Jeff Lowenfels and Wayne Lewis. Portland: Timber Press, 2006. 196 pages.

If you are a gardener who isn’t afraid of some food for thought, read Teaming with Microbes: A Gardener’s Guide to the Soil Food Web.

It has an interesting premise, and does a nice job of supporting it: To reduce the amount of work and resources that you have to add and remove from the system, make better use of naturally occurring processes.

In a natural setting such as a forest or jungle, plants can thrive without any human intervention. There is a web of dependencies and products that allow resources to be acquired, used, and then made available again in some form to something further down the line. Plants need fertilizer, and if you follow the chain of events, they eventually become fertilizer with help from other parts of the web.

Conventional farming and gardening methods, on the other hand, attempt to restrict this web to the bare minimum required to produce the product that we want (fruits, vegetables, feed, etc.).

Now as any indoor gardener can tell you, the further you get away from a plant’s natural environment, the more responsible you become for supplying the needs that were being filled by other members of the web. For example, if you take a plant away from the sun, you become responsible for supplying light. If you remove the natural sources of nutrients, you become responsible for supplying the plants with nutrients, and so on.

In order to help explain what these naturally occurring factors are, the first part of the book describes the web from dirt and bacteria up to animal life. For material that contains a lot of Latin words, it is very straightforward and easy to understand. Much more the way textbooks should be written, instead of how they are. I have a feeling that I will be using it as a reference many times as I follow my own gardening path.

Once the Soil Food Web has been described, and the reader encouraged to take a more holistic, synergistic view of their garden, the second part of the book explains some ways to apply this knowledge. Instead of trying to force your garden to perform, you nurture and nudge it in the direction you want using compost, mulch, compost teas and so on. Like training an animal to perform tricks, you encourage your garden to do what you want, and discourage it from doing what you don’t.

To help readers distill the knowledge in the book down to a more manageable level for quick reference, there is a list of “The Soil Food Web Gardening Rules” which are nineteen statements that are the essence of some of the most important concepts in what the book has to say. It also has my only complaint about in the book: I would have liked a reference from the list of rules, to the relevant sections in the book.

It is the best book on garden interdependencies that I have read. Even though the topics discussed have given me a lot to think about, and the possible ramifications will have me referring back to it on a regular basis, the writing is so straightforward and smooth, that it has an almost “quick read” property to it. I finished it in two evenings.

If you want to consider yourself a “well read” gardener, put this on your list.

Peace, love and puka shells,

Grubbycup

WORDS: Hydroguy

To all the consumers who find the sheer magnitude of the plethora of plant products bewildering: I feel your pain. To know nothing is sheer abysmal confusion, yet to know more does not seem to make product choice easier. When I see new growers walk into a store with a blank gaze I can actually observe their mental processes block as the overwhelming, yet exciting, stimuli flashes at them from numerous brightly colored bottles. This blank gaze often turns into a mix of confusion and skepticism. Too often novice growers think in terms of ‘Is it real or BS?’ whereas they should really be asking: ‘Do I need this?’ All products are of use in some or another application, it’s just a matter of finding what’s useful to you.

Base Hydroponic Nutrients

All organisms are elemental and require elements to live. We can look at our “vitamin/mineral” requirements as humans and it’s a short list. Plants have a similar “short list” and science has determined that, in order to technically survive, plants must get hold of them. Nitrogen, Phosphorus, Potassium (NPK), micro nutrients, etc. So these are the base survival needs. But to think of this as the limit of an organism’s needs is obtuse, just as a human would not have a great life eating cardboard for calories and taking vitamins. That said, whether your concern is simply production or quality of produce, you will need a base nutrient to supply the required minerals for growth. In the near-imperceptible chain of causality that affects plants outdoors, you have covered the most basic rudimentary needs. To qualify as a “base nutrient” all that is required are the N, P, and K in whatever ratio and micro-nutrients in sufficient quantity for your plant. Base nutrients are similar, but not the same. To arrive at a base nutrient (20-20-20 for example) a company can use various elemental compounds in combination; different combinations can have more or less purity at achieving the target mineral balance, and impurities are associated elements unintended for the outcome, such as arsenic. Aside from the ‘backpacked’ impurities in lesser quality products, different companies also use various arrangements of elemental compounds: for example, Calcium Nitrate or Ammonium Nitrate (among others) to provide the nitrogen. Different-sourced ingredients, as well as the final ratio of minerals, will all have slight variance in end use – those exact differences can be discussed another time.

Hydroponic base nutrients come in liquid 3-part, 2-part, and powder forms (”Why pay for water?”, some growers ask.) What you want is determined by preference, budget, availability, and trend. Read, ask your fellow growers, and inquire at your store to see what is buzzing – most base hydroponic nutrients are usable in any medium regardless of name. “Three part” can mean “use all three parts in conjunction” at different dilutions for each stage, or it can have one Grow and one Bloom for those respective stages and a third bottle added during both. “Two part” is often two parts for Grow and two for Bloom: four bottles mischievously pretending to be two. “Single part” is the actual two-part system with a Grow and a Bloom, or something representing those stages such as 20-20-20 and 15-30-15, and single part is also where you will find the “slurry” concoctions of mineral-based nutes with organics included. The ‘mineral/organic slurry’ is of some benefit to peat users since they add some cation exchange capacity (to be discussed later) to the inert peat without going all hippy.

“Well, I am using coco, so I need some coco food.” No, you don’t. Get better quality coco or add some cal/mag. Old coir was crappier because people didn’t realize the importance of desalinating it thoroughly, or some unscrupulous companies took the cheap route. Most coco-specific nutrients and only slightly increased in cal/mag and sometimes lessened in nitrogen – big whoop. If you are 100%-coco always then maybe it suits you, but I don’t see the importance.

There’s also the new “premium” base nutrients out there with labels donning expensive jewelry etc – these are still new to date for confidence, but if you’re willing to pay the piper for a trial there is some good buzz about some of them. As plant food becomes more of an organic chemistry art, we swerve less out of simple minerals and more into proprietary compounds we cannot know of even if we think we might understand them. That said, there still remains a need for disclosure and I can’t hold it against anyone for leaning to products with some transparency – in their attempt to avoid competitive replication, nutrient companies tend to alienate the consumer from understanding what their product is. Similarly, replication is a concern for consumers: nobody wants to add the same thing twice, and “just use it” is simply not convincing.

Organic Base Nutrients and Enhancers

The French Paradox. If you’ve never heard of it, pause to Google, but this is one example of a pretty basic point: there are more beneficial compounds in our food than simply vitamins. After the basic mineralogical requirements to sustain life, there are all the other bazillion compounds to improve the quality of life or, in our case, quality of produce of whatever form. An apple can technically minimally exist, or an apple can be packed with flavor, vitamins, and The Other Stuff (technical term – TOS). TOS represents turpines, flavonoids, organic acids, and a long list of stuff we don’t care to know of but still want to derive the benefits of. I don’t think it’s scientifically accepted that adding compost, kelp, guano, or another manure will increase the bio-active chemistry in produce, but “foliar feeding” isn’t accepted (in Canada) either – so my crutch is simple time-tested anecdotal observation: including organics will improve the quality of the end produce, thus increasing its flavor, aroma, and TOS.

Organic base nutes have come a long way in the last few years – mostly in convincing people they are worthwhile. We thought plants ate dirt, then realized they ate minerals from dirt (or water) – now it seems the geeks have decided that even larger organic compounds can make their way into the plants, such as vitamins. As always, it will always take science much longer to prove what people have been doing successfully for thousands of years, and continue to do today in “less advanced” areas of the world. The challenge for growers in the petrol world has been to match the yield of mineral nutes, and this has been displayed by various growers in enough circles to be generally accepted. It is a matter of substrate reuse and nurture, knowing what to add when – I will save details, but suffice to say if it is something you’re interested in it’s much easier today than ever, but still comes with a new learning curve.

Organics in hydroponics systems is something people would have balked at years ago; now there are products designed for such use. Growers have tested all forms of thick, organic sludge in their systems and, as much as commonsense still rules regarding buildup, slime clogs, and sugar coating, with a bit of elbow grease and absence of emitters or spaghetti hose many systems can run with nutrients not at all designed to be used in water gardens. The rigidity in this case is for generalization: you can’t tell everyone to do something that half will screw up. But, given the motivation and some knowledge, all these “can and can not” principles of growing can be realized as arbitrary guidelines. Beyond the liability of warranty and labeling, do what thou wilt.

ENHANCERS are there to enhance mineral nutes. You see, I think organics makes quality, whether it’s true or not. What is less debated is the notion that organic enhancers help make mineral nutes more available. Cation Exchange Capacity (CEC) are big words meaning “the ability for dirt to grab nutrients for later use.” Peat has nearly none, coco has some – either way, more is good. Humates, composts, organic sludge – these are midway rest stops for minerals between your bucket and your plant because they have a high CEC. Without a CEC component in peat, your nutes are pretty much only around as long as they are soluble – or, with reactive minerals, much less time. Without organic stuff, peat is only a fiber: it hasn’t any real ability to stretch the lifespan of a mineral nute until an organic component is added. Often a combination of things are used, such as guano or worm castings added to the peat – and/or some compost tea or other organic blend (or even a dash of base nute sludge, gotta love the sludge) with food irrigated in.

