Organic Fanatic Collective

[vonforne]

Hey SB good links. I plan on using forest humus straight from the forest be for long.

I used the Yucca in the powder form on my last rum with good results. It is also a great additive for teas. I would add 2 TBS to the 4 gallons of water.

V

 

[jaykush]

I plan on using forest humus straight from the forest be for long.

hey V

you could do that or culture them. its a lot better imo and sometimes with the fresh forsest humus you get things you don't want along with the microbes. nothing wrong with doing it that way i have done it before and when i come across a new spot i always grab a ziplock bag full for a test then if its good go back and collect a microculture. if you want the method just shoot me a pm.

 

[Smurf]

High OFC clan,,,,,

its good to see there are so many here researching additives for teas etc. (the things we do !!) here's an extract from 'The Compost Tea Brewing Manual' by Dr. E. Ingham........
IMO it covers info that is the general rule of thumb here in OFC.

"What does the plant require in terms of nutrients, bacteria and fungi to protect the plant from disease-causing microorganisms? Does the plant require nutrients to be retained in the soil around the plant? What is needed to make those nutrients available back to the plant? Which organisms decompose any toxic or leftover residues that may be present in the soil? How can I build soil structure so air diffuses back into the root zone and prevents fungal root rot diseases? How can I improve water holding in the root soil? How can I get the roots of my plants growing down 5, to 10, to 15 feet deep into the soil?"

The answer to the above questions always lies with the soil organisms. Always consider, however, that you need to know something about your soil. For example, if the soil is high in humic acids and other recalcitrant materials ( those resistant to decomposition or decay, such as woody materials, bark, straw, old manure, oak leaves or conifer needles) then the soil is likely to be fungal-dominated, regardless of sand/silt/clay ratios. In this case, the recipe chosen should enhance bacterial biomass in order to balance the fungal-to-bacterial biomass ratio.

The balance of fungi to bacteria must be viewed with respect to the needs of the plant. For example trees require a fungal-dominated soil, while row crops and grass need an equal balance of fungi to bacteria. Based on the limited testing that has been done, we have determined that teas applied to foliage should be bacterial in nature.

The Right Compost.
It is critical to start with compost or vermicompost that will produce the desired microbial balance. If the tea needs to be more fungal, compost high in fungal biomass should be chosen. Generally, compost high in volume of woody material (resistant to rapid decay) will probably be fungal-dominated.

A typical fungal compost recipe contains 25% manure, 30% green material and 45% woody material. Fungal composts typically need less turning because the chunkiness of the woody material allows better air diffusion. Thus, piles without the high N and with more woody material typically do not reach temperatures above 150 F ( 65 C ). Turning is only needed to homogenize the pile and spread the growing organisms evenly throughout the materials.

If bacterial tea is indicated, use compost made with 25% manure, 45% green material and 30% woody material. Each composter needs to work the best combination out for themselves, (with their own starting materials). The quantity and source of the manure is important. The higher the level of N in the manure, the faster the pile heats. If too much N is present, the pile may heat above 180 F (85 C), and may combust. Turning becomes critical for cooling the pile and bacteria are selected as fungi are killed during the turning process.

Again, the size of the particles in a compost pile are important. If green or woody material is finely chopped, then the N in that material is more readily available to the microbes, the bacteria will bloom, increasing temperature and rapidly using up the oxygen. To prevent anaerobic conditions, compost with finely chopped materials will need air to be pumped in or turned at least once per day.

The Right Foods
If you aren't sure what your plants need, make a tea that contains both bacteria and fungi, as well as protozoa, and let the plant do the selecting. Simple sugars to encourage bacterial growth; while soluble kelp (surface area) and humic acids (foods) enhance the growth of fungi.

ADD NOTHING THAT CONTAINS A PRESERVATIVE!! What are preservatives? Anything we use to prevent microbial growth, such as antibiotics, chlorine, fumigants, sterilants, alcohol, benzoate, benzene, phenols, terpines, iodine, etc. When in doubt, ASK!

The selection for the preferred microbial community, given a compost of say equal bacterial to fungal biomass, can be made by adding components to the tea solution before the tea brewing process begins.

