Re: [compost_tea] Snails Day 4
Fungi can be white, pink, yellow, green, purple, black.....
Just because something is white does not necessarily mean it's fungus.
Actinobacteria are white, and many people confuse that with fungi. But actinobacteria are bacteria - they used to be called actinomycetes - but they are bacteria.
The white ash-like growth you get in compost, just below the surface, about 3 to 6 inches into the surface, and goes for about another 3 to 6 inches down into the pile in a nice layer, is actinobacteria. Not fungi.
There are different levels of "goodness" with respect to fungi, and I've discussed some really gross-level distinctions between the major groups.
Always drives my mycology buddies crazy to do that - they dislike those kinds of generalizations. "Not ALL beneficial fungi are greater than 3 um diameter!"
But I didn't say that. I say, MOST beneficial fungi in general have wide diameter hyphae. As a general statement, it is true. There is one group of disease fungi that falls in the wide diameter category, as opposed to thousands of genera of smaller diameter "bad guys".
And generalizations are what we need for the general public. I don't think you are going to stay awake for e to go over the diameter of the thousand species of fungi that are in your soil, much less the thousands that should be in well-made compost.
But, adding fungal foods to your compost, and seeing what grows is one way for you to tell if your compost has the good guys or not.
Add fungal food, and watch what happens. Then you can start fixing things where they need to be fixed, instead of spinning your wheels trying to grow fungi that aren't even present.
First things first - do you have beneficial fungi in your compost? Can't get slug protection if you don't have the good guys present to do the job.
OK?
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
SFI Culiacan, Mexico
SFI Jerome, Idaho
http://www.soilfoodweb.com
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Received on Mon May 17 2004 - 14:39:30 EDT
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: Tue Feb 07 2012 - 14:15:17 EST