Next Up: Grow Store 102 – Bloom Boosters and Stimulants

WORDS: Heather Walker

Germination Basics

To go from seed to seedling, tomato plants need a moist growing medium, light, and warmth. I grow seedlings in my own organic potting mix of peat moss, vermiculite (some growers prefer perlite), green sand, bone meal, and organic soybean meal. You can add some aged compost too, but weeds may take over your seedlings if the compost wasn’t hot enough to kill the weed seeds. I soak the mix in a wheelbarrow with warm tap water (we’re on a well, so no chlorine worries here) then run the hose to add water until I can squeeze the soil mix and water runs out. I fill 4-inch pots with the wet mix, then plant one seed in the center of each pot and label it: name, date planted, open pollinated or hybrid.

I like to start my tomato seeds in 4-inch pots on the windowsill in my living room, directly above a baseboard heater: the additional bottom heat gives them that extra encouragement. This summer was the first year I tried heat mats, and I definitely noticed a shorter time to germination with those bad boys.

To know when to water, dig down an inch or so at the edge of the pot, and if it’s still moist then don’t bother watering. If it starts to look dry, soak the pot a few times with room-temperature water.

Eager tomato seedlings on a heat mat.

Seedling Mix

2 parts by volume sieved garden soil
1 part by volume sieved sphagnum moss
Add to each cubic foot (5 gallons) of mix:
1 cup agricultural lime or dolomite lime
1 cup cottonseed meal or soybean meal
1 pint soft rock phosphate or 1 cup steamed bone meal
1 cup kelp meal

From “Growing Vegetables West of the Cascades,” by Steve Solomon.

The Sprout

Once the sprout emerges with its first pair of leaves, it’s time for the tough love. If you spoil your tomatoes when they’re young, they will grow into leggy plants that will be ill-prepared for the real-world conditions in the outdoor garden. If you give your tomatoes lots of warmth when they aren’t getting a lot of sun or supplemental light, they can get “leggy,” growing tall with a spindly, weak stem. This is particularly important for growers in the Northern half of our continent, where the sun’s strength and height in the sky in March/April may not offer enough light. The plant, receiving lots of warmth but not much light, reacts as if it’s being shaded by other competing plants: as a result, it grows fast and tall in an attempt to access the sun and out-compete the other plants that it thinks are crowding it.

These leggy tomato seedlings were exposed to too much warmth with not enough light, which encouraged them to stretch: the stems are thin and weak as a result. Weak plants are more susceptible to disease, drought, and pests. Photo: Greg Wagoner.

To prevent leggy tomatoes and encourage stocky, strong growth, narrow the gap between the light and heat the plant is receiving. To do this, steel your heart and move every tomato with leaves into an unheated greenhouse during the day, unless it’s unusually cold. The greenhouse protects the young plants from the wind, cold, and rain/snow, but exposes them to cooler temperatures than in the house, and more sunlight through the poly-plastic roof and walls: they will receive more light and less heat than on the windowsill or heat mat. Bring them in at night until you’re confident that the temperature won’t drop below 50°F (10°C), which can compromise a tomato plant’s development or kill it.

Ideal Tomato Growing Temperatures

Day: 65-70°F (18-21°C)
Night: 50-60°F (10-16°C)

It’s also important to expose your tomato seedlings to air movement from this point forward. Fans, ventilation, an open window, or even your hand brushing their tops a few times each day will encourage more stocky growth and prepare the plants for the realities of wind. Novice growers often leave the clear dome on their plant starts for far too long. Don’t be an overprotective tomato parent!

Transplanting

It’s very likely that your tomato plants will outgrow their starter pots before it’s safe to plant them outside. In fact, this is preferable: the more times you can transplant your tomatoes into larger pots, the better. Why? Because every time you re-pot a tomato plant, you bury it up to its “neck” (just below its top set of leaves), or as much of the plant as you can fit under the soil. The tomato will then send out roots from the newly-buried stem, creating a more well-developed root system. And a strong root system leads to a healthier, more productive plant! Transplanting in this way also helps control the ultimate size of your plant once it’s ready to go into the garden: it’s far easier to plant a foot of stem and foliage with 8-inches of well-formed roots than a 2 foot spindly monster that will snap in half if you look at it funny.

So once your tomato outgrows its four-inch pot, bury the plant up to its neck in a gallon pot of soil, with the top set of leaves above. If you start your tomatoes in 1-2″ cell trays, transplant them into 4-inch pots when they’re ready for more room, then eventually into the gallon pots. And once a tomato outgrows its gallon pot, it’s probably time to plant it outside.

Transplanting a tomato plant from a small pot to a larger pot: bury the plant up to its neck, leaving the top set of leaves above the soil.

Hardening Off

It’s a blue-skied, warm, sunny day: you’re ready to unpack those shorts and plant out your tomatoes! But hold on. It’s crucial that you gradually prepare your tomato plants for outdoor conditions, rather than abruptly moving them from their cozy, sheltered existence into the cold, hard world.

Plants must be “hardened off” for a week or so by gradually exposing them to less-hospitable conditions for increasingly longer lengths of time each day. My plants progress from their windowsill nursery, to the unheated greenhouse in the daytime, to the unheated greenhouse 24 hours/day. I’ll start leaving the greenhouse door open, then setting them outside for the daylight hours. It’s best to put them out on a cloudy or partly cloudy day, as a full day of direct, hot sun can be hard on a plant. Plants can sunburn too! Eventually there will be a warm night and I’ll leave them outdoors. If frost is in the forecast, or a storm, I’ll bring them under shelter until it’s clear again. Eventually the plants will become more hardy, and spring will really be here, and around late May to early June I’ll be able to risk planting them out.

Into the Garden

This transplanting technique from pot to outdoor garden minimizes transplant shock and encourages strong root development.

Rather than digging a hole and planting the rootball at the bottom, as when re-potting, lie each tomato in its place horizontally on the outdoor garden bed, then bury it in soil — again, up to the top set of leaves. Be careful to support the stem, to avoid snapping it. Carefully pat down the dirt to ensure plant/soil contact, then water the whole plant thoroughly. The top of the tomato plant will eventually turn up toward the sun and grow into a surprisingly strong stem, supported by the amazing root system you’ve helped it develop.

It might seem easier to dig a trench and lie the plant in it, to keep your garden bed nice and flat, but if you do this you risk exposing the plant to the chillier soil underneath that sun-warmed top layer. Tomato plants may turn blue/purple-ish as a result — a sign of transplant shock. They will take longer to recover, which may affect the time or quality of harvest.

Have your own tomato-starting secrets to share? Tell us about it below…

An Activist’s Toolkit

How would you react if you discovered that most of the foods you ate every day contained hidden ingredients that could be slowly poisoning you?

Disbelief? Sadness? Fear? Anger? Retribution? All of the above? Well, surely the first thing you should do is: STOP EATING THEM! Genetically modified crops such as corn, canola and soy are being used in over 70% of the processed foods available in your local grocery store. So you might be forgiven for thinking that if genetically modified ingredients are so widespread, they must be safe to eat, right? Wrong. It’s just a shame the FDA and the corporate-controlled North American mainstream media persist in turning a blind eye. (See The Big GMO Cover-Up by Jeffrey M. Smith.)

Of course, the last thing that the pro-GM food companies want is for consumers to get informed and use their immense power to force change in the marketplace. This has already happened in Europe where genetically modified ingredients have to be labeled by law. As a result, food companies don’t use genetically modified ingredients! However, in the absence of equivalent labeling requirements in the US or Canada, North American consumers have been left in the dark for over 13 years and are unwittingly taking place in a huge human feeding experiment.

We asked Jeffrey M. Smith, international bestselling author of Seeds of Deception and Genetic Roulette: The Documented Health Risks of Genetically Engineered Foods, to give us some practical steps on how to get GMOs out of our diet and off the face of the Earth, forever.

Would you choose genetically modified food if given a choice? Some animals won’t.

There’s a bowl of corn chips in front of you made from natural corn. Next to it are genetically modified (GM) corn chips. Which do you choose?

If you were a pig or cow, we know the answer—the natural corn. In 1998 and 1999, several farmers in Northwest Iowa repeatedly let pigs or cows into pens with troughs of GM corn and non-GM corn. The animals would head straight to the closer trough, filled with the genetically modified organisms (GMOs). They’d sniff, maybe take a nibble, then go over to the trough with the natural corn. After finishing off the last kernel, they’d stop by the GM corn one more time just to check it out, but quickly walk away.

An Iowa farmer who read about the finicky livestock decided to see if squirrels had similar dispositions. He nailed ears of GM corn and non-GM corn onto trees by his house. Sure enough, the squirrels ate only the natural stuff, over and over again. When the farmer stopped replacing the natural corn, the squirrels still refused to touch the GMO. After 10 cold winter days, they got up the courage to nibble a few kernels, but that was all they could handle.

