Give Your Lawn a Microbe Makeover
by Gabby Hyman, All About Lawns Columnist ...
Microbes-A living organism that can be seen only with a microscope. Humans need them to live. They help us digest food and make possible the normal development of our immune system.
Microbe-Microorganism; an organism of microscopic size.
Microbial pesticide-Pesticide that consists of bacteria, fungi, viruses, or other microorganisms and is used for control of weeds, invertebrates, or plant pathogens.
Microbes need water and air to thrive; keep the compost uniformly moist--about the dampness of a wrung-out sponge--and turn it once a week.
Microbes are one natural source of pest control. Many bacteria, fungi and other organisms cause diseases that kill or cripple insect pests. These are called microbial pesticides.
Soil microbes must first break down water-insoluble nitrogen into forms grass plants can use. These truly slow-release sources include synthetic organic-like ureaforms or those derived from natural organic materials, such as composted manure.
As the microbes finish the decomposition process, the compost will begin to cool. Continue turning or rolling the composter every day or two.
Teaming with Microbes
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Organic compost is a natural fertiliser and soil conditioner for the garden that can be easily made at home.
nitrifier A microbe that converts ammonium to nitrate.
nitrogen (N) A primary plant nutrient, especially important for foliage and stem growth.
Bacteria and other microbes rapidly multiply in the compost pile. They are essential in breaking-down the material to usable compost. Heat is generated through oxidation, which speeds up the decomposition.
Compost microbes also need the right amount of water. Too much moisture reduces airflow, causes temperatures to fall, and can make the pile smell; too little water slows decomposition and prevents the pile from heating.
Lime: Can kill the microbes that are doing the work.
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Today, many people are uncovering easy and cost-effective methods that replenish our soils with billions of microbes and rebuild the soil food web that nature intended. So lets take another look at what we are really doing when we grow organically.
Highly acidic materials such as sulphate of ammonia can cause toxic shock to soil microbes and earthworms. Raising the pH in acidic soils can be achieved by using dolomite lime, poultry manure or ground-up limestone.
Perfect aeration means optimal conditions for microbes. More microbes mean faster breakdown which increases temperature which further stimulates microbial activity which increases temperature which. you get the idea.
Cornell University Department of Plant Pathology & Plant-Microbe Biology
The Department of Plant Pathology and Plant-Microbe Biology is one of the oldest plant pathology departments in the United States.
From that point on work the organic matter into the top 3 inches of soil and let the earthworms and soil microbes do the rest. Nature does not rototill the fields and the forests. You shouldn't either.
Unlike garden soil, in which there are many naturally occurring microbes and — if you're lucky — worms, mixes can quickly become depleted of nutrients. For that reason, regular applications of fertilizer are recommended.
CURED COMPOST has almost all the nutrients the crops contained, and so many beneficial microbes that it is one of the best things you can do for your garden. It also contains enough humus to replenish your soil's supply.
All types of soil benefit from the addition of compost, as the presence of organic material in the soil introduces microbes, which break down the compost. In turn, this brings worms into the soil to feed on the microbes.
The microbes in the compost pile are no different. They function best when the compost materials are about as moist as a wrung out sponge and are provided with many air passages for aerobic breakdown.
This comes from the pill bugs, microbes, fungi and worms when they breathe, digest food and then die. Although in the past plants have been capable of absorbing carbon dioxide caused by small-scale tillages, this isn't the case nowadays.
The best environment for microbes contains both carbon and nitrogen. Carbon provides an energy source for active microbes, while nitrogen provides the building blocks to build more microbes. The proper ratio is one part nitrogen to two parts carbon.
Class A biosolids have been treated to be free of disease-causing microbes. It is often sold as a fertilizer for turf. Class B biosolids may still contain disease-causing organisms and must be used with caution.
When oxygen is not available for the microbes decomposing the material in the compost pile, a different type of microbe will be feeding of the material that may cause the decomposition process to slow and the pile may smell foul.
In addition, some species of earthworms eat harmful microbes that are known plant pathogens (any bad things that cause disease or infection).
Ironically, many of the commercial fertilizers, fungicides and pesticides that get added to our lawns drive up the soil's acidity and send earthworms and other microbes packing. Without them and their help, thatch doesn't break down.
Soil holds lots of microbes and other organisms and materials that love to grow in and contaminate your hydroponic system. Some of these will actually parasitize your plant and slow its growth.
Decomposing microbes are the most active and efficient when the C:N ratio is 30:1. The more carbon in the pile relative to nitrogen, the longer the decomposition process.
Vertical tunnels not only allow for better air and water penetration into the soil layers than horizontal tunnels, they also help with removing chemical toxins. The soil in the burrows created by vertical tunnels harbors more beneficial microbes, ...
The good guys feed on harmful microbes like nematodes and certain soil born diseases. They also release their nutrients into the soil when they die. So the more beneficial microorganisms that are in the soil, the more nutrients will be in the soil.
Material added to compost pile that add carbon to the composting mix and feed the microbes and bacteria that are needed for composting.
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Early stages of development of a flower or plant growth.
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A brew of microbes feeds on dead plant tissue in the thatch layer, reducing thatch by half with just three applications at four-week intervals. Finally, humic acids and soil fungi promote soil fertility and plant growth.
Dirt in new home gardens and even in several established gardens usually lack most of the microbes living within healthful garden soil in the woods or in undisturbed prairies.
(* no plants are nitrogen fixers. What some of them are are excellent nitrogen-fixing soil-critter habitat makers. It's like planting a nitrogen-fixer-microbe spa, right there in your garden.)
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Clean your tool or tools also as you work from plant-to-plant so that you don't spread any disease or microbes throughout the plants addressed in your pruning session. Use rubbing alcohol, or you can apply a bleach and water mixture.
Organic nitrogen sources, such as Milorganite 6-2-0 fertilizer, are an excellent source of slow release nitrogen. The nitrogen in Milorganite 6-2-0 is released by naturally occurring microbes in your soil.
Fertilize regularly ...
The gelatin contains the nutrient nitrogen, which helps plants form green leaves. The sugar actually feeds beneficial microbes already in the soil that help young plants defend against disease causing organisms.
Its superior blend of fish bone meal, feather meal, kelp meal, alfalfa meal, soft rock phosphate, fish meal, mined potassium sulphate, humic acid, seaweed extract, beneficial soil microbes plus ecto and endo mycorrhizae make this product stand out ...
In about 3-4 weeks, go out and give your compost a good turn. This will allow the microbes that are decomposing everything to spread around. Repeat every 3-4 weeks.
Within 6-8 months, you should have a brown, earthy-smelling mixture.
The carpet/topdressing combination does allow water to infiltrate underlying soil. There is no research to document effects on soil microbes, earthworms, or insects or to the health of landscape plants with roots growing under the carpet.
and eventual death - trees live as dominant yet delicate organisms within a finely tuned continuum of natural succession. In nature the largest organisms - trees - are continuously under seige from the smallest - fungal, bacterial or viral microbes.
 See also: Plant, Microbes, Soil, Water, Organic
  
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