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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