Another curious farmer wanted to repeat this with the squirrels in his area. He bought a bag full of GM corn ears, and another of non-GM, and left it in his garage to wait for winter. He waited too long. Mice did the experiment for him. They broke into the natural corn bag and finished it. The GM cobs were untouched.

Farmers, gardeners, reporters, and scientists have noticed similar behavior on at least four continents. Chickens, elk, deer, and raccoons avoided GM corn, while geese, rats, and buffalo refused GM soy, tomatoes, and cottonseed, respectively. Why are animals put off by genetically engineered food? No one knows for sure, but let’s get back to the GM corn chips still sitting in front of you.

Dangerous side-effects

Genetic material from bacteria and viruses are forced into the corn’s DNA, which is then cloned into a plant. This process leads to substantial collateral damage, including changes in hundreds or thousands of natural corn genes, plus widespread mutations. Most of the side-effects are never tested for. We do know, for example, that an allergy-producing gene, normally silent, gets switched on in a Monsanto corn variety. Proteins change shape, which might be a serious health hazard. And a compound called lignin is significantly overproduced. Lignin on its own may not be so bad, but in the process of producing it, the plant also produces rotenone, a natural pesticide linked to Parkinson’s disease. No one has tested your chips to see they contain more rotenone.

Bayer’s Liberty Link corn have added genes that allow the corn to withstand high doses of Roundup or Liberty herbicide. These varieties, therefore, have more weedkiller residues. Other GM varieties have inserted genes from bacteria that produce an insect killing toxin in every cell (and in every bite).

In addition, genes inserted into GM crops don’t necessarily stay put. In the only human GM feeding experiment— done with Roundup Ready soy— functioning genes transferred into the DNA of bacteria living inside our intestines. This means that millions of Americans probably have Roundup Ready gut bacteria—unkillable with Roundup herbicide. No one has yet looked to see if GM corn genes also transfer. If they do, their insecticide-producing genes could turn your gut flora into living pesticide factories, continuously producing toxins inside you—long after you finish your bowl of chips.

Have you made your decision yet? If you still need encouragement, check out “The Big GMO Cover-Up” in UGM007 to find out why the American Academy of Environmental Medicine wants doctors across the country to prescribe non-GMO diets to everyone.

But aren’t GMOs supposed to feed the world?

If you’re feeling some moral imperative to support GMOs, that’s understandable. The biotech industry spent more than $250 million convincing you that its gene-spliced foods are the answer to the sick and starving. So don’t be embarrassed if you fell for it. Many leading US politicians have likewise been mesmerized by this long-running PR ploy. Clinton’s Agriculture Secretary Dan Glickman spoke candidly to a St. Louis Post Dispatch reporter about the pro-GMO attitude embedded in the US government:

“It was almost immoral to say that it wasn’t good, because it was going to solve the problems of the human race and feed the hungry and clothe the naked. … And if you’re against it, you’re Luddites, you’re stupid. … You felt like you were almost an alien, disloyal, by trying to present an open-minded view.”

Glickman acknowledged that he too “spouted the rhetoric,” admitting, “it was written into my speeches.” The current Ag Secretary, Tom Vilsack, is the latest GMO cheerleader. As Iowa’s governor, he gave Monsanto an award in 2000, and the next year was anointed Biotech Governor of the Year by the biotech industry trade organization.

In October 2009, Vilsack tried to play the “feed the world” card at a conference sponsored by the Community Food Security Coalition. Bad move Tom. The people in the room were actually experts at feeding the world. Attendees included numerous PhDs and eminent scholars, such as the co-chairman and several leading authors of the authoritative IAASTD report, the world’s most comprehensive evaluation of agriculture.

This crowd knew that GMOs had no answers for world hunger. The IAASTD report, for example, concluded that the current generation of GMOs does not reduce hunger and poverty, does not improve nutrition, and does not facilitate social and environmental sustainability. A comprehensive analysis by the Union of Concerned Scientists concluded that GMOs do not increase yield; in fact, on average they reduce yield. A USDA study showed that farmers’ income doesn’t increase, and in some cases, it decreases. And it doesn’t help the overall economy either. The federal government has been spending $3-5 billion per year to prop up the prices of the GM crops no one else wants.

Thus, when Secretary Vilsack invoked “the ever-increasing population of the globe and the capacity to be able to feed all of those people” as the excuse to promote GMOs, he was greeted by moans, groans, hisses, and even boos. That didn’t stop Vilsack from playing the same card two days later, but this time he was at the World Food Prize conference. That’s sponsored by the biotech industry, so they were overjoyed that the Ag Secretary was still supporting their myth.

How Do You Choose Non-GMO?

Are you now ready to choose the bowl of natural chips? If so, you’re not alone. Most Americans, according to a CBS/New York Times poll, would also choose foods made without genetically modified organisms (GMOs) if they knew which was which—if they were labeled. But unlike most other industrialized nations, GMOs don’t have to be labeled in the US or Canada. Therefore, avoiding GM foods here takes some doing.

Tip #1: Buy Organic

The best way is to buy organic foods, which don’t allow the use of GMOs. And you also benefit from organics’ higher average levels of vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants, as well as lower pesticide residues.

Tip #2: Look for “non-GMO” labels

Some companies voluntarily label products as “non-GMO.” The best label is now the Non-GMO Project Verified seal. It’s the new uniform, third-party-verified standard for non-GMO claims that is spreading through the industry.

Tip #3: Consult the Non-GMO Shopping Guide

For a handy list of non-GMO brands by category, go to www. NonGMOShoppingGuide.com. View it online, download or order copies, and look for the Mobile Phone Application coming soon.

Tip #4: Avoid at-risk ingredients

If it’s not labeled organic or non- GMO, and the brand is not listed in the Guide, look at the ingredient panel to see if it contains any at-risk GMOs. The most pervasive GMOs are derivatives of corn and soy. Here are some common ones: (A more comprehensive list is available in the Non-GMO Shopping Guide.)

Corn: flour, meal, oil, starch, gluten, and syrups. Sweeteners such as fructose, dextrose, and glucose.

Soy: flour, oil, lecithin, protein, isolate, and isoflavones.

Oil from canola and cottonseed is genetically modified. Sugar from GM sugar beets was introduced in late 2008, but a recent ruling in a federal lawsuit may eventually drive it out of our food supply. For now, if the sugar doesn’t say pure cane, it’s likely blended with beet sugar.

Other than corn, there are only three items in the produce section that may be genetically modified. That includes papaya from Hawaii (yes, only Hawaii) and a small amount of zucchini and yellow squash. Mercifully, popcorn is not GMO.

Aspartame, the artificial sweetener also known as NutraSweet and Equal, is derived from GM microorganisms.

Meat, fish, eggs and dairy: FDA scientists had warned that animals fed GMOs might bioaccumulate toxins, which end up in milk, meat, or eggs. Their concerns were ignored and no safety studies have looked into this. Most US livestock, and even farmed fish, are fed GM soy or corn. To avoid GM-fed animal products, buy organic, wild caught, or 100% grass-fed. Fortunately, there are no genetically modified fish, fowl, or livestock yet approved for human consumption.

Dairy products also carry the risk that the cows were injected with genetically engineered bovine growth hormone (rbST or rbGH). The milk from drugged cows has more pus, antibiotics, bovine growth hormone, and insulin-like growth factor 1 (IGF- 1). IGF-1 is a powerful hormone and a high risk factor for cancer. That’s primarily why the American Public Health Association, American Nurses Association, and many other groups condemn the use of rbGH. Consumer concerns about rbGH have forced Wal-Mart, Starbucks, Dannon, Yoplait, and most of the major dairies in the US to stop using the hormone. Look for labels, consult the Non-GMO Shopping Guide, or buy organic dairy products.

How to Avoid GMOs in Restaurants

When eating at restaurants, it is not too hard to identify non-GMO options if your restaurant cooks from scratch. If they use processed foods, which is true of fast food places, they will have hidden GM ingredients.

For meals cooked from scratch, you will be able to easily identify most GMO food items. Corn products include tortillas, corn bread, corn on the cob, polenta, and corn chowder. Soy products include tofu, teriyaki and soy sauce.

The hidden ingredients are usually the oils used for cooking and salad dressing. Most restaurant cooking oil is from soy, corn, cottonseed, and canola—all GMOs. If they say vegetable oil or margarine, it means it is almost certainly one of these.

Therefore, your first question is, “What oil do you cook with?” If they use GMO oils, ask if they have anything that is cooked without oil, or if olive oil or some other oil can be used. If they have olive oil, be sure it’s not a blend. Many restaurants blend canola and olive.

Go through the same routine for the oil used in salad dressing, and for the shortening in desserts.

But for the sweet stuff, the GMO threats include sugar from beets, high fructose corn syrup, and aspartame. Since most processed foods contain GM derivatives (corn and soy, for example), ask what foods are freshly prepared. But check if packaged sauces are used.

Other potential sources of GM foods at restaurants include bread, crackers, and mayonnaise.

