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Re: Compost Tea Confusion

While I have no doubt that you saw what you saw, from my research with the USDA and my reading of the literature on mycorrhizae, I find it hard to believe that what you observed was due to your innoculations. Mycorrhizae show greatest benefit in poor soils (especially those low in P and Zn) where microorganisms have been killed, by pesticides, for example. I do not believe mycorrhizae could have such an effect in an average garden soil. Replicated testing and well -designed experiments are needed to sift out true cause and effect. Your anecdote is not sufficient -- for me, at least. Many of the benefits attributed to mycorrhizae in experiments do not translate to field conditions because the the control plants in those experiments are growing in sand and both innoculated and control plants are fed meagerly.

Not to be a curmudgeon, but I also checked out the Wormgold website for the results of their "testing." Discounting, again, all the anecdotes, the plate tests with Wormgold tea vs. various pathogens was interesting. I would say it's only a start, though, because it's a long stretch to go from a petri dish to the field. In a petri dish, there are so many things that could affect growth of a pathogen. I would not be at all surprised if there was even an effect from using real (China) tea!!
 

"Lon J. Rombough" wrote:

Several years ago I went to see the work of Dr. Robert Linderman with mycorrhizal fungi at Oregon State U.   It was interesting to see that they had trouble with the experiments because there were enough airborne spores that many of the uninnoculated controls kept getting contaminated.  Even so, while the wild fungi did make a difference, the variation between different species and strains in the innoculated samples was very striking and very often superior to the wild types.  Petunias were one of the main plants used, and many of the treated plants were stockier, had many more blooms, and had begun blooming as much as three weeks (if not more) ahead of the uninnoculated plants.  I did trials of mycorrhizal fungi in several rows of potatoes, with innoculated versus uninoculated, and the treated plants bloomed as much as three weeks ahead of the untreated, had more potatoes, and the potatoes were more uniform in size, versus the "peas and pumpkins" in the untreated rows.  I've since used fungi in many other situations and even though I've been an organic grower all my life, I never got results as striking as with the added mycorrhizal fungi.
   Point is, that while good organic practices are extremely important, I truly believe that not everyone has enough of the most effective species and strains of mycorrhizal fungi in their area and the addition of cultured strains can often make a real difference.
-Lon Rombough
 
In the past, when real soil was used in potting soil, the recommendation was to pasteurize rather than sterilize the soil. If microorganisms were mostly killed off, the mix was soon re-invaded -- not a bad thing. I have made my own potting soil for 30 years, using real soil in addition to peat, compost, and perlite.  I never heat treat the mix or, of course, feel the need to innoculate with mycorrhizae. All the emphasis on sterile mixes, I think, overshadowed the need to provide good growing conditions. I did extensive research before coming up with this mix, reading a lot ('Seed and potting composts' a book written by Lawrence and Newell about 50 years ago was especially good), talking to other gardeners (Elliot Coleman helped a lot), and trying out different mixes.
 
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