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[compost_tea] Re: Nematodes



--- In compost_tea@yahoogroups.com, soilfoodweb@a... wrote:

I am working on a project with these historic American Elms.  These 
trees had only 25 ug of fungi and were riddled with root feeding 
nematodes.

Using an airspade we excavated and removed the top 4-6 inches of soil 
from the tree pit.  Since a quality compost is always an issue, we 
had a local forest soil tested.  I wound up taking the top 3 iches of 
this soil which was matted with fungi, bacteria, protozoa and 
beneficial nematods.  We backfilled the pits with this material added 
our fungal food, VAM spores and drenched with a fungal tea.  

6 weeks later we upped our fungi to 248 ug and reduced our root 
feeders a little but increased our beneficials.    We will retesting 
the soil at the 6 month mark also.  In the meantime they gave us an 
addtional 5 American Elms to perform this work on.

As Elaine always told me, look local for your beneficial nematodes, 
you might find your best source right under your nose.

James Sottilo
Treewise, The Organic Experts
East Hampton, NY
631 324 4239
> 
> Hi Mike - 
> 
> The idea of the compost tea is to provide an inoculum of beneficial 
nematodes, not to supply the total population that would be needed 
per gram of soil.  
> 
> I have only seen two composts in my life that contains adequate 
beneficial nematodes to even provide the inoculum you would desire.  
So, this part of the foodweb has yet to be built in most composts.  
You have to compost correctly in order to have the beneficials you 
want, and most people do not compost correctly.  
> 
> As I recall, the only two composts that provide adequate 
beneficials are Pogo's compost, from the east coast, and the Alaska 
Humus.  There are instances where even these materials do not provide 
the nematodes you want, so it is a bit of a variable.  But most of 
the the time, they do provide the beneficials you want.  
> 
> It is much easier getting VAM or ectomycorrhizal colonization 
> to combat the root-feeding nematodes than getting the beneficial 
nematodes.  It is easier to establish decent fungal biomass than it 
is to get the nematode community right.  
> 
> So, in terms of the next great frontier, getting beneficial 
nematodes back into people's compost will be that cutting edge.  
> 
> Nematodes do not reproduce in compost tea.  If a female has laid 
eggs in the soil or compost, all those eggs hatch, typically, in the 
compost tea however.   So, you can go from a few nematodes per ml of 
tea, to hundreds, not because the nematodes go throug ha life cycle, 
but because egg hatch occurs.  Does egg hatch rate as reporduction?  
Interesting question.  Not really reproduction, but it is an increase 
in living nematode numbers per gram of material. 
> 
> Hope this helps -
> 
> Elaine Ingham
> President, Soil Foodweb Inc.
> Corvallis, OR
> Port Jefferson, NY
> Lismore, NSW, Australia
> Hilversum, The Netherlands
> www.soilfoodweb.com


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