Moving GMOs out of the market

The declining fortunes of rbGH demonstrate the power of informed consumers. As more and more people linked the milk hormone to cancer, marketing executives realized that allowing their suppliers to use the controversial drug was bad for sales. Because the mainstream media has been pretty silent on the health effects, it took a few years of a concerted consumer education campaign to start the dominoes falling. If the hazards of rbGH had made headline news, the tipping point would have been swift.

The experience of GMOs in Europe shows us just how swift markets can move. In late January of 1999, biotech representatives predicted that 95% of all commercial seeds would be genetically engineered by 2004. But just a few weeks later, their plans to replace nature crashed. On February 16th, the gag order imposed on a scientist who had conducted GMO safety studies was lifted by order of the UK Parliament. When Dr. Arpad Pusztai, the top scientist in his field, discovered the extensive damage that a GMO diet can cause, he was fired after 35 years and silenced with threats of legal action. When he finally was able to speak, all hell broke loose.

Within the week, the European press reeled off 159 column feet of articles. Within the month, 750 articles on GMOs were circulating. According to one editor, the coverage divided society into two warring blocks. Within just 10 weeks, the tipping point of consumer rejection was achieved. GM ingredients had become a marketing liability. At the end of April, Unilever publicly committed to remove GMOs from its European brands. Within the week, so did nearly every other major food company.

These same companies continue to use GM ingredients in the US, where the Pusztai controversy was not reported. Here, only one in four people are even aware that they’ve ever eaten a genetically engineered food in their lives.

Engineering a North American tipping point

The Campaign for Healthier Eating in America is designed to achieve a tipping point of consumer rejection of GMOs in the US. Several indicators suggest that it’s not far off. A December 2009 issue of Supermarket News, for example, predicted: “The coming year promises to bring about a greater, more pervasive awareness” of the genetically modified organisms (GMOs) in our food supply. This trade publication, which is used by food executives as a source of industry news and trends, attributed the coming uprising in part to the Campaign’s new Non-GMO Shopping Guide.

The article describes how food “culprits” such as fat, carbs, salt, and added sugar can “define the decade” for the food industry; companies scramble to create new low-culprit or culprit-free options. When the specter of GMO health dangers surfaces onto consumers’ radar screen, however, there will be a significant difference. Whereas traditional ingredient culprits offer some consumer appeal like better taste or texture, GM foods do not. Furthermore, companies can usually eliminate GMOs without even changing recipes. They can simply substitute the non-GMO soy or non-GM corn, without reformulating.

Therefore, when the industry gets hit with the anti-GMO tipping point, they won’t create separate brand options of low GMO or GMO-free. Instead, they will eliminate all GMOs from their brands and proudly proclaim that here as they do in Europe.

The number of shoppers rejecting GMOs need only be a tiny amount, perhaps 5% of Americans, in order to convince food companies to do a brand-wide GMO clean-out. But when you look at the numbers, no matter how you slice it, they add up to a coming non-GMO tidal wave.

More than 9% of Americans regularly buy organic. About 29% are strongly opposed to GM foods and believe they are unsafe. And 53% say they would avoid GMOs if labeled. While most people do not conscientiously avoid brands with GM ingredients, it’s usually because they don’t know how. Hence the importance of the Non-GMO Shopping Guide.

Time to take charge

There are so many people predisposed to reject GMOs, we can achieve a tipping point without ever having to convince those who are resistant. Just by educating the people who want to know why GMOs are unsafe and how to avoid them, we can kick GMOs out of the food supply. The Campaign offers educational tools that are easy to use and to pass onto others. There are right-brain books, left-brain books, videos for the visual learner, brochures, articles, podcasts, CDs, PowerPoints, and of course, shopping guides.

The Campaign also provides strategies and support materials designed specifically for the most receptive targeted groups: healthand environmentally-conscious shoppers, parents, healthcare professionals, chefs and food service professionals, and even religious groups. If you would like to lend a hand and help protect the health of those you care about, visit www.healthiereating.org and look at the action items and tools available.

Little did you know that a bowl of chips would turn you into an activist…

International bestselling author and filmmaker Jeffrey M. Smith is the executive director of the Institute for Responsible Technology (www. healthiereating.org). His first book, Seeds of Deception: Exposing Industry and Government Lies About the Safety of the Genetically Engineered Foods You’re Eating, is the world’s bestselling and #1 rated book on GMOs. His second, Genetic Roulette: The Documented Health Risks of Genetically Engineered Foods, documents 65 health risks of the GM foods Americans eat everyday. To help you choose healthier, non-GMO brands, use the Non-GMO Shopping Guide.

Step 1: Rediscover Your Soil

You have a few options for turfing your turf:

1. Cut it off and compost it, then feed it back into your soil.

PRO: it exposes the soil right away, so you can get growing sooner.
CON: back-breaking work, only partly alleviated if you rent a sod cutter.

2. Mow your lawn very close to the soil, then mulch (suffocate) the grass with a light-proof material, such as layers of newspaper (10 sheets thick). It helps if you wet the newspaper before laying it down, to jumpstart the decomposition process and keep it from blowing around. Top the newspaper with 6-12 inches of compost, straw, leaves, grass clippings, manure and/or topsoil. Everything naturally decomposes into the soil.

PRO: much easier to do and the decomposed plant material feeds your soil, making it more fertile in the long run.
CON: takes awhile (allow at least two months) to breakdown the sod, depending on moisture, temperature, your worm population, and whether you’re planting seeds or transplants. It helps the mulch breakdown if you run the sprinkler on it once in awhile.

3. Chew it up and mix it into your soil with a rototiller or by hand.

PRO: it’s more efficient and takes up less space than removing and composting the grass, and your soil directly benefits from the nutrients as the grass decomposes.
CON: depending on your rototiller, climate and season, it’ll take at least three rototilling sessions over six to eight weeks to break down the sod.

4. Flip the blocks of sod upside-down.

PRO: for a small area, this is the most efficient and effective method.
CON: this method may confuse the soil microbiology — allow a month or so for everything to acclimatize.

Keep in mind that larger plants, such as shrubs and trees, have deeper roots then grass and so will likely need more topsoil than what is usually found beneath lawns. Even if you’re just planting a vegetable garden, the soil under your lawn has likely been compacted by foot traffic and will need additional soil, compost, and TLC to give it the fertility and conditions necessary to grow food. You can also use a garden fork to gently lift and aerate the soil.

“The lawns in the United States consume around 270 billion gallons of water a week—enough to water 81 million acres of organic vegetables, all summer long.”
- Heather Coburn Flores, Food Not Lawns

Step 2: Strategy, Design and Structure

Most vegetables (e.g. carrots, garlic, potatoes) grow best when you raise them above the ground level somewhat — and it’s easier for you to work with them that way, too. Some gardeners build wooden frames (e.g. 2ft by 6 ft by 1 ft high) and build up the soil inside so that the bed is a foot above the ground level. You can also rake soil from either side to create a row, then pat down the peak to flatten it. Squash, potatoes and cucumbers grow well in mini-hills, but this isn’t a very efficient use of space. Try to leave paths between your raised beds or rows, to make it easier to move around your garden.

For some interesting garden strategies and methods, Google:
- lasagna gardening
- square foot gardening
- SPIN gardening (small plot intensive)
- biointensive gardening
- no till / no dig gardening

Must-haves for the complete garden:
- rain barrel to collect water and avoid the cost/waste/limitations of municipal water sources
- compost area for leaves, kitchen scraps (not meat), plant clippings, and sod
- worm bin to produce super-powered worm castings to feed your garden

“The lawn is one of America’s leading ‘crops,’ amounting to at least twice the acreage planted in cotton. It is estimated that there are roughly 25 to 40 million acres of turf in the United States. Put all that grass together in your mind and you have an area, at a minimum, about the size of the state of Kentucky, though perhaps as large as Florida.”
- Ted Steinberg, American Green: The Obsessive Quest for the Perfect Lawn

Step 3: What’s for Dinner?

Low-maintenance crops:

salad greens: simply sprinkle the seeds, rake them into the soil, pat everything down, and water to trigger germination. Cut the leaves as needed to make salads, leaving the plant to continue growing. Different varieties of greens prefer different temperatures, so you can keep yourself in salad from early spring through fall by planting a few different kinds.

strawberries: buy bare-root transplants from your local nursery or ask a gardener friend for some “runners.” June-bearing strawberries will fruit prolifically in June/July the year after planting and thereafter, while ever-bearing strawberries produce over the summer months within the first year. Once planted, strawberries will produce for many years, sending out “runners” which will root and grow into new plants.

garlic: garlic cloves are planted in the fall, pointy-end up, about 6 inches apart, 2 inches deep, then covered with grass clippings and/or leaves and left to grow until harvest the following spring/summer. Very little water is required, even in hot, dry summers.

Popular crops:

sweet corn: firstly, be sure to purchase certified organic seed to avoid any contamination from genetically-modified corn. Corn is a high-maintenance crop, requiring fertile, nitrogen-rich soil and ample, frequent watering.

tomatoes: bush (determinate) varieties can grow in tomato cages or with short stakes; vine (indeterminate) varieties need a trellis or taller stakes and like to be pruned. Frequent watering and fertile soil are necessary. The UGM team highly recommends trying flavorful heritage varieties.

