Jeff Lowenfels' Lecture Notes and Gardening with the SoilFoodweb Resources
A: Jeff Lowenfels’ How to garden using the Soil Foodweb:
Here are the notes you should have taken during Jeff’s
lecture or would have taken had you been there.
1. Bacteria produce slime = pH-->7 (alkaline) while fungi produce organic acids = pH<-- 7 (acid).
2. Most healthy soils have the same numbers of bacteria, somewhere between 100 million to 1 billion per teaspoon. There is a natural succession in soils as more and more fungal biomass is present until finally, in old growth forests, the soil is fungally dominated. This natural succession is the general guide you can use to determine what kind of soils, bacterially dominated, balanced or fungally dominated, your garden and yard plants prefer. Where would you find the plant in question growing:
<-----more bacterial-::::::::-more fungal------>
vegetable & annual garden soils --> lawn soils --> deciduous forest soils--> conifer forest soils.
3. Fungi travel fair distances; eat tough to digest, brown , coarse and large things. They are
great for getting nutrients to plants. The acidic conditions they create do not support nitrifying bacteria and ammonium is the most available form of nitrogen released by the soil foodweb organisms in fungally dominated soils.
4. Bacteria don’t travel very far; eat small , tiny things that are easy to digest, like fresh greenmatter. The nitrifying bacteria needed to convert ammonium to nitrates survive very well in the alkaline pH created when other bacteria are present and thus, ammonium released by soil foodweb activity is converted to nitrate in bacterially dominated soils.
5. Earthworms are good indicators: 5 to 30 in a the vegetable garden, 10 to 50 in the lawn per
square foot.
6. A Burlese funnel can be put together with a large plastic juice or pop bottle, some screening and an empty yogurt cup. Cut the bottom from the bottle, place it mouth down into the cup. Put screening in the bottom of the inverted bottle. Add a few cups of soil. Place light over the soil. Check the cup after 24 and 48 hours.
7. Micro-arthropods . Type it into Google.
8. Macro-arthropods. Same
9. If you take any of the soil foodweb organisms out of the lineup things get out of whack. You make this mistake by using salt-based fertilizers, herbicides, pesticides and miticides, letting soil go anaerobic or compacting them too much.
10. To garden with the soil foodweb you need to get the right kind of beneficial organisms into the soil. You can do this by using compost , compost/humus teas and mulches. These can be fungally dominated, bacterially dominated or balanced.
11. A HEALTHY FOODWEB means good soil structure and harmony and safety and healthin the
garden. Why do we use harmful chemicals when we have children to raise. A vegetable garden
or yard using poisons isn’t worth the risk
.
12. No one ever fertilizes the woods and forests and aren’t they lovely.
B: INTERNET RESOURCES
SOIL FOODWEB, INC: This is Dr. Elaine Ingham’s site with great information.
Find out how to test your compost and teas. This is the place to start. This is where it started.
INTERNATIONAL COMPOST TEA COUNCIL: A recently formed non-profit
to promote science and compost teas. This is a great website for the information you need on compost tea, the soilfoodweb and the organization’s activities.
Join!
COMPOST TEA LISTSERVE: An international group of tea makers dedicated to sharing the science and benefits of compost teas.
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/compost_tea/
ATTRA SOIL SYSTEMS MANAGEMENTA: A great compellation of soil stuff.
http://www.soilandhealth.org/01aglibrary/010117
attrasoilmanual/010117attra.html#information
SOCIETY OF NEMOTOLOGISTS: Here are some great pictures.
http://www.cpes.peachnet.edu/nemabc/
CORNELL UNIVESITY: GUIDE TO BIOLOGICAL CONTROL
History of natural enemies in North America.
http://www.nysaes.cornell.edu/ent/biocontrol/
TREE ROOTS AND MICROBIAL PARTNERS: A Good resource on mycorrhizae.
http://www.greenmediaonline.com//aa/1997/0497/497treeroots.html
MYCORRHIZAL INFORMATION EXCHANGE: The latest and the greatest and all the rest on mycorrhizal fungi.
SOIL LINKS: All sorts of links and a soil forum, too.
http://homepages.which.net/~fred.moor/soil/links/l0103.htm
CYBERWORM LINKS: All sorts of worm stuff.
http://www.wormdigest.org/cyberwormslinks.html
ALASKA HUMUS SOIL: This is the standard for making tea. Full of microbiology, highly diverse and as good for what it doesn’t have in it:pollutants and chemicals. It makes tea that is so good it is called Humus tea. We think it is a step above compost tea.
HENDRICKS SHRAVEN ORGANICS: A great source of organic fertilizers and tea nutrients.
http://www.hendrikusorganics.com/default.htm
KITSAP COUNTY PUBLIC WORKS, SOLID WASTE DIVISION:
Government can do good. Compost ‘stuff’ from Kitsap Public Works.
http://www.kitsapgov.com/sw/compost.htm
CORNELL UNIVERSITY INVERTEBRATES OF THE COMPOST PILE:
Here are the pictures my wife didn’t want you to see! Not for the weak of heart who may not want to put their hands in soil ever again!
http://www.cfe.cornell.edu/compost/invertebrates.html
PANNA PESTICIDE ADVISOR: Find out what is in any pesticides and what they do.
