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Jaffrey NH

I am conducting a science fair project on soil pathegons and testing whether a seedling will do better with sterilized soil or soil with everything else in it. Any output and help would be great! Thanks

Douglas

1/26/2004 9:13:26 AM

Ankeny, Iowa

I think having sterile soil is good if you want to protect your plants from disease. But it would lack the micro organisms that plants love. I heard that fish and seaweed fertilizer helps reaplenish the beneficial micro organisms that help plants grow. So I think using sterile soil will be the best thing to ensure that yuor plants will stay healthy. I hope this helps, CowD. Good luck at the science fair. I hope you do well.

1/26/2004 5:02:35 PM

Cornwall UK.(50N 5W)300ft.

The term Sterilized soil is generally used where soil has been heated to 180 F/82 C. so really it is only partially sterilized,the idea being to kill harmful pests and diseases leaving some of the beneficial organisms unharmed.

Mark

1/26/2004 5:57:15 PM

Long Island,New York

I'll send you some of my soil for the pathogens soil....lol....G

1/26/2004 7:07:29 PM

Ctpumpkin@optonline.net

Here are some of the beneficial organisms we know of. How these copied from my sell sheets is another question LOL! Let's see what it looks like.

Steve

Known Beneficial Species....Critical Habitat...Biofertility Function
Bacillus megaterium.......rhizosphere....P-solubilizer, complex residue degrader, detoxify herbicides
Bacillus laterosporusiformis....rhizosphere....S availability
Bacillus licheniformis....rhizosphere.........S-availability
Bacillus subtilis.......rhizosphere.......Seed gremination , seedling growth
Bacillus azotofixans.......rhizosphere......N-fixer, complex residue degrader
Azotobacter beijernickii....rhizosphere......N-fixer, complex residue degrader, lower pH activity
Azotobacter chrooococcum.....rhizosphere.......N-fixer, stimulate mycorrhiza, complex residue degrader, mo and vd enzyme
Azospirillium brazilense.....endophyte......N-fixer, stimulate plant hormones, stimulate mycorrhiza, improve legume nodules, stimulate root biomass , improve salt tolerance, K uptake
Pseudomonas putida........rhizosphere........stimulate plant hormones, antagonist to soil fungal diseases
Pseudomonas fluorescens..........rhizosphere.....antagonist to soil fungal diseases
Bacillus polymyxa.........endophyte.........N-fixer, stimulate plant hormones, complex residue degrader
Pseudomonas fulva.........rhizosphere.......N-fixer, stimulate plant hormones, antagonist to soil fungal diseases
Aquaspirillium autotrophicum....endophyte......N-fixer, stimulate plant hormones,
Actinomycetes.........Bulk Soil...........Antibiotic production, Brassica crops specific

1/26/2004 9:14:11 PM

Ctpumpkin@optonline.net

You don't mention a specific crop od interest. But here is a short list of common soil borne fungal pathogens that are known to reduce crop production. Search any or all of these for a good start.

Good luck. This is a vast & interesting subject.

Steve

Rhizoctonia Solani & Cerealis, Fusarium sp, Phytophthora cinnamomi, Pythium sp, Gaeumannomyces graminis var. tritici, Gibberella zeae, Verticillium sp, Thielaviopsis, Sclerotinia and Cylindrocladium

1/26/2004 9:26:45 PM

Ctpumpkin@optonline.net

I sell a beneficial bacteria containing inoculant that is used in modern bio-rational plant health care. You might want to try inocculationg some of your sterile soiless mix with the following to observe the effect on soil pathogens: Bacillus subtilis, B.licheniformis, B. amyloliquefaciens, B. pumilus, B. megaterium, and Paenibacillus polymyxa. -

P. polymyxa can fix atmospheric nitrogen in forms useful for plants such as amonia.- Bacteria activities aid in degradation of thatch and soil organic matter to release nutrients for plant utilization.

B. subtilis and B. licheniformis may help suppress certain pathogenic fungi through competition and production of antibiotic substances.

B. megaterium aids in solubilization of mineral phosphorous which may be unavailable to plants otherwise.

Steve

1/26/2004 9:33:37 PM

In the shade - PDX, OR

Steve is that the Promax or Biogain....or something else?


That is a great list of beneficials. Thanks for posting that.


According to my notes it looks like the Promax....please confirm.
Thanks.

