7/27/2023 0 Comments Download worm castings near meWhat makes this even more interesting is the evidence suggesting that this microbial protection is not the result of the ‘good guy’ microbes attacking or even out competing the pathogen – rather, it seems to be due to some sort of alteration of chemical cues. When castings were heat sterilized before being added, most of the seedlings were killed by the pathogen – similar to treatments without any castings added. One thing that has been determined without much doubt is the fact that the microorganisms in the castings are primarily responsible for the disease suppression – at least in this particular case. Specifically, she has been trying to determine what mechanisms are responsible for the significant reduction in disease incidence when castings are added to the soil blend. One component of her research has centered around the suppression of the ‘damping off’ pathogen, Pythium aphanidermatum, brought about via the addition of dairy manure worm castings (Tom Herlihy’s “Worm Power” brand). This past fall I was fortunate enough to have the opportunity to interview (for an article on my website) Allison Jack, a PhD candidate at Cornell University who has been looking into the area of compost-mediated plant disease suppression for her thesis project. Nevertheless, there is still a respectable (and growing) body of evidence to indicate that castings do indeed possess properties that can help to protect plants against a variety of diseases. Over the years there has been considerable research examining the disease-suppression potential of thermophilic (hot) composts, but relatively little, in comparison, conducted using vermicomposts (again, recall that we are basically using this term as a synonym for ‘castings’). □Īs promised, we’ll be looking at worm castings as agents of plant disease suppression. If I did, let me apologize in advance, since there will be some more coming your way this week. Hopefully I didn’t frustrate to many people with all the scientific article references in the last newsletter.
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