Hi! All, Cassuarina stricta (Allocassuarins vinalarus) can also be used. This is the Drooping She Oak of SA & Vic. It has the ability to take up huge amounts of silica. On granite country the timer can have up to 47% silica, dry weight, while on the mean calcareous soils, only one or two percent. We always include green She Oak foliage in all compost.
Gil Stephen Barrow wrote: > Cassuarina cunningham, a tree used for windbreaks, serves as a substitute > for Equisetum in its anti-fungal role. I don't know if it will work as a > sub for the prep. > > We have also used large grains, such as wheat, and oats, as green manures > and primary materials in compost and mulches to specifically counter > Phytophthora in avocados. The theory is that these grains (as well as > Equisetum, Cassuarina, and stinging nettle) bind mineral silica organically, > and then upon decomposition, realise the organic form (cf. mineral silica as > in sand) for uptake by other plants, thereby strengthening cell walls and > assisting in fungal resistance. I am planning to grow oats as a green > manure this winter on the land which will be planted to spring potatoes to > see if I get the same beneficial effect. > > Stephen Barrow > > -----Original Message----- > From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]]On > Behalf Of [EMAIL PROTECTED] > Sent: Sunday, February 24, 2002 11:16 PM > To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > Subject: Re: BD 508 as inoculant; stinging nettle > > Equisetum likes pond edges. I have not yet started my own crop but am > working > on it. Nettles is for weed suppression and flavor enhancement and nitrogen, > it is not a sub for equisetum. I buy bulk fromm Bleesed Herb or JPI. > sstorch
