News Feed Forums Soil Health Balancing F:B Ratios in Soil – Comparing Inoculants Reply To: Balancing F:B Ratios in Soil – Comparing Inoculants

  • Harriet Mella

    Member
    September 23, 2021 at 3:08 am
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    A compost tea (aerated) sitting around without aeration in warmth and high nutrient concentrations will be devoid of fungi (imagine, they have just germinated, this is such a vulnerable stage!) in no time at all.

    My current understanding is that long term the structure you have will determine the community much much more than the added strains. The sieve or net determines what you can catch/select.

    Without a sound “background” population of friendly bacteria you will have trouble to establish fungi (as the soil will be too “brittle” and not form stable capillaries – not enough mucilage and not enough metabolic diversity). So no fear of bacteria. If you want to control them, think of protists. They preferentially feed on the soft, fast growing not so optimal species. Look at Stefan Geisens research about that.

    The best inoculant will be indigenous microbes (because they fit your soil and your conditions and not our ideas!) – but the second best will be any community that “works”. Sometimes it is better to put a quick fix in a niche just so that someone is there and the community will change and specialize over time.

    Without a microscope you can watch root hair and rhizosheath formation.