Hi Dale,
Monday, March 27, 2000, 10:17:54 AM, you wrote in relation to Bart's
comment:
>> Microbial products are almost always a bad deal for the farmer.
WD> That has been my experience with field trials of such things. But there
WD> might be some niches where such things have value.
I think we want to distinguish between microbial presence and activity
on the one hand, and commercial microbial products on the other. The
first is obviously important in agriculture, while the second may not
be cost effective and / or poorly documented in the promotional
literature (hype) involved.
My assumption is that if something is worth using in agriculture and
it's biological, you grow them yourself (not buy little bottles).
Inoculants as a cure-all are one thing (a scam), but as an aid to
composting (although I like worms myself) or for certain seeds or
other propagative plant material, I believe there's supportive
evidence for their usefulness.
So Dale and I are in agreement this time.
WD> Douglas wrote:
>> The only product mentioned by my neighbors (as being produced under
>> license) in relation to what we'll need was "ultradine", which they
>> call a "disinfectant and sanitizer". This would be used for washing
>> the fruit before waxing.
WD> Apparently that is an iodine-based material
Right, not a microbial (an anti-microbial).
WD> but it got me thinking about microbial solutions to this problem.
OK, but I did ask readers for any info regarding the use of an
iodine-based material relative to organic certification. I say this
as a reminder to readers.
Re Russ Bullocks suggestion:
> If I were you Douglas, I'd run a test (or at least have the compound
> tested. Any environmental lab could test it for iodine).
I'm also waiting to hear from "Modern Organics" I think bacterial /
fungus tests will be in order using various products. We will probably
stick with usual fare at first. But we'll need something else for the
organic fruit.
WD> Some root-surface pseudomonads are really aggressive against
WD> fungi. These generally produce either antibiotics or siderophores
WD> (iron-removing agents). Although they often fail in the field as
WD> agents applied to seed or soil (for a variety of reasons) they may
WD> be good agents to control fungi postharvest. Or to benignly
WD> colonize sprouts. Pseudomonads are pretty easy to grow in
WD> do-it-yourself mode. They don't survive drying very well so are
WD> hard to commercialize.
Sounds difficult.
But we do want to look into making our own inoculants for the
propagative material. The fungus I was looking at is Pitholithus
tinctorius. It's been used in the US to aid apple root formation.
WD> There has been some promising work on this use of bacteria and yeasts. I
WD> just did a quick lit search. If you are interested in these refs let me
WD> know.
You bet. (Shoot).
Douglas
Cuentas arregladas, amistades largas.
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