Kid-friendly crops:

pumpkins: these needy squash will benefit from frequent watering and excessive attention. Plant your seeds in a large hill of compost (with cow, chicken or horse manure, if you can find it), plant 6-10 seeds a few inches down, and water generously. Pumpkins need warmer temperatures, so plant only after all danger of frost has passed. Thin the seedlings down to 2 plants before they get too big.

sunflowers: choose a large variety, like Russian Mammoth or California Greystripe.

In Canada & the USA:

1. Click here to download the seed-starting spreadsheet (courtesy of Maggie Wang).
2. Enter the “Frost Free Date” for your region in the spreadsheet. (To find your last frost date for the US, click here; to find your date for Canada, click here.)
3. The spreadsheet will quickly calculate all sowing and planting dates and place them in the appropriate fields.
4. Print your chart and get ready to plant. Easy peasy!

In the UK:

1. Click here and select your region from the drop-down menu, then click “SET MY FROST DATES.”
2. Then click here (or select “Veg, Fruit & Herb Calendars” from the webpage’s left-side menu) and choose whether you want a calendar for vegetables, fruits or herbs.
3. Ta da! Print your calendar and pull on your Wellies.

Step 4: Ongoing TLC

Weed seeds can remain in soil for many years. Mulch is one of the best organic ways to prevent weeds, which will compete with your plants for space, sunlight and nutrients. Typical mulches include grass clippings, leaves, newspaper with soil or compost on top, cedar chips (expensive!), straw, hay (often full of weed seeds), and compost. Simply lay down 5 inches or so of material around your seedlings, covering as much of the soil surface as you can. This will suffocate weed seeds and stifle their growth, while providing a perfect environment for your worm helpers.

“Lawns use ten times as many chemicals per acre as industrial farmland. These pesticides, fertilizers, and herbicides run off into our groundwater and evaporate into our air, causing widespread pollution and global warming, and greatly increasing our risk of cancer, heart disease, and birth defects. In addition, the pollution emitted from a power mower in just one hour is equal to the amount from a car being driven 350 miles.”
- Heather Coburn Flores, Food Not Lawns

Conclusion

Be patient with your new garden. It takes at least a few years for a new garden to perform properly. Healthy soil is key to your garden’s success and the nutrient value in your food crops: love your soil, and it’ll reward you.

WORDS: Simon Hart

Give The Worms Some Credit

We all want to use items that increase our garden’s fertility in the hopes of explosive yields. With that as our aim, there is one item that stands out as a must-have for all soil and soil-less gardens: worm castings. Vermicomposting is the use of worms to break down organic material. Worm castings are the result of their digestion process. This process will give you some of the highest quality castings available and help you create a more technical and successful garden experience without a lot of effort.

Current research show extremely complex benefits from the use of worm castings in agriculture. A green technology, vermicomposting is the epitome of reduce, reuse, and recycle. Research continues and our knowledge of these unsuspecting creatures in the soil shows a fascinating connection between the worms and overall ecosystem health. Their effects on soil biology, nutrient availability, and the complexity of their decomposition of organic materials are just some of the things being studied. Although we are just starting to understand the relationship between earthworms and healthy soils, worms have been fascinating people for millennia.

Cleopatra, queen of the Nile, decreed that worms were sacred and were not to be harmed. The Greek philosopher Aristotle declared them to be the guts of the soil. The great biologist, Charles Darwin, who may be best known for his theory of evolution, started his scientific work looking at earthworms. In fact, he spent the latter part of his scientific career looking at nothing but earthworms at Down House, his country estate just outside of London. He was fascinated by them and utterly convinced that worms were among the unsung heroes within the natural world; in 1881 he published his life-long research on earthworms. In one project detailed in his work, he took small coal stones, spread them over a field, and left them for 20 years. He then dug a trench to see how far down the worms had moved the coal. Talk about long-term research.

WORM WISDOM
Worm castings are an amazing soil amendment, but go easy on them! They typically contain 5 times the normal levels of nitrogen found in regular soils, 7 times more phosphorus, and 11 times more potassium! Worm castings also contain calcium, magnesium and other micro-nutrients as well as tons of beneficial organisms and microbes that help to restore soil life and begin recreating the soil food web. Worm castings rule!!

The Knowledge

The industrious nature of worms is a power that can be unleashed on all unsuspecting gardens. While all urban gardeners are familiar with worm castings, most buy their castings at their local shop because it is very convenient. But given just a little space, time, and knowledge it is possible to grow your own castings. Not convinced that it’s worth the effort? Have a look at the benefits and then the actual work involved in growing worms and supplying your own rich, microbial super-charged soil amendment.

Research shows that vermicompost stimulates plant growth even when plants are already receiving optimal nutrition. Improved seed germination, accelerated growth and development, and increased productivity and yield are all scientifically validated claims. There are new theories, such as the possibility of transient plant growth regulators being absorbed by the humates which form in rich worm castings. Other benefits, such as disease prevention and the ability to repel pests, are possibilities, but there needs to be more study to understand the mechanisms behind these potential benefits.

When compared to regular compost, vermicompost stands out as the winner. Higher levels of plant-available nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium, sulphur and magnesium make vermicompost nutritionally superior. Microbiology is also more complex in vermicompost than standard compost. Why? First, vermicompost is processed at a moderate temperature range that never comes close to the140 degrees Fahrenheit (60 degrees Celsius) or higher achieved in thermophylic digested compost. This means that your worm castings will have more microbes meant to live at normal temperatures when compared to compost. Although the process is not entirely understood, it is also clear that worms release more microbes than they ingest, meaning that they are actually creating microbes during their constant eating.

Many composters will tell you that you need a thermophylic reaction (140 degrees Fahrenheit / 60 degrees Celsius or higher) or pathogens will not be destroyed. Research has shown that castings produced in pathogen-rich environments, such as human biosolids (I’m glad I don’t research sewage) contain no pathogens. Dissections show that something happens within the first quarter inch (5mm) of the worm that completely removes pathenogenic substances. That being said, I do not recommend that any gardener feed their worms biosolids.

There are estimates that there could be over 1,800 species of worms worldwide. Many of the worm casting available in retail shops are produced by African nightcrawlers. However, for the urban gardener looking to start vermicomposting, this is probably not the right choice of species due to its specific growing requirements.

Eisenia Fetida, more commonly known as a Red Wiggler, is indigenous to most parts of the world. This particular worm is extremely tough and adaptable, able to handle a temperature range from 32-95 degrees Fahrenheit (0-35 degrees Celcius), and the eggs or cocoons can survive short periods of complete freezing. This species is commonly used in commercial vermicomposting and is easily accessed by hobby gardeners through Internet sales. Before you order your worms, you had better have somewhere for them to live. There are many small home-sized worm farm units available. Some are more efficient and complicated than others. Remember that vermicomposting is a type of farming, not an industrial process, so bigger isn’t necessarily better. A savvy gardener will want to master the basics prior to a significant investment in equipment.

The Experience (in brief)

My first experience with vermicomposting began last year when, to the horror of my colleagues, I placed a worm bin in my office. My boss was quick to inform me that if it started to smell that would be the end of it. The pressure was on, so I put in my bedding and a half pound of worms and started the feeding frenzy.

I placed approximately 44 pounds (20 kg) of food waste in the bin over 14 weeks. I was amazed at how quickly the worms processed material and everyone in the office was stunned that there was essentially no smell other than a mild earthy aroma. This first batch of quality vermicompost got me hooked, and I would like to pass this concept along as a suggestion from one gardener to another.

I have moved on from my office bin, which in the end was too small. I am going to move my worm adventures outdoors into a very straightforward continuous flow wedge. Essentially I am going to build a three-sided open-end structure made from straw bales. To begin, I will add material and then worms against the back wall. After that I will continue to put in bedding and food sources. Once the pile reaches the open end I will take the straw bales from the closed end and move them to the open end. At this point I will harvest the oldest material to use as vermicompost and begin moving the pile in the opposite direction. This will get rid of the issue of removing the worms from my compost because they will move into the fresh material as you take away the digested castings. This was an issue with my office bin where I had to take the castings out and create small piles, then remove the top layer as the worms retreated to the base of the piles. Follow this with taking the base of each pile (which contains most of your worms) and put it back in the bin with fresh bedding and food. You can always buy new worms every time you renew your bin, but this adds cost to the exercise. That money can be better spent on other things by keeping your worm population healthy and productive.

Giving Your Worms a Home

To manage your worms properly you need to consider five essentials:

1. A hospitable living environment: the best worm farms have the best bedding. Things like straw, peat moss, coir, newsprint, cardboard and even dried leaves all make excellent bedding and can provide different benefits when blended together. You are looking to create a moist environment with lots of air pockets and a high carbon to nitrogen ratio. I have found a blend of straw and coir to be an excellent mix. A pH range of 5-9 is acceptable with a level of 7 being ideal.

