"Wee Beasties" and other "Critters" in TP

[Michaelangelica]

Goodness, a "wee beasties" newsletter
University of Kentucky Wee Beasties Newsletter Spring 2002
not 'wee' enough methinks

Why?

One of the reasons that Dr. Lehmann recommends caution in the use of biochar can be seen in the paper recently published by Christoph Steiner et al., mentioned in previous messages.
He did get excellent plant growth responses to adding biochar - as long as mineral fertilizer was also used.
When you look at plant growth in the biochar only treatment, growth was worse than doing nothing at all (check plots).
In the nutrient-poor and highly leached soils of the tropics, the added biochar likely bound whatever nutrients were present in the soil solution and these became unavailable for plant uptake.
These results should make you cautious as well. How fertile a soil needs to be for biochar not to reduce plant growth or exactly how much fertilizer and/or compost should be added to be sure there is good, sustained release of nutrients, will likely vary soil to soil and we simply do not have these data available at present to make proper recommendations. . .

As to the 'wee beasties' or 'critters' as I like to call them, we have made progress on this front over the last several years. Brendan O'Neill and Julie Grossman in my laboratory, Sui Mai Tsai, our Brazilian collaborator at CENA and the University of Sao Paulo, and Biqing Liang, and many others in Johannes Lehmann's laboratory have been characterizing microbial populations in three different terra preta soils and comparing these to the adjacent, unmodified soils near by to them.
Brendan found that populations of culturable bacteria and fungi are higher in the terra preta soils, as compared to the unmodified soils, in all cases.
Yet, Biqing found that the respiratory activity of these populations is lower (see Liang et al., 2006), even when fresh organic matter is added.
This alone means that the turnover of organic matter is slower in the terra preta soils - suggesting that the presence of black C in the terra pretas is helping to stabilize labile organic matter and is itself not turning over in the short term.
All good news for C sequestration.
However, since the respiratory activity is lower (slower decomposition), this may lead to slower release of other mineral nutrient associated with the fresh organic inputs.
In some circumstances this is a good thing (maintaining nutrient release over the growing season),
in other circumstances (more immobilization), perhaps not.
We need more work on this to understand the implications of these results more fully.

More at:-
Muck and Mystery: Feed Me

[erich]

I may have posted this before, It provides a good baseline to measure what an impact Biochar could have to the overall carbon cycle.



First-ever estimate of total bacteria on earth
Study shows far greater numbers than ever known before.
"Another important part of the study was an estimate of carbon content in bacteria. Carbon, of course, is a crucial element in numerous natural processes, so knowing the amount of it could contribute substantially to knowledge of carbon cycles. Scientists assume that carbon in the bacteria that live in soil and subsurface takes up about one-half of their dry weight. The team thus found that the total amount of bacterial carbon in the soil and subsurface to be yet another staggering number, 5 X 10**17 g or the weight of the United Kingdom.
Rather surprisingly, the group at Georgia found that the total carbon of bacteria is nearly equal to the total carbon found in plants. The inclusion of this carbon in global models will greatly increase estimates of the amount of carbon stored in living organisms. The new estimates could also change assumptions about the relative amount in plants of other essential nutrients such as nitrogen and phosphorus."

ET 9/98: First-ever estimate of total bacteria on earth

[Michaelangelica]

Bacteria are said to love soil with a high pH.- 8+
They then tend to use organic matter at a much higher rate.
Some say this depletes the soil micro-nutrients available for plants.

Better known as ‘laughing gas’, nitrous oxide (N2O) accounts for 9 per cent of all greenhouse gases, yet is 300 times more potent than carbon dioxide (CO2). As a result its longevity in the atmosphere provides a potentially more damaging legacy than CO2.

Agriculture accounts for around 70 per cent of N2O emissions.
The sources are mainly from soil micro-organisms that make N2O from nitrogen-rich fertilisers added to soils to maximise crop yields. Other significant biological sources of N2O come from the wastewater treatment industries where the greenhouse gas is again produced from micro-organisms.

Nitrous Oxide: Forgotten Greenhouse Gas No Laughing Matter | Scientific Blogging

[Michaelangelica]

HHH: Microbes thrive at a greater rate when their food source is varied.



FISH FERTILIZER (Company products will vary).

+ When choosing fish, look for one that is double filtered with no unpleasant odor.

+ Cold processing (and/or hydrolysates) protects vitamins, amino acids, enzymes and growth hormones while retaining fresh fish protein, oils, minerals, micro and macro fish nutrients.

+ Sixty naturally chelated nutrients and nitrogen are readily available for plant consumption.

+ Micro-organisms are built by this compost enhancer, which also promotes beneficial bacteria.

+ Natural fish oil is a soil microbial food source.

Welcome to the Holistic Horse Magazine

[Michaelangelica]

Boron Is Essential For The Growth Of Plants And Animals

ScienceDaily (Feb. 28, 2008) — A research group from the biology department of the Universidad Autónoma de Madrid has shwon that boron, although only required in tiny doses, is essential for organogenesis in plants.