1/27/2004 1:44:40 AM

Ctpumpkin@optonline.net

ProMax & BioGain are the same product. We private label BioGain which is made by Becker Underwood. Both are terrific. For some reason, neither bothers to list the actual active bacteria in the readily available sell sheets. So I made my own with BU provided data.

I've been told that the average end user of these products doesn't care what's in them. My come back is "Then why the ISO 9001 standard?" Blank stare. I care so I tell.

BU used to make PHC's BioPack (the Original version, there are new cheaper versions now with various "fillers" such as fertilizer or iron that drive down cost), but they went their seperate ways for "philosophical business reasons". IE: BU wanted to adhere to the costly ISO 9001 standards & PHC wouldn't incur that expense.

Becker Underwood did adopt the ISO standards & convinced the US PGA Greens sction to take the high road. We went along for the ride since the golf green section is what floats our boat. LOL

I suppose these details aren't really necesary for most green industry people. But I can't believe what I don't understand. And I won't sell what I wouldn't use. So first I have to know. Then I can believe & use. Then I can sell. My personal demons. LOL

1/27/2004 7:29:25 AM

In the shade - PDX, OR

"Soil bacteria maintain a balance of life in the soil,so plant disease rarely is a problem in soils rich in microlife. It is only in relatively dead soils that a pathogen can multiply greatly on a particular host plant."

If you have Fusarium or Pythium in your patch that should tell you that you have nuked it to imbalance. (Too many synthetics?)

The list of good guys is far longer than the bad ones according to the list that Steve has above.
Interesting how Mother Nature designed it that way.

1/28/2004 1:53:28 AM

Ctpumpkin@optonline.net

"Nuke to imbalance" can be done with synthetic fertilizers & pesticides. But ironocally, some of the bacteria *like* certain pesticides & their populations explode post treatment. So the serve to consume our mistakes.

Soil Microbiologists readily admit this list is only scratching the surface. Soil bacteria are hard to test for & quantify populations. Avaialable tests are inconsistant & costly. There is so much more to learn.

The key to succesfully utilizing the "good guys" is to renew soil organic matter religeously. Don't go over board, just don't let %OM drop every year. Manage moisture even on fields left fallow if you can. Maintain proper pH & fertility. And moderate chemical usage to reduce impact when possible. Choose the chemicals that least impact micro organisms so long as they get the job done.

Then turn to these commercial preperations to "tip the scales" in the soils favor. They are especially useful when restoring balance to Basamid, Methyl bromide, Vapam, or heat treated/manufactured soils.

For years I advocated not using the commercial preperations. My theory was that we had to correct the cause of imbalance. Then nature would restore the balance on her own. This is still true today. But when the cost of certified authentic materials dropped below $50/acre, I changed my mind.

Steve

1/28/2004 5:47:21 AM

Montoursville, PA

The only problem I see with the use of synthetic (now being called a nicer name: certified authentic materials) is that they nuke down all imbalanced factors to a low level. There is no correction of ballance caused or created by the continued use of them. They all carry with them horrible scary poison effect warnings. They are nonslective killers. The act of large scale use of certified authentic materials which are poisons cloaked in the now nicer words enables a false sense of security. If any product, organic based or synthetic is used to the point that a treatment becomes non-selective only a lower level of imballance is realized. The synthetics have only poisons to offer. Continued use only reduces the living biological parts of the soil with absolutely no soil building elements. There are no life giving or life building elements in most if not all synthetic products unless as is the case some natural things are tossed into the mix to make the appearance of goodness by minute organic content.

...There never has been and are not now any give or take in these decisions. Either an additive has the ability to build a biologically stronger soil or it has the ability to kill thus reducing the ability of any existing biological content to recover.

....Fortunately for all of us the increased healthy soil factors will, if not poisoned to badly, develope within itself the ability to over come the bad stuff dumpped upon the soil or added to it. The healthy soil is an amazing mass of real life quite capable of being developed to levels of health that require little if any synthetic resistance. In many cases a planned a step by step reduction from a sickly low level is the only way out but it remains the only way out of a low level sick soil situation.

The healthy patch route ends up being considerably less expensive than any other choice because it just keeps getting better year after year as fewer and fewer synthetic poisons remain in the soil.

1/28/2004 9:02:55 AM

Jaffrey NH

Thanks so much for everything, everyone!

Douglas

1/28/2004 7:00:30 PM