WORM WISDOM
Adding grit to your bedding can help worms process more material. Inputs such as soil, powdered limestone, rock dust, egg shells and zeolite can provide this abrasive material that worms use in their gizzards. Note that all of these items will also provide extra benefit when added to your soil-less mix as well.

2. A good food source: worms are what they eat, so your food source is very important. Vegetable and fruit peelings are excellent, and coffee grounds are great when available. Kelp meal is a good choice, but remember that worms are sensitive to salt. Corrugated cardboard is also a good food source because of the high protein glue used to bind it. Commercially, there are many more food sources, including manures; but for the urban gardener it’s fine to stick to what you might put in a standard compost bin.

3. Adequate moisture: worms need a damp environment to get the job done and be happy while doing it. The moisture content in the bedding should be somewhere around 70-90 percent. This means you may have to add water at the start, but as you pile the kitchen scraps into the bedding the moisture should balance out to a good range.

4. Worms need to breathe, so make sure there is a good level of oxygen. If bedding becomes too compact it will force worms out by creating an anaerobic environment, which kills worms and will smell like something you don’t want in your garden.

5. Protection from extreme temperatures. The Red Wiggler is a perfect worm for vermicomposting because of its temperature range. However, you need to keep direct sun off your bin or pile because it can overheat the environment. Remember, also, that direct sun is toxic to worms. Outdoor vermicomposting does require some shelter planning, especially in Canadian winters that sometimes spill into the northern states too.

WORM WISDOM
Space is premium in small urban gardens, but many worm bins are small enough to fit under the kitchen sink or under your flood table. Most common small units use a top feed bed where you are adding food material into the worm bedding as it becomes available. Looking to upgrade? Consider a vertically stacked tray system for even more castings out of the same area.

The Reward

So now you want to use some of the black gold that has been growing in your worm bin. The finished product will range from 10-50 percent of the original weight of the material. But don’t worry because the best ratio to mix into your growing medium is about 10 percent. You can add up to 40 percent, but using over 40 percent seems to decrease its value, and castings can then actually slow the growth of plants. Use it as a top dressing or mix it directly into your medium. As a growing tip, if you are simply looking to enhance the microbial diversity in your rhizosphere, then consider the use of an aerobic compost tea to enhance the levels of various bacterial species. Remember that vermicompost has a much broader diversity of microbes than standard compost, and they reproduce rapidly at room temperature, so to use it in an aerated tea is an exceptional way to stretch its value in your garden. Without question, the addition of worm castings provides urban gardeners with accelerated plant growth. And to those urban gardeners up for the challenge, small-scale worm farming produces a growth accelerator while decreasing the waste that leaves your house for the landfill. I hope that you see some of the benefits now, and will experiment to bring vermicompost into your urban jungle.

Simon Hart is the senior technical advisor for Grotek Manufacturing in Canada. If you have any questions regarding vermicomposting or anything else garden-related, post them below!

Mycorrhizal fungal filaments.

The seemingly magical properties of mycorrhizal fungi (aka ‘mycorrhizae’) are already fairly well known to soil growers. This special “root fungus” forms a mutualistic relationship with the roots of many plants, allowing them to access more water and nutrients. Mycorrhizae effectively extend the reach of the roots by forming a mycelial network that is able to extract tightly bonded water and nutrients (particularly phosphorus and iron) and translocate them back to the plant. The plant, in turn, feeds the root fungus with carbohydrates. Everybody’s happy – it’s mutual after all!

Ok, so that’s soil. But what about hydroponics? Nutrient manufacturers remain divided on the issue. Some recommend a completely sterile environment. That means no bacteria (beneficial or otherwise) and no friendly fungi. Why? Proponents of sterile growing environments argue that in hydroponics the grower is supplying all the nutrients their plants need in a directly accessible form and question the need for little ‘fungi helpers’ to assist in nutrient assimilation. (In hydroponics, all the nutrients are supplied in ionic, or directly accessible, form.) Similarly, the roots shouldn’t have to go out in search of water in hydroponics as it’s being provided in abundance. However, recent studies have shown that mycorrhizae can help plants uptake mineral-based nutrients too, promote with root branching, and massively extend the active feeding capacity of the feeder root tips.

Sound interesting? We thought so! So we asked mycorrhizae experts Mike Amaranthus PhD and Josh Eagan BS to give us the low-down on how this special root fungus behaves in a non-soil environment.

Modern hydroponic growers sacrifice too, increasingly by sacrificing plant quality and profits to prevent damage from a host of fungal “fiends” with names like black rot, club root, sclerotina blight, wire stem, sudden death syndrome, brown spot, and charcoal rot. Opportunities for using beneficial fungi as “friends” exist for the grower as well. The best documented friendly use is mycorrhizal fungal inoculum for improving plant nutrient uptake, plant quality, yields, and disease resistance.

THE FUNGUS FIEND

Most growers blame their nutrients when things start going horribly and unexplainably wrong. Big mistake! Pythium and phytophthora are two of the most common fungal diseases that can affect indoor growers, and they are not easy to spot until well advanced. Pythium-caused root rot is a real problem in hydroponic systems and is becoming increasingly common.

Pythium-infected Hosta plant.

Pythium is a waterborne fungus and recirculating hydroponic systems provide it with an ideal environment in which to live and breed. Plants can survive and grow with high levels of pythium spores in the nutrient solution. The fungus, however, will restrict the root system. A sudden rise in temperature will find the plants unable to increase their uptake of water and they will wilt. For many growers this is the first sign that pythium is active in their system. Damping-off caused by pythium affects growers growing in flats or in the propagation of cuttings. Damping off can attack and topple plants in just a few days. The lower stem becomes constricted and dark brown near the growth media’s surface, a symptom called wire-stem. The hydroponic grower can encounter pythium at any time and, if he is unprepared, he may well lose his crop. Pythium root rot can be caused by several different species of the fungal genera pythium.

Phytophthora, the notorious fungus that caused the Irish potato famine, causes annual crop losses in the tens of billions of dollars today. Beginning in 1845 and lasting for six years, the potato famine killed over a million men, women and children in Ireland and caused another million to flee the country. Phytophthora, from the Greek phytón (“plant”) and phthorá (“destruction”), is literally “the plant destroyer” that continues to plague a wide variety of crops globally with no effective means of chemical control.

Certain fusarium fungal species are also among the most dangerous root diseases in the world affecting hydroponic growers. There has been a dramatic increase in fusarium infection in the last several decades. The ability of this disease to form toxins that are poisonous to both humans and animals makes it a serious problem. The most visible symptom of these fungal diseases is in the root systems. Roots will begin to go brown and lose their healthy white appearance. As the pathogen spreads, the roots become soft and mushy and there is always a tendency for the plant to wilt in the warmer part of the day.

THE FUNGUS FRIEND

We can never purge the world of fungus, of course; nor would we choose to. Fungi represent a kingdom unto themselves, the fifth kingdom in fact. As a taxonomic dominion, kingdom is as high as it gets; animals, plants, bacteria, protists and our fungal friends make up the five.

Some 100,000 species of fungi have been described scientifically, and experts estimate that over a million remain to be discovered. Fungi have influenced our life in ways we take for granted. For a loaf of bread and a jug of wine we can thank the fungus saccharomyces, which is used in bakers’ and brewers’ yeasts. For recovery from infection we can thank the common soil fungus penicillium. Serendipity often leads to fungal discoveries. When Alexander Fleming discovered penicillin, he was trying to perfect an antiseptic formula based on nasal mucus. The nasal mucus formulation never did materialize (we can all breathe a sigh of relief!), but his unforeseen discovery of antibiotics changed the world.

What a difference a little mycorrhizal fungi makes! The tomato plant on the left was grown without mycorrhizal fungi, whereas the plant on the right was inoculated with mycorrhizal fungi.

Fungi also have a flair for symbiosis, for establishing cross-kingdom relationships that feed the fungus sugars while bestowing upon its partner new powers. Under natural conditions plants live in close symbiotic association with a group of soil organisms called mycorrhizal fungi. These fungi colonize plant roots and extend the root system into the surrounding soil. Estimates of amounts of mycorrhizal filaments present in growth media associated with plants are astonishing. Several miles of filaments can be present in less than a thimbleful of soil.

The relationship is beneficial because the plant enjoys improved nutrient and water uptake, disease resistance, and superior survival and growth.

It is this not-so-glorious association between plants and mycorrhizal fungi that keeps the whole show rolling in natural environments and can be an important tool for hydroponic growers. Approximately 90 per cent of all land plants depend on the mycorrhizal fungi that radiate from their roots and feed humbly on their plant sugars. In return, the fungus delivers nutrients to the plant like phosphorus, calcium, nitrogen, iron and life-giving water.

The mycorrhizal relationship is ancient and fundamental. In fact, in natural habitats, the presence of mycorrhizal fungi on the roots of plants is as common as chloroplasts to the leaves of plants. Botanists believe that plants might never have made the leap onto land some 460 million years ago without the assistance of Robigus and his mycorrhizal assistants.

