Chuck, I am very interested in your reply to Thomas' questions. If you answered off- list, I would be very happy to receive a private email response also. Thanks! Linda Kuczwanski In a message dated 2/28/99 10:15:45 PM Central Standard Time, thomas@tandjenterprises.com writes: << 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 >>