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Dr. Ingham's April E-Zine



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Dr. Ingham's Talks on the Soil Foodweb
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E-Zine Issue #6    April, 2000

Greetings folks!

Here's Dr. Ingham's E-zine for April, 2000



IMPORTANT NOTES FOR APRIL:
___________________________________________________________
1.) REMINDER---Get your Compost Tea Manual...
***********************************************************
We've had requests regarding a particular publication... folks are asking 
about one from Growing Solutions Inc.  You can order it from their website 
- http://www.growingsolutions.com - or
call them at 541-343-8727.  The Compost Tea manual summarizies all the
scientific papers on tea up through the time the manaul was published.
There are a few more since then, and they will be summarized in the
up-coming manaul, version 1.2, which isn't done yet, but should be in about
a month.





________________________________________________
2.)  NAS Report on Genetically Engineered Crops
************************************************
In April the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) released a 260-page
report on genetically engineered crops titled "Genetically Modified Pest
Protected Plants." The study is quite controversial since the staff director
took a job with the Biotechnology Industry Organization. Congressmen Dennis
Kucinich (D-OH) and Jack Metcalf (R-WA), sponsors of the Genetically
Engineered Food Right to Know Act (HR 3377), sent a letter to the National
Academy of Sciences stating that "Any conclusions in the Genetically
Modified Pest Protected Plants study are tainted by pervasive conflicts of
interest among its authors.''

This NAS study only dealt with the crops that act as pesticides such as the
Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) corn, cotton and potatoes. The study did not
look at the herbicide resistance crops such as the Roundup Ready soybeans.

(more to the story)

If you would like to read the actual 260-page report online, here are the
links to view it as an Adobe Acrobat version or as a searchable Open Book
format.

Adobe Acrobat version:
http://www.nap.edu/html/gmpp/
Open Book searchable version:
http://www.nap.edu/books/0309069300/html/

Here is the link if you want to purchase a copy of the report:
http://books.nap.edu/catalog/9795.html

The above is part of an email message issued by:

Craig Winters
Executive Director
The Campaign to Label Genetically Engineered Foods

The Campaign
PO Box 55699
Seattle, WA 98155
Tel: 425-771-4049
Fax: 603-825-5841
E-mail: mailto:label@thecampaign.org
Web Site: http://www.thecampaign.org

Mission Statement: "To create a national grassroots consumer campaign for
the purpose of lobbying Congress and the President to pass legislation that
will require the labeling of genetically engineered foods in the United
States."






_________________________________
3.)  Unisun Communications Growth
*********************************
Unisun has been working with Dr. Ingham for several years, slowly but surely
moving forward with publishing her multi-media content and managing her website.
It's been a great trip and we've all learned a ton!  I'd like to publically thank
Dr. Ingham for believing in our mission and talent as we continually stuggle with
defining and stabalizing our very young company.   Thanks for sticking with us, Elaine!

Mostly, we're learning that in order to truly do these works justice we need to move 
forward into doing this in a full-time capacity.  With that in mind, we're currently
restructuring our company into a VERY interesting co-operative entity and passing by
our many, many projects that we've been managing over the years for the sake of
keeping afloat.  Coming this June,  we are taking a giant leap of faith and are going
completely full-time in publishing Dr. Ingham's works.   We have 
some wonderful opportunities coming our way through our partnering with SFI 
and we want to  be able to fully explore these.  We'll be making
this committment to spreading Dr. Ingham's works and we could sure use some support
from those interested in her work!   If you're interested in how we're doing this 
and might like to see our plan and get involved somehow, let us know!

As we focus on the multi-media  production  side of our business, we'll also be 
exploring other projects this year... documentaries, educational materials... all
sort of exciting and though-provoking projects!

We'll gladly keep you posted on upcoming SFI Publishing and other
projects and website updates if you'd like to join our E-Zine List.


Your support would be greatly appreciated.

To Subscribe:
Email:   subscribe@unisun.org

Comments, input, ideas welcome!

SAE
http://www.unisun.org
Dr. Ingham's Publishers





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____________________________________
4.)  PlantHealthCare Online Magazine
************************************
Another great online resource for you!   Here's a recent message from
their newsletter...check them out and get signed up.

Subscribers   Message:   We've all felt it. There seems to be pressure
from  everyone-the environmentalists, regulators and even many of our
customers-to  "go" organic. But do organic practices and products work, and
if so, what is  their impact on the all-important budget?    We found some
answers in the Southeast. Two  well-known landscaping firms, Duke-Weeks
Landscape and Post Landscape Group, are  using organic approaches and
saving money at the same time. For more details,  check out "The Organic
Edge-In Annual Color Programs," this week's installment  in
PlantHealthCare.com Online Magazine at www.planthealthcare.com
 
Bruce  F. Shank
Editor
PlantHealthCare.com Online Magazine   Click Here to Unsubscribe  to this
Newsletter 
***************************************************************************






That's it for me this month... As always, you have our full permission to 
forward this E-Zine and spread it around as you see fit.