This mutually-beneficial association between fungus and plant provides the fungus with relatively constant and direct access to carbohydrates, such as glucose and sucrose produced by the plant in photosynthesis. The carbohydrates are transferred from plant leaves to the root tissues and then to the fungal partners. In return, the plant gains the use of the mycelium’s very large surface area to absorb water and mineral nutrients from the soil, thus improving the mineral absorption capabilities of the plant roots. Mycorrhizal mycelia are much smaller in diameter than the smallest root, and can explore a greater volume of soil-less media, providing a larger surface area for absorption. Also, the cell membrane chemistry of mycorrhizal fungi is different from that of plant roots. The whole length of the mycelia is capable of absorption as compared to just the tips of the roots themselves. Plants grown in sterile soils and growth media often perform poorly without the addition of spores or “propagules” of mycorrhizal fungi to colonize the plant roots and aid in the uptake of soil mineral nutrients.

These mycorrhizal fungi are the best understood of the soil microbe families—and potentially the most useful to growers. Nearly all important crops form the mycorrhizal relationship, with notable exceptions including the mustard family, canola, broccoli, and sugar beets. Mycorrhizae attach themselves to plant roots and grow thread-like hyphae out into the surrounding soil, siphoning amino acids, nutrient molecules and water back to the plant. A grower benefits from mycorrhizal inoculation as it increases the effectiveness of added fertilizer and protects the root system from fungal fiends.

How do mycorrhizal fungi protect roots? The source of disease resistance is probably a combination of factors. The mycorrhizal fungus can present a physical barrier to the pathogenic fungus and/or produce antibiotics that limit the growth of the pathogen. Also, mycorrhizal-colonized plants develop more robust root systems that buffer the plant against the impact of pathogens.

It is also possible that the mycorrhizal fungus stimulates the host to produce chemicals that inhibit the growth of any other fungus on the root. In addition, because the mycorrhizal fungus is so adept at capturing nutrients, there are limited resources available for the growth of the disease fungus. Research has shown that, once a root is colonized by a mycorrhizal fungus, it is more resistant to infection by disease organisms.

INVITING A FRIEND TO DINNER

How do you inoculate mycorrhizal fungi to a hydroponic growing operation? Certain mycorrhizal spores (or “seeds”) of the fungus have been selected for their growth-enhancing abilities. The goal is to create physical contact between the mycorrhizal inoculant and the plant root. Generally, mycorrhizal application is inexpensive and requires no special equipment. Growers have at least three options to inoculate with mycorrhizal fungi.

Powder, liquid and granular forms of mycorrhizal inoculum.

The first method is an incorporation of a granular or powder form of the mycorrhizal inoculant into the growing media before planting. Secondly, the granular or powder inoculant can be placed into soil or soil-less mixes before placing the transplant into the planting hole, or distributed around the root ball after placement. The third option is a water-in drench. A powder is mixed with water, or a liquid is injected into the rooting zone through existing spray devices. In all three methods, all that is needed is for the mycorrhizal inoculant to reach the vicinity of the roots.

Fungi are omnipresent, occupying every ocean, the atmosphere, and the soil on every landmass. While some fungal fiends are “killers,” attacking living tissue they have infested, the vast majority are benevolent and, in many cases, vital to life forms around them. Fungi can be both fiend and friend to the hydroponic grower. While fungal diseases can impact the grower’s bottom line, mycorrhizal fungi can improve hydroponic yields and be a low-cost, natural solution to increasingly expensive chemical and disease control treatments. Certainly, using beneficial fungi in a hydroponic operation is a preferred alternative to the sacrifice of dogs and cows with rust-colored fur to Robigus!

Check out Urban Garden Magazine’s handy-dandy Mycorrhizae Q&A!

Got a question about mycorrhizae that we didn’t answer? Give us your best shot: post your question or comment below!

Both are beneficial fungi found naturally in soil. Trichoderma are more for cycling nutrients in the soil and providing protection against soil pests (but you will seldom find it labeled as a pest control) while mycorrhizal fungi help more with nutrient and water uptake and increased root growth. Both combined will promote a very healthy root system overall.The two work together well. Trichoderma help make nutrients soluble. Mycorrhizal fungi can actually take the nutrients up and translocate them into the plant.

Q. How do I successfully introduce and propagate mycorrhizal fungi in my hydroponic garden?

Mycorrhizal fungi can be mixed directly with soil-less media or added to the nutrient solution directly just like any regular powder supplement. There is a myth that you cannot use mycorrhizal fungi with synthetic / mineral-based nutrients, but this is not true. Mycorrhizal fungi can be used with soil, hydroponics and cuttings. The key benefits in hydroponics are extended root systems (which naturally lead to an increase in yield), not to mention protection against root zone pests and diseases. Imagine miles of mycorrhizae hyphae exploring the nutrient resources. Mycorrhizal fungi cause roots to branch and form more fine feeder roots that can go after nutrients and minerals.

Q. Should I feed mycorrhizae carbs? (e.g. molasses?)

Molasses and other carbs are good for feeding bacteria and other types of fungi. But you don’t need to feed the mycorrhizae. That’s missing the point. The plant feeds them! It’s the exudates from the plant roots that cause the mycorrhizal propagules to germinate. (There are synthetic compounds that cause the mycorrhizae to germinate but they are unnatural, expensive and not commonly available.) You are better off adding products which contain humic acids (organic growers can use high quality organic inputs such as North Atlantic sea kelp) to promote more root exudates (food for the mycorrhizae).

Q. What hydroponic growth media do mycorrhizae prefer?

Mycorrhizal fungi can create mycelial networks in soil, coco coir, rockwool and many other inert growth media. They can even survive in a totally aqueous environment, as long as it is properly aerated, but they will not replicate. Mycorrhizae will grow and increase in biomass only once they are attached to a plant root.

Q. What about mycorrhizal fungi and high phosphorous levels?

Mycorrhizae fungi spores ‘sleep’ while levels of phosphorus are high (above 70ppm). They only awaken when levels drop lower than this. This is another reason to establish your mycorrhizae as early on in the plant’s development cycle as possible.

Q. What conditions do mycorrhizal fungi prefer?

Temperature: around 68-73°F is ideal but mycorrhizae can also help your plants tolerate occasional temp extremes.

Moisture: mycorrhizal fungi like to have a good air/water mix to thrive. Too moist or too dry is not ideal. Once again, they will help the plant tolerate any extremes that occur.

pH: it depends on the mycorrhizae species but generally they thrive in 5.5-7.5. Some can tolerate acidic conditions better than others while some like alkaline better than others. Look for products that are made from a blend of different species in order to create a healthy mycorrhizae population that will thrive in varying pH conditions.

Q. What conditions should be avoided?

Very high temperatures. (135- 140°F will definitely start killing them off but then, at those temperatures, the happiness of your fungi is the least of your problems!) The less chlorine your water contains, the better for both fungi and plants too. However, typical levels of chlorine from municipal supplies should not cause a problem.

Q. When should I start using mycorrhizal fungi?

As soon as possible! It takes less mycorrhizae to colonize a juvenile plant than a larger one. Commercial growers have negated the cost of mycorrhizal fungi with their increased seed germination rates. It takes a couple of weeks to form on the roots after the first inoculation so get the process started right at the seedling / cutting stage. The trick is to introduce the mycorrhizal fungi spores as early as possible to give them time to establish themselves. This is particularly important if you are growing short-cycle plants.

Q. Do mycorrhizal fungi need to be reintroduced on a regular basis? Do I need to add it more frequently than once with every nutrient change?

Best performance is achieved with numerous applications throughout the growth cycle. You can’t really overdo mycorrhizae. If there are more roots producing more exudates it will probably help to add more mycorrhizae. But don’t bother any later than 2-3 weeks before harvest. It’s a waste of time. Your mycelial network should already be established. It won’t do any harm to keep using it (and often the instructions on the mycorrhizae product will encourage you to!), but you’re just wasting your money! Adding it with every nutrient change won’t do any harm either. It’s just a question of minimizing waste. A good tip is to mix the fungi in a one gallon jug to get it nicely diluted, then pour it into your nutrient solution. Otherwise the powder can sit at the bottom of the res. The white powder you sometimes see at the bottom of your res is just the carrying agent of the spores, not the spores themselves.

Q. What mycorrhizae products can I find in my local grow store?

You’d best ask down at your store! You’ll most likely find a few different brands. The products usually come as a jar of white powder – this is a ‘carrying agent’ for the spores. If you want to compare products, look for the number of mycorrhizal species per pound and the diversity of species. Oh, and the price!

Q. Ok, but how do I actually use mycorrhizal fungi to benefit my plants?

Mycorrhizal application is easy and requires no special equipment. The goal is to create physical contact between the mycorrhizal inoculant and the plant root. Mycorrhizal inoculant can be sprinkled onto roots during transplanting, worked into seed beds, blended into loose growth media, “watered in” via existing irrigation systems, added directly to the nutrient solution, applied as a root dip gel or even probed into the root zone of existing plants. Most hydroponic growers simply add the fungi by diluting the powder holding the spores into some water and adding this to their nutrient solution. It’s very easy.

