Talking Tea
Compost tea and its applications were on the minds of more than 110 people, some from as far away as Massachusetts, Ontario, Texas and New York, who gathered in Kirkland, Wash., for a recent get-together of the International Compost Tea Council (ICTC).
Another compost tea conference will be July 16-17 at Lake Washington Technical College. also in Kirkland. The program for that hands-on training conference will be announced on the ICTC website soon (www.intlctc.com).
Jeff Anderson of Mycorrhizal Applications discussed mycorrhizal fungi, their uses and benefits to plants. There are a number of different types of mycorrhizal fungi, and knowledge of which types colonize which plants is necessary. The researchers at Mycorrhizal Applications have been doing trials showing the benefit of mycorrhizal fungi for plant growth. Jeff showed data where survival of tree seedlings went from 95% mortality to 95% survival, merely because the proper mycorrhizal fungus was used. Effective rooting surface increased by 100 to 1000 fold in the mycorrhizal treatment. Another example was given where the plants in a nursery were showing highly variable growth rates, but when inoculated with the mycorrhizal fungi, growth of the plants was uniform. Water uptake by trees was improved by 50% in 6 months, because soil structure improved as well as drought tolerance of the plants. Disease resistance increased, most likely through improved nutrient balance in the trees.