Additives that help bacteria most are simple sugars, syrups, such as molasses, cane syrup, sugar beet syrup, spoiled carrot juice, apple juice from apple sauce production, and yeasts (vitamin addition).

Materials that help fungi more than bacteria are things like fruit pulp (the cellulose in the pulp generally helps fungi more than bacteria but bacteria will grow on the sugar portion of the pulp), soluble kelp (proteins and micronutrients), humic acids, or other high cellulose containing pulp material.
Plant extracts, such as comfrey, nettle or dandelion "soups" can also be added to enhance the micronutrient content of the tea. Anecdotal information from growers suggest comfrey is high in Ca, N and K, and thus alleviates nutrient stress if plants are lacking these nutrients. Comfrey has been chopped and added to the compost before it is composted, or after composting is finished (dangerous if there is any disease on the comfrey that could spread through the compost), to the compost basket during the tea brewing operation, or as a brewed soup (stuff a bucket full of comfrey leaves, add water, churn the leaves in the bucket for a day or so, then add the liquid to the water at the start of the brew process). In each instance, significant benefit to the plant production was observed, most likely explained by improved Ca uptake by the plant. However, these were not replicated studies, and to fully accept this type of work, controlled scientific studies are required.

Use cold-water grown kelp, not warm-water grown kelp. Cold-water kelp absorbs and retains more nutrients during growth than warm-water kelps, resulting in greater micronutrient benefits.

Some spices have properties that inhibit specific microbes. While a great deal more testing is required to document efficacy, materials like garlic oil, onion oils, cinnamon, and oregano have been reported to reduce E. coli counts in teas. Testing needs to be performed.

Many interesting ingredients have been used in teas, but their benefit has rarely been documented. The special elixir that works wonders for one grower may have little or no benefit, or sometimes be detrimental, to other plants. The explanation lies in the biology and the chemistry of the plant, the soil, and the tea. The biology may have been right for your friend's squash, but isn't right for your indoor citrus tree. When in doubt, test the tea on part of the plant, or in a small area of your field.

having trouble uploading atm, have to finish this later, sorry.
smurf

 

[jaykush]

great info smurf i like this part the best

Many interesting ingredients have been used in teas, but their benefit has rarely been documented. The special elixir that works wonders for one grower may have little or no benefit, or sometimes be detrimental, to other plants. The explanation lies in the biology and the chemistry of the plant, the soil, and the tea. The biology may have been right for your friend's squash, but isn't right for your indoor citrus tree. When in doubt, test the tea on part of the plant, or in a small area of your field.

 

[vonforne]

The Right Foods

This is what I have found to be true also along with what JK pulled out of the essay. The correct food and its type will determine the effective properties of the tea whether it be bacterial or fungi. I have tried working with different types of additives......some I liked and had good results with and others that I still do not know what to do with them until I use them more in a controlled grow.

I do plan on doing a culture collection of fungi from the forest that JK has instructed me on how to do. I will try and get out this week and get a start on it.

V

Nice post once again Smurf.

 

[Guest]

OOOO, this is a study I've already done, how to make bio-film with a mixed proportion of fungi and bacteria.

What kind of ratio do you need in soil/teas?

edit - found the notes - rant is on!

 

[Guest]

Ok, some of this MIGHT help. It's a study of aquarium water stuff, but for growing purposes.

What are bio-films?

Biofilms are populations of microorganisms adhering to environmental surfaces. They are usually encased in an extracellular polysaccharide* that they themselves synthesize. Biofilms may be found on essentially any environmental surface in which sufficient moisture is present. Their development is most rapid in flowing systems where adequate nutrients are available. (teas!)

Biofilms may form:

1. on solid substrates in contact with moisture.
2. on soft tissue surfaces in living organisms.
3. at liquid air interfaces.

Plant tissues also commonly have microbial populations associated with their external tissues.

One such plant microbe association is called the rhizosphere.

Rhizosphere is a relationship between the plant roots and root hairs and a complex microbial community. The rhizosphere association is mutualistic. Plant roots secrete significant amounts of sugars, amino acids, vitamins and plant hormones which vastly stimulate microbial growth in the immediate vicinity of the root. This microbial population in turn facilitates the absorption of nutrients by the plant from the soil/substrate/water stream.

How do biofilms form?

