[tomato] history of certain bio accelerator's...
Thomas Giannou (Tomato@GlobalGarden.com)
Sun, 28 Feb 1999 16:20:38 -0800
>Hi Marguerite,
>
>As you know, I do not recommend the addition of bio accelerators of any
>kind other than well composted manure. That type of thing has come and
>gone every ten to fifteen years and I find a little manure does as well or
>better. You don't need a lot: only a enough to inoculate the soil. With
>that in mind, I hope the following will be of use.
Chuck,
I am curious as to what your definition is of "bio accelerators". And
which ones have come and gone? When did they come? When did they go? And
who was the manufacturer? And what exactly were they? I can think of
certain kinds of nitrogen fixing bacteria that are inoculants that have been
continuously available for more than 30 years. I can think of Commercial
Mycorrhiza products, but all of those products are all recent year
products... and were not available commercially ten years ago... despite
what another poster stated to the contrary. They have been studied at the
university level for a number of years, but it's only been within the past 5
years that any significant strides in their research findings have been
made.
I am also curious why you think manure is an inoculant. Most manure that is
aged and dried is just organic material.... dried animal feces. A lot of
people think of manure as a fertilizer, but it requires a micro-organisim (a
soil biotic) to break down organic material. Without those organisims,
manure will not break down. I remember starting a garden once in some very
poor soil. I added manure, but at the end of the season, it was mostly
still there. Perhaps you are thinking of manure that has been treated with
a bunch of biotic ingredients? I do know that one should never use green
manure because it will kill off the soil micor-organisims and it is fairly
harsh on plants.
Regards,
Thomas Giannou
Spokane, Washington