Compost Teas: 24 hour, EM, IM, BD & fermented plant extracts

[Allan Balliett <igg AT igg.com>]

Any ideas on where to acquire this innoculum, or is a good tea 
suffecient as a pre-transplant root soak? -Allan

> __________________________________________
>
> ARS News Service
> Agricultural Research Service, USDA
> Jim Core, (301) 504-1619, jcore AT ars.usda.gov
> January 16, 2003
> ___________________________________________
>
> Beneficial fungi that live on plant roots increased green bell pepper
> yields by as much as one-third in studies by Agricultural Research Service
> scientists.
>
> Arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungi colonize the roots of most crop plants
> and help plants take in phosphorus and other nutrients from the soil. AM
> fungi have been diminished by modern agricultural practices such as
> tillage, but in many instances can still make important contributions to
> productivity, particularly in organic farming and other systems where
> little if any chemical fertilizers and pesticides are used.
>
> David D. Douds, a microbiologist at the ARS Eastern Regional Research
> Center in Wyndmoor, Pa., studied four different types of AM fungi in three
> plantings from 1997 to 1999. He collaborated with Carolyn Reider, a
> horticulturist at the Rodale Institute Experimental Farm in Kutztown, Pa.,
> to measure the fungi's effects on pepper yield.
>
> They inoculated seedlings before transplanting them into field plots. One
> treatment group contained only the AM fungus, Glomus intraradices; another
> treatment comprised a mixture of three other types of AM fungi; and a
> third, uninoculated group served as the control. Plants were transferred
> into high-phosphorus-soil field plots receiving either composted dairy cow
> manure or conventional chemical fertilizer.
>
> Results showed that inoculating peppers with AM fungi boosted fruit yield.
> The best results were with the fungus mixture, which increased yields each
> year by 14 to 23 percent in plots with added compost, and up to 34 percent
> one year in plots with chemical fertilizers.
>
> Proper selection of an AM  inoculum is essential, according to Douds, and
> a mixture of fungi increases the chance of having the right fungus present
> for a given plant.
>
> Past studies have shown that AM fungi benefit plants grown in
> low-phosphorus soil, and that high-phosphorus soils make it harder for the
> fungi to grow on plant roots. However, this study's results suggest that
> using AM fungi in high-phosphorus soils is a management option that
> shouldn't be ignored.
>
> ARS is the U.S. Department of Agriculture's chief scientific research
> agency.
>
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