Skip to Content.
Sympa Menu

market-farming - Re: [Market-farming] On damp off:

market-farming AT lists.ibiblio.org

Subject: Market Farming

List archive

Chronological Thread  
  • From: "Shoemaker, William H" <wshoemak AT illinois.edu>
  • To: Market Farming <market-farming AT lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [Market-farming] On damp off:
  • Date: Thu, 16 Feb 2012 00:48:45 +0000

While that idea isn't necessarily well-accepted academically, I agree with it. I believe one of the great benefits of a healthy soil is a strong, pro-active beneficial microbe community that dominates the resources and provides a layer of protection to the plant.

 

Bill

William H. Shoemaker

University of Illinois, Crop Sciences

St Charles Horticulture Research Center

535 Randall Road, St Charles, IL  60174

630-584-7254, wshoemak AT illinois.edu


From: market-farming-bounces AT lists.ibiblio.org [market-farming-bounces AT lists.ibiblio.org] on behalf of KAKerby AT aol.com [KAKerby AT aol.com]
Sent: Wednesday, February 15, 2012 12:40 PM
To: market-farming AT lists.ibiblio.org
Subject: Re: [Market-farming] On damp off:

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.



Archive powered by MHonArc 2.6.24.

Top of Page