The formation of biofilm is not a random process. It follows a course the nature of which can be predicted and recorded.

Within minutes, an organic monolayer adsorbs to the surface of substrate. This changes the chemical and physical properties of the substrate. These organic compounds are found to be polysaccharides or glycoproteins.** These adsorbed materials condition surfaces and appear to increase the probability of the attachment of planktonic bacteria.

Free floating or planktonic bacteria encounter the conditioned surface and form a reversible, sometimes transient attachment often within minutes.

This attachment called adsorption is influenced by electrical charges carried on the bacteria, by Van der Waals forces and by electrostatic attraction. The precise nature of interaction is still a matter of intense debate.

If the association between bacterium and substrate persists long enough, other chemical and physical structures may form which transform the reversible adsorption to a permanent and essentially irreversible attachment.

The final stage in the irreversible adhesion of a cell to an environmental surface is associated with the production of extracellular polymer*** substances or EPS. Most of the EPS of biofilms are polymers containing sugars.

This layer of EPS and bacteria can now entrap particulate materials such as clay, organic materials, dead cells and precipitated minerals adding to the bulk and diversity of the biofilm habitat. This growing biofilm can now serve as the focus for the attachment and growth of other organisms increasing the biological diversity of the community.

The microbial inhabitants within biofilms in a significant sense behave as multicellular assemblages. Far from being the homogeneous populations usually assumed in planktonic pure cultures. Biofilms as simple as colonies on agar surfaces and as complex as bacterial populations inhabiting the flora, fauna and entire submerged workings of an Aquaponic system, behave in many respects like the tissues of a multicellular organism.

Multicellular organisms are those organisms consisting of more than one cell, and having differentiated cells that perform specialized functions. Most life that can be seen with the naked eye is multicellular, as are all animals and plants.

Here's food for thought then...

When a biofilm is first starting out - the first layer, that eventually becomes entrapped in irreversible film, can be polysaccharides OR glycoproteins. One a complex carbohydrate, the other, protein and carbohydrate. You WANT both. Without both, your bio-film will not function as well as it could in providing food for varied planktonic life, rhizosphere interaction, and assisting in disease resistance for plants, animals, and the bio-film itself.

How do you get both?

Keep light levels down or non existant (in your tea) to decrease initial algal population so the algae doesn't dominate.

Have a portion of phosphorus which is needed for ATP to provide energy for bacteria to flourish.

Temperature. 20 plus for bacterial booms.

Sugar - molasses. Fuel for the polymer matrix. This is the mortar for your bio-films bricks.

Lignin - If you want michorizal fungi to develop you must feed them. A bit of a root system from an established outdoor plant would be fine. Or a bit of peat but peat will have to populate itself. Adding fungi would work, provided they have food.

NPK spread. In order for bacteria to catalyse and utilise nutrients first the nutrients must be present. The bacteria will adapt and evolve to cope with the conditions it is given. So teach it to deal with what you feed your plant right from the start.

Variety is the spice of life. Uncountable bacterial strains, so many functions and interactions, to get variety at a cellular level, feed them variety.

* complex carbohydrates - starch, glycogen, cellulose & chitin (part of algae walls) are some examples of polysaccharides. Extracellular, very basically, they are linked together.

** Macromolecules are composed of a protein and a carbohydrate. Some of these are antibodies, responsible for boosting immune systems.

*** Molecules consisting of structural units and a large number of repeating units connected by chemical bonds.

Hope this helps rather than confuses. Feedback welcome.

 

[Guest]

Stoner rant on above post

Stoner rant on above post

OK, I'm toasted now, ready to ponder and theorise, again, feedback (and corrections) welcome.

Amazingly, the correct bacterial ingredients/ratios to promote the specific parameters of your grow, if given enough time, will just arrive. This, however, can take months, and more commonly, years. The eco-system corrects, causing an effect, corrects again, causing another effect... Good things take time...

Encouraging heathy bacterial populations in a tea is a most excellent 'turbo' for the organic garden. It will save the gardener a lot of time.

Provided the tea is made of the right stuff. Thanks OFC for twigging me to this!

