Re: [compost_tea] Re: Flow forms

From: <soilfoodweb_at_aol.com>
Date: Wed, 22 Dec 2004 18:35:07 EST

Hi again Ted!
 
Ok, we are talking two different things here, I think.
 
Semantic thing right off the bat - let's concentrate on biomass as the
measure of what bacteria and fungi are doing, and not get into the semantics on
reproduction versus growth.
 
Bacteria CAN double in biomass every 20 minutes, if they are in conditions
that allow them to accumulate that rapidly. won't happen if the conditions
aren't right for them. So, maybe 200 species of bacteria at any given time in
a brewer that have the right conditions to be increasing biomass, or growing.
 
Fungi are not capable of that kind of growth, or biomass increase per unit
time. Fungi cannot hope to outstrip bacterial biomass increases, given a
condition that allows bacteria to maximize use of foods.
 
But, change the conditions a bit, and fungi can attain high biomass
increases in short time periods. For fungi, perhaps a doubling in fungal weight once
every 45 minutes.
 
Put in fungal foods, not bacterial foods, and bacteria will not out-compete
fungi. Maintain aerobic conditions, with fungal foods, and fungal biomass
can be greater than bacterial biomass.
 
Conditions are all important. Select for fungal, or select for bacterial -
your choice.
----------------------
Protozoa do not grow as rapidly as bacteria either. Max protozoan growth is
probably along the lines of a doubling every hour, which means protozoan
numbers cannot increase as rapidly as bacteria.
 
But protozoa eat bacteria, so you always have to take into account the
bacteria that aren't there because they were eaten. Each protozoan eats 10,000
bacteria per day, so if you have 1,000 protozoa, that's 10,000,000 bacteria
consumed each day. Bacteria HAVE to be doubling rapidly to keep ahead of the
protozoan demand. Good thing the bacteria can go through three doublings in
the time it takes protozoa to do one!
 
Elaine R. Ingham
Soil Foodweb Inc., Corvallis, Oregon
Soil Foodweb Inc., Port Jefferson, New York
Soil Foodweb Institute, Lismore Australia
Soil Foodweb Institute Cambridge, New Zealand
Laboratorios de Soil Foodweb, Culiacan, Mexico
Soil Foodweb Inc., Jerome, Idaho
Soil Foodweb Inc., South Africa








Received on Wed Dec 22 2004 - 21:55:15 EST

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