RE: CULT: rot, alfalfa pellets, soil biolog

I have had similar experience both with alfalfa and with Immortality.  I
have two beds of amended clay and one with imported garden soil enriched
with Triple Mix.  Immortality, I found, does best in the clay soil with
alfalfa.  I didn't get rebloom without the alfalfa.  With the alfalfa,
Immortality had a second rebloom just before frost in November - in zone
4!  I have had no rot problems at all in the clay beds with the alfalfa
treatment.  But the alfalfa does not seem to stem the rot problems in
the richer garden soil.

Maureen Mark
Ottawa, Canada - contemplating next year's purchases as I browse through
the 1995 R&Is - still no AIS bulletin

		-----Original Message-----
		From:	Linda Mann [SMTP:lmann@icx.net]
		Sent:	Friday, August 22, 1997 7:34 AM
		To:	Mark, Maureen; Multiple recipients of list
		Subject:	CULT: rot, alfalfa pellets, soil biolog



		I found the discussion about slime mold absolutely
fascinating,
		especially the part about them eating bacteria.  I had
never seen this
		white ground covering stuff in my iris plantings until
shortly after
		that discussion (after I had watered my new plantings).
It is
		everywhere there are disintegrating alfalfa pellets,
especially in the
		partial shade where it is cooler and more moist.  Some
of you may
		remember discussions I had with Clarence last year about
IMMORTALITY -
		it had been very fussy about getting started in my
garden (took 5
		separate tries) and even then was very prone to rot.
Lloyd Zurbrigg
		(Immortality's daddy) said he had heard it was fussy in
some gardens,
		but didn't know what the key to keeping it happy was.
Then I learned
		the miracle of alfalfa pellets and have been happily
scattering them
		everywhere - all of a sudden, no more rot on Immortality
(absolutely
		zero since the first pellets over a year ago)(hopefully
these aren't
		famous last words).

		Others have posted that alfalfa pellets contributed to
the worst rot
		outbreak ever, so once again, it all depends on what
kind of soil,
		climate, watering, etc etc etc.  But I can't help but
think some kind of
		bacterial predator (slime mold?) or something in the
soil food chain
		really likes those alfalfa pellets in my garden.  So for
cultivars that
		are on the edge, it really seems to make a difference
here.  The
		addition of the pellets seemed to push others that were
teetering on the
		edge of death into the great beyond (bye bye Magharee).

		Linda Mann
		lmann@icx.net east Tennessee USA
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