Thanks for listening!



Peace,
Samuel A. Ettaro II
Unisun Communications
Dr. Ingham/SFI Publisher
http://www.unisun.org
sam@unisun.org
(541)367-8980




**********************
The APRIL Newsletter:
**********************
This Month's Topic:

Now is a good time to be sampling soil!

By E.R. Ingham


Now is a good time to be sampling soil, to make certain your soil is in
good shape to grow your plants with the least need for expensive
pesticides, herbicides and fertilizer applications.  

When sampling, remember to consider variability in your field.  You might
want to sample from the place where plant growth is poorest, so we can fix
that problem, if it happens to be a biological problem.  

If you have had chemical analysis done on your soil, send a copy of the
chem analysis along!  I can check it over and see if you lack a nutrient
that needs to be then added, or if something is too high for some
benefiical organism, and that's why you don't have some good guy present in
your soil.  We then need to work on tying up that too-high chemical so it
is no longer biologically active.  Remediation of heavy metals, high
pesticide levels, or high salts is possible with the foodweb, but it may
take awhile to accomplish these things.  We work with bio-remediation
experts that can help on specific questions, or we can work with you
one-on-one through SFI if you prefer.  But once a chemcial problem is dealt
with biologically, the mechanism for preventing the problem in the future
should be present and functioning, so the solution should be permanent.
This is better than having to continuously respond to a problem that will
never go away when you try to use a strictly chemical short-term solution.  

Some of you have asked why I seem to be a bit slow in answering my e-mails.
 Sometimes it is because I'm traveling and not here to answer, but right
now it is because I happen to be Program Chair for the Ecological Society
of America.  I am in the middle of putting together a program of 2,200
presentations for the August meeting of the ESA.  I have read all the
abstracts at least twice, and am putting them into sessions of similar
topics.  So, life is just a bit busy.  But the staff here at SFI are
getting your samples done!  Thank goodness!  I just have to check over the
results and interpret what we're seeing in your soils, to help you get the
life you need in your soil back!  

But I've gotten the comment back that sometimes what I send back to you
folks on the report is too cryptic - too brief - and you don't always know
what I mean sometimes.  That's what e-mail is for!  Send your question back
in!  If I am not here, then Kirk is here to answer your questions.  Stacy,
who answers the phones here, can help too.  

Just to let you know though, Stacy is doing a wildlife project for the next
6 weeks, and will be here only a limited time until June 1.  So, until
June, someone else will be answering the phones most of the time, maybe
even me!  We're all looking forward to Stacy being back, however!

We are also doing quite a few experimental assessments of products and
management techniques.  Please stay tuned for the next update of the
Compost Tea Manual in about a month.  We'll print a complete new manual -
version 1.2 - for those of you without the 1.1 version, but for people with
the 1.1 version, we'll send out an update for a minimal fee.  I think - the
final decision is up to the folks at GSI, who hold the copyright on the
manual!  So, if you want a manual, contact GSI at  www.growingsolutions.com

We have a soil foodweb workshop on May 4 and a compost workshop on May 5
coming up.  Please get signed up for these if you want to learn about soil
life.  We try to make these very practical courses, in terms of what do you
do to get the life back into your soil in different cropping systems.  If
you are here and asking questions, I will always get specific about the
system you are asking about!

More general talks are available through the live website broadcasts, or
through the audio CD.  The slide presentation CD, the plant production CD
and the compost/compost tea CDs are nearly finsihed as well.  I've
overwhelmed Sam with things to do, but he's getting some of the projects
completed!  We just spent a good amount of time in the video studio polishing 
up the Compost and Compost Tea Seminar recorded last December...It will be 
available on VHS Cassettes very soon....Also, the second and third in the Audio
Lecture  Series are finally about ready and the Multi-Media slide show...well
we're working out the bugs on that one.  Should be ready very soon....

Please get in touch with Sam directly at Unisun Communications if you're
interested in ording some advanced copies... He's making a mad rush on 
final production and will hold orders for you out of the initial limited
runs of the various projects.

EMAIL:   sam@unisun.org

Or subscribe to the Unisun E-Zine for Publishing updates:

EMAIL:	subscribe@unisun.org

or
PHONE:	541-367-8980


I've also asked Sam to put a number of question-answer responses in this e-zine.
So keep those questions coming in!  If you want more general responses,
where I'd answer them as a feature article in the e-zine, please feel free
to ask bigger  topic questions.  

