market-farming AT lists.ibiblio.org
Subject: Market Farming
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- From: KAKerby AT aol.com
- To: market-farming AT lists.ibiblio.org
- Subject: Re: [Market-farming] On damp off:
- Date: Wed, 15 Feb 2012 13:40:58 -0500 (EST)
What Rivka wrote below was the working theory for a seed-starting
workshop I took a very long time ago. The notion of starting with
sterilized media might have gotten rid of past "bad guys" but it does nothing to
prevent against re-inoculation with a whole new crop of "bad guys".
The workshop I attended favored pro-actively inoculating the soil with
beneficial fungi, so as to stack the deck in our favor by putting in the
populations of fungi we wanted to be there. Then, any incidental bad guys
who fell out of the air (literally) would have a lot of competition before their
numbers could increase to disease-causing levels. The methods of
inoculation can vary, but the two most common that I've seen are using live
compost as Rivka suggested, or using a dedicated fungal inoculant which is
available commercially. I've not done that in any systematic way, but I do
always treat potting soil (from whatever source) with a bunch of "good guys"
before I get started. That has seemed to help not only with damping-off
but also with other fungal diseases during the year. I have wanted to
do a side-by-side comparison for a long time to substantiate some of those
observations, but so far I haven't gotten that organized.
Kathryn Kerby
frogchorusfarm.com
Snohomish, WA
Ruminations - essays on the farming life at
frogchorusfarm.com/weblog.html
In a message dated 2/15/2012 5:50:13 A.M. Pacific Standard Time,
organic87 AT frontiernet.net writes:
That of course isn't a guarantee that nobody ever will, using this technique. The world is lacking in guarantees. But starting in sterile potting mixes seems to me to be starting off with a vacuum that something is going to come in to fill. |
-
Re: [Market-farming] On damp off:,
KAKerby, 02/15/2012
-
Re: [Market-farming] On damp off:,
Shoemaker, William H, 02/15/2012
- Re: [Market-farming] On damp off:, MAsteveINE, 02/15/2012
- Re: [Market-farming] On damp off:, Vern and Amy, 02/16/2012
-
Re: [Market-farming] On damp off:,
Shoemaker, William H, 02/15/2012
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