Sonoma Mountain Institute

OK, I completed another round of brews and testing on the turf pro trial. Now we have 3 brews for each of the different amounts of product, all made under similar conditions, and all using the same compost resource.

Comparing teas made with different amounts of Turf Pro

In looking at the results, I don’t know how to read this other than as inconclusive. Looking at the averages suggests that both no foods and 3 liters of turf pro had a positive effect on total fungi. However, looking at the standard deviation kind of evens everything out. Then looking at individual brew results suggests that each brew is pretty variable even when using the same compost.

So what is the next step? Run more rounds of samples and average all of them out? What does that mean for a grower who will only do one or two applications of tea in a season?

This takes me back to earlier observations that suggest that, as much as anything, it all depends on which scoop of compost you grab from the pile. Maybe playing some Marvin Gaye would get the fungi “in the mood” so to speak…but how would you test that?

Jacob

Here are a few pictures from an ecto-mycorrhiza test done on the seasonal oak plot monitoring. You can see the fungal mantle and hartig net in the first picture. The second picture is a view of an ecto tip under the field scope and the third picture you can see the fungal mantle under the 40x lend.

It has been extremely helpful sending a few samples to Efren and comparing our numbers; but it is hard to “see” what he is counting simply by looking at his final numbers. Currently I am putting together pictures of mycorrhiza that I have taken and posting them to a separate webpage for a conference/teaching call with him scheduled for the end of this week or the beginning of next week. I will send the link of the webpage for you all to see.

During the analysis of the grassland experiment data we observed seasonal shifts/trends within each of the three communities (Perennial Wet, Perennial Dry and Annual Upland) leading us to further inquiry. In November 2007, we began conducting monthly soil biology and soil chemistry tests on the three control plots (west) used in the grassland experiment.

Here are the soil biology results from the first three months of monitoring:

Seasonal Grassland Monitoring First 3 Months

Currently I am coordinating with my botany teacher to schedule a time to collect soil samples from a few native grassland patches at Pepperwood preserve. This might give us some insight into how the baseline data of our non-native grasslands compare to the soil foodweb profile of native grasslands?

We built three new compost piles last week. All three piles share the same ingredient base of wood chips, fresh cut greens, and alfalfa, but each with slightly different proportions and differing additional ingredients. All three have been heating up nicely, and have been turned at least once so far.

The BLUE pile was created on 2/4/08. It has the least diversity of materials.
C-020408-BLU

• 50% aged wood chips
• 35% fresh greens
• 15% alfalfa (1/3-1/2 old bale)

The YELLOW pile was created on 2/5/08.
C-020508-YEL

• 40% aged wood chips
• 20% fresh greens
• 15% rice straw (~1/3 bale)
• 10% aged, dried, brown grass
• 15% alfalfa (1/3-1/2 old bale)

The PINK pile was created on 2/7/08.
C-020708-PINK

• 35% aged wood chips
• 20% fresh greens
• 20% aged, dried, brown grass
• 5% aged, shredded cardboard
• 20% alfalfa (<1/2 new bale)

*Some notes about ingredients: Some of the sections of the wood chip pile

Read the rest of this entry »

The updated grassland experiment data has been reviewed and the final write-up is complete.

In brief, this experiment has not altered the soil biology or chemistry with any of our treatments to make a significant measurable difference; nor did we observe a change in percent coverage of native and non-native grass species. Our data does reflect seasonal trends within the control plots that support further study.

Please see the full document and data sheet below:

Final Grassland Write-Up 02.05.08

GL Soil Biology Data

Over the past couple of weeks, I made a series of tea brews using equal amounts of the same compost, and different amounts of Turf Pro Humic Acid. Each brew was replicated and all were tested for totals and activities.

I entered these results and averaged the replications to get an idea of how different amounts of Turf Pro affects the biology of several compost tea brews. Please note that the first tea brews on the sheet were made without any additional foods, then I added 1 liter, 2 liters and 3 liters to the next series of brews.

tea-comparison-with-turf-pro.xls

Comments always welcome…