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Re: [compost_tea] Cucumbers



Hi Mike -

sorry to be so long in answering you.

Have you tested your compost?  Cucumbers like fairly bacterial soil, but still need some fungi for disease suppression. 

If your compost lacks fungi, then get some of the Alaska Humus to add to it, but put the compost in a plastic tub first, bring up to moisture (50%, it just barely drips a drop when you squeeze hard), cover and keep warm.  Not hot, just room temp.

Should grow great fungi (thick white strands IN THE COMPOST). 

Reading further, I see your tea looks very good already. 

What is the opening size for the nozzle on your fogger?  That's the thing you really have to pay attention to, pressure isn't usually the problem.  The organisms are able to take alot of pressure, but can't take being splatted against foliage well at all.  So, can the critters get through the nozzle?  Keep pressure low relative to distance of the spray nozzle to the leaf surface.  If the foliage is 1 to 2 feet away, no more than 20 to 40 psi.  If 6 feet away, 100 psi seems ok..  100 feet away, 600 psi is ok.  At least on the testing we have done, pressure isn't what kills them, it's the impact pressure on hitting the leaf surface......


I'm waiting for the engineers to get the first version of the testing kit microscope to me.  I must be patient.....  I must be patient.  I am so well known for patience - NOT. 

OK, powdery mildew is the main problem?   You are located where?   Sorry, can't keep everyone straight.  There may be some particular fungal and bacterial species you should locate to help the tea out in making certain of success with PM. 
So, let me know where you are, and I'll get back to you.

Elaine Ingham
President, Soil Foodweb Inc.
www.soilfoodweb.com

I am inquiring re a trial of CT and Compost we are planning to do.The trial is with Cucumbers in a green house. The cucumbers are usually grown with conventional hydroponics.
The trial will involve using CT to control Powdery Mildew as well as a soil drench.
Some of the cucumbers will be started in 100% compost in jiffy pots (tiny starter pots) others will be in conventional potting mix, and then placed on the main growing media to grow out. The media being used is pine sawdust and chips (pinus radiata). We plan to use CT as a drench on  the growing bags and also place a small amount of compost on top of the growing bags before placing the seedling plant on top of the growing bag.
The CT will be fungal dominated but with some bacterial component. Typical range as follows.
Total fungal biomass 38 ( micro g per ml)    Active fungal biomass 14 ( micro g per ml)
Total bacterial biomass 230 ( micro g per ml)  
Active bacterial biomass 40 ( micro g per ml)
CT will be used weekly as folia to control PM and other leaf diseases. No sticker spreader is to be used.
We are unsure as yet how the CT will be applied, a fogger is one way the grower usually applies fungicides. Anyone have experience with these machines? I do not have the specifications but suspect that the pressures will be too high.
The water for the hydroponics is not recycled, used once and then used on other things, the growing bags (full of pine) are recycled if possible i.e. after the crop is finished a new one is planted on top of the media in the bag.
We hope to take brix readings and will be able to compare with other houses on the property.
We expect to be able  control PM and show improved quality.
Hopefully it will not be too long till the leaf testing kit will be available, this would be a great opportunity to use it as we are too far from a lab to send leaf samples.
Any suggestions re improvements we could make to this trial??
Regards Mike Harvey.




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