Q. Do mycorrhizal fungi actually guard the roots against other nasties? If so, which nasties exactly?

Yes. Nasties include: rhizoctonia, fusarium, pythium and phytophthora. They can also mitigate the detrimental effects of high salt conditions.

Q. How exactly do mycorrhizal fungi guard the roots? Do they simply ìcrowd outî the root zone or is it more complex?

Endo mycorrhizal fungi thicken the cell walls around the root cortex making it harder for pathogens to penetrate. They also compete with pathogens for some of the same food sources. Mycorrhizal fungi help with antibiotic production, armoring of roots with chitin, and control of excess nutrients.

Q. What’s the difference between “endo” and “ecto” mycorrhizal fungi?

Endo = has an exchange mechanism inside the root (and hyphae extends outside of the root). Ecto= lives only outside the root. The endo mycorrhizae form with mostly green, leafy plants and most commercially produced plants. Ecto mycorrhizae form with mainly conifers and oaks: more woody plants. Endos are for everything else. In hydroponics, ectos don’t even matter. Fruits, veg, flowers … stuff we love to grow … they love endo.

Q. Are there any differences in how the hydroponic grower should use mycorrhizal fungi compared with the organic grower?

Both types of grower need to get the inoculum near roots. Same product, same application rates. Same number of spores per square foot. Both types of growers can reduce their nitrogen and phosphorus inputs.

Q. Do mycorrhizal fungi help with nutrient extraction in a hydroponic environment or are they more relevant in soil / organics where nutrients need to be broken down first in order to become available?

Mycorrhizal fungi are just as effective in hydroponic applications as they are in organics / soil. A main function of mycorrhizal fungi is phosphorus uptake. It’s important to have a good colonization and a good mycorrhizal fungi “web” already established before you go into flowering.

Fascinated? We are! Be sure to check out “Superfeeding” by Mike Amaranthus and John Eagen for more information on using mycorrhizea to benefit your indoor garden!

First of all, let me say that there is nothing wrong with anyone using organic fertilizers.

Supercharged plants.  Sounds rather pleasant doesn’t it?  But what exactly are we talking about? A supercharged growing environment is one where no single thing your plants need is in short supply.  Think of it like a series of links in a chain.  The rate of your plants’ development is only ever going to be as fast as the weakest link allows.

So what are these links?  Well, the obvious examples include: plant genetics, light levels, temperature, CO2, and relative humidity.  The not so obvious example is oxygen.  This odorless, colorless gas plays a critical role in plant growth and bloom.  In fact, despite being all around us, it could be the crucial component that is holding your plants back…

WORDS: Jim Lepard

The Key Benefits of Oxygen for Plants

Oxygen usually makes up 45% of the dry tissue weight of a plant.  It is a macro-element, along with nitrogen, phosphorus, hydrogen, carbon, potassium, calcium, sulfur and magnesium.

Oxygen provides essential energy for plants to turn their sugars into cell structure.  In other words, plants need oxygen to grow!  Oxygen is also used by plants to control their stomata – tiny but crucial “breathing apparatus” in their leaves.

We tend to think of plants creating oxygen as the end product of photosynthesis but, as with many natural processes, the complete picture is more cyclical.  Plants also use oxygen in two major ways.  They uptake it through their roots and they absorb it via their leaves.

At night most plants reverse the process of photosynthesis and switch to burning carbohydrates and oxygen while producing carbon dioxide and water. So it’s important to make sure that oxygen levels are maintained in the indoor garden, especially at night when plants aren’t producing it via photosynthesis.  Most growers achieve adequate levels of oxygen at night by using extraction fans to bring in a steady supply of fresh air.

Oxygen and Stomata

Stomata consist of pores called stoma, which are bordered by two specialty guard cells. The guard cells regulate the size of the opening of the stoma (pore).  Because the stoma is responsible for the exchange of gases (i.e. oxygen and CO2) plus water vapor, it is critical that stomata are healthy and working properly.  If the stomata are oxygen deprived from the root zone, they begin to shut down and the size of the stoma opening becomes smaller due to the loss of turgor pressure in the stomata guard cells, restricting the exchange of gases and water vapors.  If the flow of water slows in the plant, the plant cannot cool itself and begins to suffer from overheating – visually apparent from wilting.  The uptake of nutrients in the water is also affected, along with the flow of oxygen.  This further compounds the problem, resulting in necrosis of the plant’s leaves. Photosynthesis is slowed as well, leaving the plant sick and weak, unable to fight off insects and disease, resulting in lower yields and eventual death of the plant.

Dissolved Oxygen

Many growers overlook the importance of dissolved oxygen levels in their nutrient solution.  When oxygen levels in a nutrient solution are raised, you essentially give your plants the ability to process more gases and water vapors, resulting in a cooler, faster growing and higher yielding plant. Root systems work more efficiently when highly oxygenated.  This is because oxygen affects the electrical charge of water and nutrients allowing the roots to uptake using less energy.

Increased oxygen levels also help to reduce water borne pathogens and fungi, such as the dreaded pythium and saprophytic fungi.  By elevating oxygen levels, the grower instantly creates a more suitable environment for aerobic bacteria (our friends). The more friendly bacteria we have, the greater their effectiveness in combating any anaerobic bacteria (our enemy).

Cooler water is capable of holding on to more oxygen than warmer water.  So when a nutrient solution starts to warm up, its ‘hold’ on dissolved oxygen decreases. For example, the oxygen content of a fully aerated solution 68°F (20°C) is around 9ppm, whereas at 86°F (30°C), it drops by over 16% to 7.5ppm.

Popular Methods of Increasing Oxygen Levels
Growers who appreciate the importance of dissolved oxygen have historically tried a variety of methods to increase levels in their nutrient solution.  It’s fairly straightforward to improve levels, but far harder to achieve ‘supercharged’ levels.

1. Surface to Air Contact
A submersible pump is placed into the nutrient reservoir.  When switched on it creates turbulence in the nutrient solution which increases its contact with air. The barrier between the water and air is broken (like a waterfall hitting a pool) allowing oxygen to be absorbed into the water.  The more turbulence at the surface, the greater the oxygen absorption.

2. Forced Aeration and Air Stones
This is one of the most popular methods used by growers today. Air pumps or compressors are used together with air stones or perforated pipe placed in the bottom of the nutrient tank. An air stone is traditionally a piece of limewood or porous stone but can also be made from fiberglass.  When air is pumped into the stone it creates very fine bubbles.  As these fine bubbles rise in the nutrient tank, some of the oxygen is absorbed by the nutrient solution.

There is currently some controversy surrounding the efficacy of air stones.  One theory suggests that larger bubbles rising in the nutrient solution absorb smaller suspended bubbles on their way up and air dissipates out of the solution.  In one test the oxygen levels in a nutrient solution actually dropped after running the air stone for 50 minutes!  Other growers (and aquarium owners) swear by them!

3. H2O2  (Hydrogen Peroxide)
Hydrogen Peroxide is known for increasing oxygen levels and its high oxidizing properties.  When H2O2 is first introduced to the nutrient solution there is a spike in oxygen levels and the plants receive a boost of oxygen.  However, the oxygen levels quickly drop off, especially with an air pump and aeration or agitation of the water via a water pump circulating through the system.  Along with the higher amount of oxygen, comes the high level of oxidization.  This is fine if the plants are suffering from any fungi or pathogens that may be in the system.  However the indiscriminating oxidizing effect of H2O2 can also attack a healthy root system.

Double air diffuser

4. Air Diffusers
The large scale solution.  Air diffusers force concentrated atmospheric oxygen into the nutrient solution. These systems achieve very high oxygen levels but they have to be regulated carefully and tend to be used by large commercial greenhouses that can afford the room and cost of such equipment.

5. Electrolysis
Oxygen is produced through electrolysis when a DC current is passed through an anode and cathode in an acid or salt solution.  As the solution passes by the anode and cathode the current separates the oxygen atom from the hydrogen atoms at a molecular level, leaving the oxygen suspended in the water. The plant absorbs some of the beneficial hydrogen but because hydrogen is 16 times lighter than oxygen, most of it is disbursed through the surface of the water.  The benefit of this method of raising oxygen levels in a nutrient solution is that oxygen is not being forced into the water.  The oxygen is actually being generated from the water, within the water.

Still not convinced about the importance of oxygen?  Then check out this basil crop, brought back from the brink of death after a spell of freakishly hot weather!  How? Oxygen levels were raised in the nutrient solution using electrolysis. The basil was infested with pythium (root rot) but started to recover almost immediately!

Healthy white roots appearing days after the nutrient solution was regularly treated with oxygen electrolysis.

Basil roots 10 days after the beginning of electrolysis treatment.

Incredible! After being all but overcome by pythium, the roots of this basil plant have been restored to health after 21 days of electrolysis treatment.

If your plants are not fighting root rot and disease, there’s no doubt that you will harvest bigger, heavier crops – without the need for chemical pesticides or supplements.

Now take a deep breath. Feels good, doesn’t it?