Hope your spring is a good one!

Elaine


*********
April Q&A
*********




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Q-1.)  
Elaine
Great web site. last week i sadly had to cut down a 60 year old maple tree.
can i use the chips as a mulch or could they be toxic to my perennials &
shrubs.  the maple had some rot in the centre.  i live in the south coast of
B.C.  thanks very much for any info u may be able to provide.

A-1.)  

Hi - 
You need to compost the maple chips, because the wood is diseased, and you
HAVE to kill the disease organisms, or you might spread the disease to
other trees.  Even though  you might put the chips on flowers, the
organisms may grow into the soil and get to the roots of other trees.  Just
make sure the compost pile gets above 135 F for 3 or more days.  That will
kill the root-rot fungus in the chips.  Turn the pile if it gets over 155
F.  A simple poultry thermometer works well for testing temp in your pile,
or try a forestry supply store for longer thermometers.  Or you could
vermi-compost the chips - passage through earthworms kills the disease too.

Thank you for your kind words, I do appreciate the positive comments!



***************************************************************************


Q-2.)  
I am hoping to find out if there would be any  adverse reaction between
compost tea formulations and neem oil solutions, used  separately on the
same target or together in the same solution.   Also do you know if there
is any affect on mildew  suppression by using powdered milk as a foliar
spray.   

Kind regards,
   David---Queensland Australia 



A-2.)  
Hi David - 

I don't know of any adverse reaction between tea and neem, but only because
we've never studied it!  It would be easy to assess by sending a sample of
the tea before you add neem, and another one a few minutes after you add
the neem.  

Powdered milk as a foliar spray to suppress mildew?  I have not heard of
this either.  The powdered milk would act as an absorbent when it was first
sprayed, and that would dry out the leaves and so reduce mildew growth.
But if the milk got wet, it might act as a food source for the mildew.
You'd want to make sure you had good leaf coverage by other
non-disease-causing organisms so they would use the milk when it got wet
and help inhibit the growth of the mildew.

Elaine




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Q-3.)  
Dear Dr Ingham
I am a conventional Apple grower in Tasmania Aus, and am very interested in
organic  production.  One of my biggest problems in this area is black
spot, Do you or does your business have a foliar product for the management
of spot that will qualify organic ?

We presently mechanically sweep and mow our orchard and I would consider
our orchard hygiene practices to be diligent, having said that up to 10
fungicide applications are still needed for control.



A-3.)  
Hello Andrew - 

My company works on control of problems using biological methods, and we
have had some very good control of black spot on roses here in the Pacific
Northwest of the US.  The replicated scientific experiments are underway at
Oregon State University, work being done by Steve Scheurell and his major
professor, Walt Mahaffee in Botany and Plant Pathology.  You might wish to
contact them to learn of their first year results, although a second year
of trials is scheduled for this summer.  My understanding from speaking
with them is that their results have been every bit as good as mine showing
control of black spot, powdery mildew and botrytis.

What's the "wonder drug" we're using?  Not a wonder, nor a drug.  The
scientific mechanism operating is that plants produce exudates, which are
foods meant to be used by certain bacteria and fungi that typically live on
the plant surface.  The function of this living culture is to protect the
plant surface from organisms that cause disease.  If the food made by the
plant is used by beneficial organisms, then the disease-causers have
nothing to grow on.  We also want to make certain that the infection sites
on the leaf surface are occupied by beneficial organisms, so the
disease-causers have no place to infect the plant.

So, we apply those organisms to the plant surface in surface sprays.  We
also want to drench the soil and get the beneficial organisms back into the
soil so the same services occur around the root.  

Why aren't there a normal set of organisms on the leaf surfaces?  Because
of the things people do that kill foliar organisms - things like air
pollution; i.e., diesel fumes, gasoline fumes, industrial pollution,
pesticide use and drift from other places, dust from teh machinery we use,
all serve to reduce the beneficial life on the plant surfaces.

There are several approaches to getting these organisms on the leaf
surface.  In the fall, apply compost that has the beneficial organisms in
the compost (the compost CAN'T be anaerobic!).  They get into the root
system and start suppressing disease, outcompeting disease-causing
organisms, and the predators in compost consume the disease causing
organisms.  Typically, a large portion of the surface-inoculum of your
disease is consumed or outcompeted by these organisms, so the source of
foliar inoculum is significantly lower.  

But there's still some disease inoculum left blowing about, so you want to
start spraying compost tea - which is an AEROBIC liquid extract of compost
in which the organisms from the  compost is extracted into the water -
about two weeks before the disease-causing organisms sporulate and start
sending out their spores, looking for places to colonize and cause disease.
 Generally, we don't have surveys of when these spores start to blow, so
most of the time, folks start spraying about two weeks before bud break.
They get the beneficial, disease-suppressing organisms on the leaf, bud,
and stem surfaces before the pathogen - the disease-causing organisms -
arrive.

