly in field trials and laboratory studies. The reason Kaligreen does not add surfactants is because of patent protection.
Kaligreen and Armicarb are priced very closely. Kaligreen is available from ag suppliers and Armicarb is available from Helena Chemical Company.
If your powdery is building make an application of potassium bicarbonate according to their label. When sufficient control is observed, come back in with quality CT and reestablish microbial diversity on the leaf surfaces. Just like CT, it is another tool to be used when implementing sustainable models of production.
Hope this is of value.
Tom Piatkowski
Highlands Soil & Water
www.healthysoil.com
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