Here are a couple of suggestions for you from Elaine Ingham.
Sincerely,
Michael J. Rankin
President
BioLIFE Technologies, Inc.
6780 Abrams Road, Suite 103-139
Dallas, Texas 75231
Phone: 214-343-6408
Fax: 214-343-6902
http://welcome.to/biolife
>Hi Michael - You might want to suggest:
Ken Killham's book, the just-out
>NRCS book called the Soil Biology Primer (address to obtain is on our web
>site), or Coleman's book as well.
>
>Elaine
>
>
> At 10:35 PM 11/11/98 -0600, you wrote:
>>Dear Joel,
>>
>>We should Elaine to comment on your questions. She is considered one of
the
>>experts in the field.
>>
>>When I worked in parts of Africa, Zimbabwe, we witnessed the attempts at
>>no-till farming that resulted in fermented soils because of the lack of
>>bacteria to break down the crop residue. They began to use some
commercial
>>bacteria products or composted manures or compost teas. When they started
>>this process the incidence of pathogenic fungi were reduced and the
>>break-down of the crop stubble was increased dramatically.
>>
>>When I talk with farmers over the age of 60 they are well aware of the
need
>>for a diverse, healthy biological process in the soil, which they used to
>>provide through their own composed manures. They are acutely aware of the
>>higher incidence of disease in soils treated with fungicides, pesticides,
>>and other chemicals. They of course are telling anecdotal stories
>>umblemished by "advertising".
>>
>>You might read some of the work by Jim Lynch or by Krasilnikov, from the
>>1940's.
>>
>>Sincerely,
>>
>>
>>Michael J. Rankin
>>President
>>BioLIFE Technologies, Inc.
>>6780 Abrams Road, Suite 103-139
>>Dallas, Texas 75231
>>Phone: 214-343-6408
>>Fax: 214-343-6902
>>http://welcome.to/biolife
>>>Date: Tue, 10 Nov 1998 19:40:24 -0500 (EST)
>>>From: joel b gruver <jgruv@wam.umd.edu>
>>>Subject: soil inputs for optimizing soil microbial ecology
>>>
>>>Hello to all...
>>>
>>>Early in the sawdust discussion, someone posted some comments about
>>>plants having different preferences with regard to soil
>>>bacteria and fungi...and refered us to Dr. Elaine Inghams
>>>(Oregon State) home page.
>>>
>>>The basic idea was that certain crop species like Brassicas prefer
>>>bacteria dominated soils while others like strawberries prefer fungally
>>>dominated soils. In a recent article in "Worm Digest", I read that Ingham
>>>suggests that organic inputs (e.g. hot compost vs. cool compost, green
>>>manure vs. sawdust...) and tillage intensity can be used to
>>>specifically manipulate the microbial demographics of one's soil to match
>>>the preferences of an incipient crop.
>>>
>>>I am wondering about the anecdotal and scientific basis for this type of
>>>strategy for soil management... We know that some crop species are
>>>mycorrhizal hosts while others are not... there is certainly
>>>evidence that crop rotation into a non-host crop like canola
>>>will tend to reduce levels of mycorrhizal innoculum... but will canola
>>>perform best if the soil has been managed prior to planting for bacterial
>>>dominance. List member Steve Groff grows beautiful no-till brocolli... I
>>>would certainly guess that his no-till soils covered with rolled cover
>>>crop residue are fungally dominated.
>>>
>>>Does anyone care to postulate any mechanisms by which one microbial
>>>demography would be prefered by a crop species over another ? Obviously
>>>microbial pathogens and specific symbionts have dramatic effects on crop
>>>performance but is there really evidence to support other generalizations
>>>? The use of salt fertilizers, lime, cover crops, manure, compost or
>>>tillage... to promote crop growth will certainly also impact soil
>>>microbial ecology but should we tailoring our soil management to
>>>specifically manipulate microbial ecology...
>>>
>>>"Feed the soil not the crop" is a commonly stated organic tenet... are we
>>>now starting to understand a more intricate ecological basis
>>>for this concept or is Inghams work getting misinterpreted...
>>>
>>>Looking forward to hearing your thoughts...
>>>
>>>Joel Gruver
>>>Soil Quality Research
>>>U of Maryland
>>
>>
>>
>>
>
>
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