Phosphate. This is a double edged sword. Phosphate will be used readily by algae. It will, in fact, be used so well in the absense of plant competition (MJ is more efficient than algae at using phosphates) that algae growth will inhibit the availability of phosphates for nitrifying bacteria, slowing the production of Adenosine Tri-Phosphate (ATP). ATP provides the energy for cellular growth - bacteria, fungi and plants...

Inhibiting light to your tea will help a great deal. Algae cannot grow without light but fungi can.

The algae, however, has a role of it's own in nature, and in a tea it has benefits too. The algae provides lignin, or cellulose - plant fibre. Only fungal enzymes have the ability to break up lignin, and the presense of lignin will encourage the multiplication of fungal enzymes. This is why I advocate fresh plant root (all chopped up). This will already contain mychorizal fungi, and as the root is now dead (don't use roots from plants that carry on living) you have provided a source of lignin for the enzymes to work on, and sugars to help bacteria form a polymer to catalyze nutrients in the tea.

- Could someone please chime in here with an excellent root type for making teas with (comfrey?)

Molasses - Sugars forming the polymer matrix in your dirt provide soil stability with additional drainage and airation benefits. Molasses is an excellent choice, as we know, for providing these sugars. The catalysing action of molasses will 'bind' the nutrients in your tea (and in the molasses itself). When the tea is added to soil the aforementioned polymer matrix formed of the sugars adheres to soil particles, putting the nutrients and bacteria right where you pour them.

Additional enzymes. From a bottle or, as the OFC prefer, naturally. Sprouted alfalfa and other seeds are rich in enzymes. Chop some up and put them in the tea.

Time - The adhering of particulate matter to surfaces is desirable (in your soil). Bacteria prefer surfaces to adhere to, and will use various means to do so. What this means is that over time your liquid content has less nutrients, and the surfaces of everything wet involving your tea, more. But then, you need time to make the tea to get the bacteria booming...

I use a 'teabag'. A pillowcase containing the ingredients suspended in the water with a bubbler underneath this. When I have finished brewing my tea I wipe the bucket sides and bottom with my hand and knock off as much film as possible into the water, then I squeeze the teabag. This forces smaller particles out, including a lot of polymer, bacteria, and fungi.

 

[Guest]

And he's back, stoned again.

And he's back, stoned again.

Still back-reading this thread, it'd give War & Peace a run for it's money...

So sorry if I'm repeating others, or missing the point. Just tell me if I am.

I believe there are specific areas teas can benefit the grow and for these more specific formulas could be dialled in.

Soil conditioner/builder
Fertiliser
Fixing imbalances via foliar feeds.

I'm more interested in soil building. Good soil removes most fertilisation and micro-nutrient problems.

Humus has been identified as the 'magic ingredient'. With a Cation Exchange Capacity (CEC) of 500, compared to 40, 20 and 5 for clay, loam and sand respectively, this is the stuff I want to encourage when adding anything to my garden.

The description of humus, for my example, is the stable part of the soil. Not mulch or compost, that portion that is already fully composted.

The addition of 'humus' via a product, is highly unlikely. Leonardite has been identified as containing humus, it has up to 60% humus content but it is in a form unavailable to soil gardens.

Here's the kicker. It can be used as a substrate in soilless culture. What is a brew of organic tea, if not a soilless culture (ok ok I know some of you guys add soil hehe).

Humus is made up of humins (50%), fulvic acids (10%), and humic acids (40%).

Humins are part of the soil that doesn't dissolve when treated with diluted alkali solutions.

So you get some nice black peat in a sock, you bubble it with limestone and molasses to assist chelation, it goes black, then it goes clear. The dust on the bottom that didn't dissolve - contains humins!

Fulvic acids consist of an immense arsenal and array of naturally occuring phytochemicals, biochemicals, supercharged antioxidants, free-radical scavengers, super oxide dismutases, nutrients, enzymes, hormones, amino acids, antibiotics, antivirals, and antifungals.

In plants, fulvic acid stimulates metabolism, provides respiration, increases metabolism of proteins and activity of multiple enzymes, enhances the permeability of cell membranes, cell division and elongation, aids chlorophyll synthesis, drought tolerance, crop yields, buffers soil pH, assists denitrification by microbes, contributes to electrochemical balance as a donor or an acceptor, decomposes silica to release essential mineral nutrients, detoxifies pollutants such as pesticides and herbicides.