We have waited until after the disease appears to control it, but it is
much more problematical to deal with.  Some of the work at King Estate has
been successful with preventing spread once the fungus appears, but that's
a little scary for most people.  I'd rather be preventative than hoping the
outbreak can be controlled.

So, compost and compost tea seem very promising.  There are inocula of
organisms, and foods to feed those organisms that also work, but they tend
to be regionally effective.  We'd have to test them in your orchard to see
if they'd work.

If you are interested in more information, you should try looking through
our website.  There's about a 30 page chapter on how to make good compost
and a link to a site where you can get the compost tea manual.  

If you have more questions, please send another e-mail.  

Elaine



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Q-4.)  
Dr. Ingham,
After having read most of the information on your web site I don't recall
seeing anything that dealt with tillage systems. Is there one type of
system that you would recommend or will various types be satisfactory?

I am in swMN with clay loam soils that I have been ridge tilling for 18
years. 

Thank you.
David 



A-4.)  
Hi David - 

We've been doing studies on tillage effects, and I haven't yet written up
the results.  So your question is perfectly timed!

Tillage effects are related to the amount of "energy" you use when you
till.  A single mouldboard plow turns teh soil a minimal amount and after a
few days, the soil foodweb basically doesn't even reflect that tillage
occurred!  Very little detectable damage.  But, a second plow within a day
or two, and now a noticable, longer term negative impact can be detected.
Plow again, and the effect is more noticable, and longer in duration (we're
not finsihed with the studies, because the effects are still discernable
with the more intensive plowing managements).

Chisel plowing has quite a bit of effect right from the start, and the
deeper the plow goes, the more negative impacts.  

Ridge tilling causes significantly less impact to the soil life, because
you basically leave a great deal of the soil untouched.  The not-tilled
soil serves as an inoculum for the tilled areas, so even though there is
significant reduction in the ridge zone, return-time of the organisms is
much more rapid than when all the soil in the field is tilled.  

Rototilling is about the most destructive tillage we've tested, although I
think disking to level the surface of a field is fairly destructive as
well.  We haven't tested it, however.  And there's a consideration that a
shallow disking would leave critters at lower depths less impacted, and
they might colonize the top layer rapidly.  We need data, however.....

Hope this answers your question.

Elaine Ingham




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Unisun Communcations is proud to announce the release of....

Dr. Elaine Ingham Talks on the Soil Foodweb---An audio CD Lecture Series.

The first in the series of 8 lectures is "An Introduction to the Soil
Foodweb" and is now available!  We hope you decide to purchase this
first CD.  If you have an interest in helping us distribute this line
of products we'd love to chat with you further... Please read on!


********************************************
DR. ELAINE INGHAM's CURRENTLY PUBLISHED WORKS
********************************************
Compact Disc:   Dr. Ingham Talks on the Soil Foodweb
Speaker:        Dr. Elaine Ingham
Lable:	    	Coyote Hill MultiMedia
Distributor:    Unisun Communications
Format:         Double CD Set

These are not live recordings.  All of the CD's are recording in a state
of the art digital recording studio and are of the highest quality.
Diagrams accompany the CD on the inside jacket.

*****************************************************************
CD Series #1--"An Introduction to the Soil Foodweb" NOW AVAILABLE
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Dr. Elaine Ingham discusses the important functional groups of organisms
that live in soil, how and why they enhance plant growth and production.
This is the introductory talk about the Soil Foodweb. All other CD's assume
an understanding of this introductory material.

Included in this Double CD set:
        -The seven benefits of a beneficial soil foodweb.
        -Who starts the process? Soil organisms or plants?
        -Disease suppression: Working together.
        -Nutrient retention: Bacteria and Fungi
        -Production of plant available nutrients: Protozoa, nematodes
         and microarthropods
        -Getting rid of toxic compounds.
        -Soil structure: Bacterial bricks, fungal walls, protozoan,
         nematode and microarthropod engineers.
        -Some considerations about plant health


For more information, to order, and to even PREVIEW her CDs please
visit http://www.soilfoodweb.com or visit us at http://www.unisun.org/artists/ingham

If you wish more to get information on distribution, wholesale/reseller
pricing, and press opportunities with Dr. Ingham and other Unisun Communications
& Coyote Hill Multi Media Products please let us know and we'll give you
a direct phone call!

Peace,

Samuel Anthony Ettaro II
Unisun Communications
http://www.unisun.org
(541)367-8980