Frank Teuton wrote: > > > > > My understanding was that for trees it is preferred that fungi were > > predominant, for grasses bacteria is the preferred predominant. For > > veggies and flowers, and the like, I thought it was about 50% fungi and > > 50% bacteria. > > > > Did I misunderstand? > > Hi Bonnie, > > Yes it is more complicated than that. Among grasses, as among the row crop > vegetables, there is a spectrum of needs and tolerances. Elaine discusses > this in some of her audio CDs on the soil foodweb. For example, Poa > pratensis, which we refer to as Kentucky bluegrass, is a grass which needs > strong bacterial dominance. Fescues like it with more fungus, still > bacterial but less so. And so on. > > Brassicas, says Ingham, are at the strong bacterial dominance end of the > spectrum. I suppose this means that brassica root exudates select strongly > for bacterial mutualists. In a rich organic soil with the presence of a > suitable array of such bacteria, I assume that brassicas can have the > bacterial services they seek, even if there are also a lot of fungus > species/presence. > > The old JI Rodale literature contains several references to people who had > rich composted soils that they were able to grow a wide spectrum of > different plants in. The explanation offered, as I recall, was that > compost/humus/soil organic matter had great buffering capacity (the pH > thing). > > I think it is more likely that the rich, diverse foodweb in such composted > soil had a full panoply of choices for each kind of plant to draw on in > organizing microbial teams for its roots and leaves. Those teams could then > mediate between the plants and the soil and get each plant what it needed. > > One thing I like about Ingham's stuff is she uses 'who' for organisms > instead of 'what', as in 'let's see who's in there.' That suggests a sort of > intimacy that we also of course need to have with our plants, as in not only > are you a flower/veggie, but which one are you, which cultivar, what do you > need from my growing? > > The bacterial/fungal dominance issue can only be part of our answers to > those questions. > > Frank
HI Frank Some plants seem to dominate there patch off ground and prevent others from growing is this because the can dominate their bacterial/fungal requirments to excude other plants? I am thinking of the fact that some plants are antagonist towards each other and do not like being planted together or after each other. Fascinating subject. Cheers Tony Robinson NewZealand