Whenever minerals come into contact with fulvic acid, in a water medium, they are naturally dissolved into an ionic form. These minerals literally become part of the fulvic acid itself. Once the minerals meld into the fulvic acid complex, they become bioactive, bioavailable, and organic. Thus, when elemental minerals are transformed into an organic state, through a natural chemical process involving fulvic acid and photosynthesis, they are safe to be used by both humans and animals.

Fulvic acid is sold as a health remedy.

Humic Acid can be gained from the water of a well matured planted aquarium. Scientists who do not understand why Aquaponics outstrips conventional hydroponics have put it down to the high humic acid content.

I propose a permanently brewing tea.

With
Langbeinite, Leonardite, Limestone
Peat, fungal innoculants (roots), sprouts
Additions of both aquarium and (clean) river water
Molasses
Many extras you guys can help with, provided they break down aerobically.

I strongly suspect enzyme activity plays a major part in the formation of humus and so anaerobic teas are not suited to the task of soil building as they kill all the fungi.

 

[ThaiPhoon]

Hey Bongsong

I love the idea about brewing a tea with minerals and fulvic acid! How about throwing some Azomite into that mix! I think that would be VERY nutritious to plants. I think I'll give a whirl if someone could suggest a starting ratio of ingredients...? What does 1tsp/gal of Azomite, molasses, and fulvic acid? I have a product that is a blend of fulvic and humic acid. I think its great, I must try that mineral tea out! maybe drink some myself!

This thread is great!

 

[Smurf]

I'm not sure what fulvic you have there ThaiPhoon, but the one I use in teas, I use @ 1:100 & less.....(Huma-Tech Fulvic 1400). The 1400 is the cation exchange. I must admit that the ladies love it, plus it's great for dropping the pH. As for the Azomite I haven't had the pleasure of using it yet, but the ratio you suggested is on par with what I've read. Come to think of it the Humic acid I use is also a blend with 2% Fulvic, and I always combine the two in my teas, @ anywhere from 1:50 to 1:100 with nothing but good results so far. Your choice....different circumstances etc., experiment a little. Thats all I've been doing.
Just go for it!

 

[ThaiPhoon]

Thanks Smurf...Yes I must just experiment...The only way to learn eh! The product I have available here is called K-humate. It's the same stuff found here:

http://www.australianhumates.com/index2.asp?go=products/kh26.html

The one I have is 26%wt/vol...What do you think of this? It is all I could find that contains any fulvic acid. Humic acid seems much easier to find.

 

[Smurf]

I checked out that link ThaiPhoon, they have some nice gear there.... have you tried to get your hands on their Fulvic Acid - FA75 (Soluble Powder) (70% Fulvic acid + 18% Potassium)......

http://www.australianhumates.com/index2.asp?go=products/kh26.html

the stuff I'm using is from NTS (Nutri Tech Solutions) in Queensland. Not sure if you have access to it,,,, they have a massive range of certified organic products,, I think it's around the 300 mark.
exporting worldwide.......

http://www.nutri-tech.com.au/

http://www.nutri-tech.com.au/products_new/humates/nts-fulvic-1400.html

 

[Scay Beez]

Happy thanksgiving to everyone! Thanks for the things we possess and a sad day to remember the great Native Americans. We must always continue their tradition of living with the land and think of the results of our actions 7 generations into the future like the Iroquois.

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

Here's a few different humic products I've found:

Nature's Solution - claims to come from vegetable matter but says from an ancient bog on their website?!?! Possible liquid form of alaskan humisoil? Good stuff, kinda expensive, high application rates.

Humisolve - comes from clay humic source in new mexico. Very affordable, haven't tested it out.

Alaskan Humisoil - comes from a layer of soil under a peat bog, ancient compost. Great stuff.

3d Organic Solutions - extracted form 5 sources of lignite; claims food grade quality.

I'm not sure what constitutes food grade and agricultural grades of humic and fulvic.


I have been putting azomite in my tea for a few years now. I only add about 1TBSP in my 7/8 Gal tea container for veg but not all the time. In flowering azomite helps phosphorus uptake greatly and provides extra calcium and trace minerals. I use 1 - 2 TBSP in later flowering. I lost a bunch of old tea recipes when I moved west which is why I've been so vague. I'm having to re-figure some old stuff out.