Boron Is Essential For The Growth Of Plants And Animals

Boron (pronounced /ˈbɔərɒn/) is a chemical element with atomic number 5 and the chemical symbol B. Boron is a trivalent nonmetallic element which occurs abundantly in the evaporite ores borax and ulexite. Boron is never found as a free element in nature.

Boron - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Natural boron-containing compounds in plants, algae and microorganisms.
Document Title: Current Topics in Phytochemistry, Volume 5, 2002

Abstract:

The discovery of naturally-occurring boron compounds, all ionophoric polyketide macrodiolide antibiotics with a single boron atom critical for activity, established at least one biochemical role of boron. This review focuses primarily on the presence and distribution of boron-containing compounds in vascular plants, marine algal species, and microorganisms.

Publisher: Research Trends

http://www.cababstractsplus.org/goog...No=20043156450

[Michaelangelica]

Is it a bird? Is it a plane ? No it's Super Wee Beastie.

Evidence Of 'Rain-making' Bacteria Discovered In Atmosphere And Snow

Evidence Of 'Rain-making' Bacteria Discovered In Atmosphere And Snow

[Michaelangelica]

I just had a thought.
If you want to grow bacteria, scientists use agar agar.
So what is it?
Can it be used in the garden?
It seems it is sort of seaweed with maybe some blood?
So does blood and bone and seaweed fertiliser do the trick in the garden?
Does all seaweed contain agar or only some types?
Does Maxicrop contain agar?
How do you grow algae to make your own agar?

Agar is simply a sugar-based gelatinous substance derived from the cell wall of algae. Its coated onto a petri dish only because it provides the perfect nutrients/moistness etc. for bacteria to grow. Its non-selective, meaning that anything that likes it can grow on it.. including fungi.

You see bacteria growing overnight because bacteria grow exponentially when they're given optimal conditions (ie. food, temp etc), so all you're seeing is dense multiplication of a single bacterium into a visible colony within 24 hours.

just an aside, there are different types of agar that usued to "preferentially" grow different types of bacteria.. if we have a slighly acidic agar media in a plate, for example, lactic acid bacteria (which thrive in acidic conditions..) will be the first to colonize the media.

just keep in mind that no chemical reaction is going on between the agar and the bacteria.
Any surface that contains ample nutrients, warm temperature, and no predation will show similar growth.

How does agar highlight the bacteria in a petri dish? - Yahoo! Answers

Common Types of Agar
Type of Agar Brief Description Suitable for Student Use?
Blood Agar Contains blood cells from an animal (e.g. a sheep); most bacteria will grow on this medium. No, due to potential for contamination from human contact.
Chocolate Agar Comprised of sheep blood that provides the X and V factors necessary for Haemophilus growth, this is a nutrient medium which is used in culturing fastidious organisms such as Haemophilus species and Neisseria. Chocolate agar, however, does not reveal hemolysis data, so species differentiation among the members of Haemophilus must be performed in another manner. No, due to potential for contamination from human contact.
LB (Luria Bertani) Agar A subtype of nutrient agar, this is the general medium for microbiology studies and may be used for routine cultivation of not particularly fastidious microorganisms. Also, does not preferentially grow one kind of bacteria over another. Yes

.
MORE Types here
All About Agar

On algae
Can anyone translate any of this?

উদ্ভিদ শৈবাল
সবুজকণা যুক্ত গঠনগতভাবে সরলতম উদ্ভিদ গোষ্ঠীকে সামগ্রিকভাবে শৈবাল বলা হয়׀ যাদের দেহ মূল, কান্ড এবং পাতায় ভাগ করা যায় না׀ এই সকল সবুজ উদ্ভিদের দেহ একই প্রকার কোষ দ্বারা গঠিত׀ তাই এদের সমাঙ্গদেহী উদ্ভিদ বা থ্যালোফাইটা (Thallophyta) বলে׀ যে সকল শৈবালের দেহে একটি মাত্র কোষ আছে তাদের এককোষী বলা

[freeztar]

Originally Posted by Michaelangelica

I just had a thought.
If you want to grow bacteria, scientists use agar agar.
So what is it?
Can it be used in the garden?

At $8 for 6.9g, I would look for cheaper solutions. Unless you make it yourself of course, but it still seems like more trouble than it is worth. Good thinking though.

[Thunderbird]

Michaelangelica have you ever hear of PREPARATION 500 - COW HORN MANURE.


PREPARATION 500 - COW HORN MANURE

Horns of plenty
If burying manure in a cow horn seems an odd way to work the vineyard, take a deep breath - because that's what biodynamic winemakers want their land to do: inhale, exhale and achieve the perfect balance that expresses itself in the bottle

Horns of plenty /

[erich]

The genome of Laccaria bicolor provides insights into mycorrhizal symbiosis

The genome of : Laccaria bicolor: provides insights into mycorrhizal symbiosis : Abstract : Nature