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RE: [compost_tea] Root Zone Injection



Jeff, interesting points.  Continued discussion below.
 
This is an interesting topic (I hope! :)). The idea is to get at some of those root diseases, obviously, but I am not sure this is the right way. You have to think about the critters in the tea more. 
Part of the idea here is to get to root diseases, but my real interest is getting the pertinent microbes where they are needed, the quickest way possible. 
If you inject a fungal tea to try and get beneficial fungal into the soil foodweb, for example, and kill the fungi in so doing, then you have fungi foods that the bad fungi can use.  Very tricky. I would think you would want to make some holes and pour tea in as in after aeration. And once they survive is the tree going to be putting out enough exudates for the beneificals to survive (actually Shigo suggests a dying tree might!) Anyhow, what are those fungi going to eat down there?  
Injection directly into the root zone has been used for mycorrhizal inoculation for many years with, from my understanding, very good success.  Are Ecto and AM  just less susceptible to "death by injection"?<<<Could be our call to arms.  
 
 Could you provide a reference(s) to Shigos' work?
I am pretty sure you will get better results with aeration, perhaps followed by  an application of some gentle microbe food like soy bean meal followed by some good fungal compost tea with mycorrhizal and then an application of two inches of fungal compost/humus topped off by the tree's own leaf.  
I understand the need to have air and food.  What about situations where the application of 2" of compost is not possible, like trees planted in a manicured lawn? 
 
Topical application of CT and mycorrhizae is certainly less than optimum without adequate incorporation or movement in via irrigation.   How many inches of rain\irrigation does it take to move the microbes into the root zone?  
 
This way you get to control what is going on. You know the critters in your tea are fine. No guesses and you get the microarthropods and worms in the act so you get nutrient cycling...in this case ammonium, the kind your tree needs. There is stuff for everyone to eat and the mulch helps buffer the moisture flow from the soil to the atmosphere.
 
And, I will go one step further, though you may laugh.....depending on the size of the diameter around the tree you need to treat, you might want sprinkle baby oatmeal on the ground before you apply compost and mulch. You will get great fungi if your compost has good fungi!
Love it....always did like oatmeal!
 
Thank you for all the great insight.
 
Tim
 Jeff
 
 


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