GORDON’S SOIL MAKERS: A good compilation of soil info with numbers by species category.
http://www.earthlife.net/insects/soileco.html
WEEDS AS AN INDICATOR OF SOIL HEALTH: A good read on weeds and what they do and their causes.
http://www.eap.mcgill.ca/Publications/EAP67.htm
GARDEN SAFARI: Lots of great stuff on garden bugs. Fantastic pictures.
http://www.gardensafari.net/first/bugs.htm
TREES AND TOADSTOOLS: With an introduction by Dr. Elaine Ingham
and several great chapters about trees and fungi.
http://journeytoforever.org/farm_library/rayner/rayner_ingham.html
AGRIENERGY’s Soil Life outline: Full of good stuff, history, numbers, a real cheat sheet on the soilfoodweb.
http://www.agrienergy.net/renewabledata/soil life humus/soillife.html
JOHN EVANS’ ALASKA GIANT: Holder of Guinness Records for vegetables, and retailer of a nifty and easy to use, inexpensive home tea making system, this site is full of all sorts of great information. You won’t believe the veggie pictures. They are real.
THE KEEP IT SIMPLE, INC: Makers of compost tea machines including a very affordable 5-gallon home unit that makes great tea in a record 12 hours.
DIGITAL LEARNING CENTER FOR MICROBIAL ECOLOGY: This is a really fun site with all sorts of stuff about microbes. Designed for elementary school kids, it is perfect for adults.
http://commtechlab.msu.edu/sites/dlc-me/zoo/zdmain.html
JEFF LOWENFELS’ EMAIL ADDRESS: If you have a question, ask me!
USE GOOGLE AND SEARCH: COMPOST TEA, MICROBES AND SOIL;
SOIL FOODWEB; MYCORRHIZAL: MYCHORRIZAE, PROTOZOA etc.
There is some really great stuff out there!
Plant A Row For The Hungry (PAR) is a wonderful program for gardeners who want to contribute part of their harvest to local food banks and homeless shelters in their communities. It is a national effort sponsored and promoted by the Garden Writers Association of America in cooperation with HGTV.It's easy to participate and very rewarding. http://www.gwaa.org/par/
C: READING RESOURCES
COMPOST TEA
The Compost Tea Brewing Manual
by Dr. Elaine Ingham - The Soil Foodweb, Inc. (www.soilfoodweb.com)
The how-to manual for brewing compost tea written by one of the industry's top experts on compost tea.
MICROBIOLOGY
Soil Biology Primer
USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service - Soil & Water ConservationSociety (1-800-the-soil or www.swcs.org)
An introduction to the living component of soil and how that component contributes to agricultural productivity and to air and water quality.
The Secret Garden -
Dawn to Dusk in the Astonishing Hidden World of the Garden
by David Bodanis - Simon & Schuster
An eye-opening journey through the mysterious domain where plants and insects engage daily in a Darwinian epic of survival in gardens and backyards everywhere.
SOILS
Soil Ecology
By Ken Killham – Cambridge University Press
A scientifically detailed review of soil ecology. Nicely written and easily understood if you have just a bit of science in your blood.
Start With The Soil -
The Organic Gardeners Guide To Improving Soil For Higher Yields, MoreBeautiful Flowers And A Healthy, Easy-Care Garden
By Grace Gershuuny - Rodale Press, Inc.
A hands-on guide to creating and maintaining healthy garden soil. A great source for implementing organic practices throughout your garden.
The Gardener's Guide To A Better Soil
By Gene Logsdon - Rodale Press, Inc.
Gene Logsden reveals the techniques most basic to good gardens…those that build and maintain a healthy soil. He lives with his wife and their two children on a twenty-two acre mid-Ohio homestead.
Secrets To A Great Soil
A Growers Guide To Composting, Mulching, And Creating A Healthy,Fertile Soil For Your Garden And Lawn.
By Elizabeth P. Stell - Storey's Gardening Skills Illustrated
Learn all the secrets for creating fertile, productive soil anywhere. Secrets to Great Soil solves all your soil problems and gives you techniques for year-round soil building.
VERMICOMPOSTING
Worms Eat My Garbage
By Mary Appelhof—Flower Press. All you need to know about getting worms
to work for you.
NATURAL GARDENING
Down To Earth Natural Lawn Care
from the host of the nationally syndicated TVseries "The Joy of Gardening"
By Dick Raymond - Storey Publishing
Sensitive to environmental concerns, Raymond stresses sensible, natural ways to create and maintain a healthy lawn, and shows exactly what to do and when to do it.
The Chemical-Free Lawn
The Newest Varieties and Techniques to Grow Lush, Hardy Grass
by Warren Schultz - Rodale Press, Inc.
Easy to follow, comprehensive how-to book provides all the information needed to grow a trouble-free lawn or revive an established lawn - without the use of harmful chemicals.
Weedless Gardening
No more tilling or hard work
By Lee Reich – Workman Publishing, Inc
A really neat book on how to garden organically. Great info on no till, organic fertilizers and how to set up so you don’t have to work so hard.
NATURAL DISEASE & PEST CONTROL
The Organic Way To Plant Protection
by Organic Gardening Editors
A complete garden reference on controlling insects and plant diseases without DDT and other pesticides.
AGRICULTURE
The One Straw Revolution
An Introduction to Natural Farming
by Masanobu Fukuoka - Bantam Books
"Like many in the West, and sooner than most of us, Masanobu Fukuoka has understood that we cannot isolate one aspect of life from another. When we change the way we grow our food, we change our food, we change society, we change our values….The One Straw Revolution is an inspiring, necessary book about agriculture because it is not just about agriculture." Wendell Berry
