Re: [compost_tea] brewing native microbes

From: <soilfoodweb_at_aol.com>
Date: Wed, 01 Oct 2003 11:09:24 -0400

I have spoken about making your own inocula from your own soil for years. It's great that there is a story about someone in the USDA doing this, but please, we've been doing this for decades.

Differentiating between the good guys and the bad guys is what stops most people from doing these cultures themselves. You have to be able to ID and test what you are growing.

But if you know that the soil is growing great carrots, then you are pretty well assured that that soil has good organisms in it. So, use that soil. For carrots. Will it be good for corn? Maybe not. Carrot soil has organisms that carrots have selected for, and you need to develop a good corn soil.

Agri-Energy has some good inocula for corn in the mid-west US, but are they good for the south, or Pacific north-west? Hum, less than stellar results with some growers.

So, as I've pointed out for years, each plant requires it's own balance of organisms. You need to know that the critters you are adding are the best for the crop being grown, Using soil to make a soil tea may result in less than the right diversity needed for other plant species.

Compost, if made correctly, has the diversity needed in most cases. That's why we use compost, not soil.

Elaine Ingham
President, Soil Foodweb Inc.
SFI Corvallis, OR
SFI Port Jefferson, NY
SFI Lismore, NSW, Australia
SFI Hilversum, The Netherlands
SFI Cambridge, New Zealand
www.soilfoodweb.com

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Received on Wed Oct 01 2003 - 12:18:55 EDT

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