permaculture

[Lawrence London <lfljvenaura@gmail.com>]

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Elaine Ingham soilfoodweb@aol.com [compost_tea] <
compost_tea@yahoogroups.com>
Date: Fri, Mar 24, 2017 at 2:53 PM
Subject: Re: [compost_tea] Alaskan humus contains thickest fungal hyphae?
To: compost_tea@yahoogroups.com




Dear Chris -

I don't believe I ever said fungal hyphae are thickest in Alaska humus.  What
I have said is that Alaska humus usually contains very beneficial fungi,
and that beneficial fungi usually have wide diameters, typically wider than
3 micrometers.  Also, I have noted that Alaska humus usually has a high
concentration of beneficial fungi.

The problem with the word thickest is that it can mean both "a higher
quantity", or "a wider diameter".  Those are different things, so let me
clarify further:

The most dense concentration of fungal hyphae per gram of soil that I have
seen are in temperate conifer forests, such as the ones in Alaska, but also
pretty much in any of the coastal old-growth forest systems on the west
coast of North America, from California to the arctic circle, but high
densities of beneficial fungi also occur in most coastal rainforests in
other parts of the world.

We have documented that fungal biomass in these types of systems can
routinely occupy 75% of the volume of a gram of soil.  In other words, 0.75
gram of one gram of soil was fungal tissue.

This is well beyond what the USDA reports for the weight or volume of
biology in general, not just fungi, in a gram of soil.  I think that the
USDA actually means dirt, not soil, when discussing "soil" and thus has
mis-lead the world about the importance of organism activities in soil.

In terms of fungal diameter, some fungi can be 10 micrometers or more wide,
but fungi with those widths rarely occur in Alaska, at least in my
experience.  Most of the fungi in healthy soil are in the wide category
(greater than 3 micrometers but less than 10 micrometers), so Alaska isn't
going to win a prize for having unusually wide diameter fungal hyphae.
Sorry.

Elaine R. Ingham
President, Soil Foodweb Inc.       Soil Life Consultant
Since I travel a great deal, so if I don't answer within 3 days, please
send
again.


-----Original Message-----
From: Christopher Seekins harmonycorporate@gmail.com [compost_tea] <
compost_tea@yahoogroups.com>
To: compost_tea <compost_tea@yahoogroups.com>; Elaine Ingham <
soilfoodweb@aol.com>
Sent: Tue, Mar 21, 2017 12:27 pm
Subject: [compost_tea] Alaskan humus contains thickest fungal hyphae?


I heard in a talk done by Mrs. Ingham that the fungal hyphae is thickest in
the fungi found in Alaskan humus.  Could some one please point me in a
direction regarding more information on this please?  Is it regarding the
sheathing mantel, hyphal network, other, or is my memory gone astray yet
again.  Any assistance would be appreciated.  Thank you

-- 
Kindest of regards,
Chris Seekins
Harmony World Wide
www.gorillagrow.org
harmonycorporate@gmail.com
001-(860) 740-6544
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Posted by: Elaine Ingham <soilfoodweb@aol.com>
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-- 
Lawrence F. London, Jr.
lfljvenaura@gmail.com
https://sites.google.com/site/avantgeared