- sbz

 

[Scay Beez]

I'm not sure if this has been posted or not but I found it while browsing the old cannabis world from a public computer...hehe.. I found a few things I'll post up.

Great read ->

Soil Biology Primer by Elaine R. Ingham, Andrew R. Moldenke, Clive A. Edwards
http://soils.usda.gov/sqi/concepts/soil_biology/biology.html


- sbz

 

[ThaiPhoon]

Thanks again Smurf. The stuff I buy here is rebranded under a Thai company called Sotus. I will have to look for that better fulvic acid. But in my location it is VERY difficult to get things like that. I am lucky to have found one shop that sells the K-humate!

I have mixed the Azomite into the potting mix itself according to the instructions in the Azomite brochure...I will be testing it out in the teas as well.

I will put the pics up as soon as I can. The newest plants I have growing now are definitely the most healthy plants I have ever grown!

 

[Scay Beez]

another cw find:

How to extract humic acid and fulvic acid from humates
from the compost_tea yahoo group:

Quote:
If you want both humic and fulvic acid you have to go with a caustic.
Commercially, potassium hydroxide is commonly used but you can also use potassium carbonate or even potassium bi carbonate. These will all give reasonable extraction. Potassium carbonate is fairly benign and almost organic as it is a precursor compound for K-bi-carbonate.

I have also tried calcium hydroxide (builders lime) which seems to work ok.
Any alkaline extraction will give you both 'acids' in solution as they are both soluble at such pH's.

If you want just humic acid, you then acidify the primary extract to drop out the humate, spin it off then re-alkalize to put it back into solution.

If you just want the fulvic acids you have to go acidic.
I use citric acid and temperature with good results instead of phosphoric acid but you have to stabilize it with something as it doesn't store too well as the fungi (penicillin) just love it.


- sbz

 

[Scay Beez]

Diggity dig dig... more cw stuff for the paranoid/safe folks:

Archaea - Biozome
from http://www.biozome.com

What is BioZome?

We are 100% ORANGIC. (USDA/NOP).
We are not a fertilizer, pesticide, or GMO.

BioZome is a highly concentrated blend of beneficial natural microorganisms put together by Dr. Carl Oppenheimer after 40 years of research. BioZome has been proven to triple the growth rate, decrease seed germination time by 2/3, reduce transplant shock, produce more blooms and increase crop yield. Plants grown with BioZome exhibit healthier roots and increased disease and pest resistance. The microorganisms are primitive "Archaeobacteria" collected from salt pans, hot springs, and volcanic regions all over the world. They are hardy and capable of living in a wide range of environmental conditions. Also, due to their primitive nature they coalesce to work as a team, yielding a high efficiency ratio in the soil.

BioZome is necessary to breakdown the trace element organic compounds. These compounds are needed to initiate and maintain all plant and animal immune systems. Healthy plants and soils use less water, nutrients, and still produce more.

BioZome can be used for houseplants, home gardens, lawns, bushes, trees and flowers. BioZome is a great compost starter, can be used in septic tanks, and for small oil cleanups.

Because of BioZome’s oil eating capabilities it can clean your soils from a wide variety of toxins. Government testing has proven the following list of the worst toxins (the Dirty Dozen) have been cleaned using these microbes. This includes Aldrin, Chlordane, Dieldrin, DDT, Endrin, Heptachlor, Mirex, Toxaphene, PCB’s, Hexachlorobenzene, Dioxins and Furans. (source: United Nations Enviromental program.

The archaea are found in BioZome.

from http://www.archaeabiosystems.com/archaeaexplained.php

ARCHAEA EXPLAINED
ARCHAEA - THIRD TYPE OF LIFE

BEFORE 1977 LIFE CAME IN two fundamental flavors: bacteria and the rest of us. The bacteria, also known as prokaryotes, had DNA that floated free in the cell, whereas the eukaryotes--such as fungi, plants, and animals--had their DNA balled up in a nucleus. But in 1977 Carl Woese, a microbiologist at the University of Illinois, showed that there was actually a third type of life , a group of prokaryotes he called the archaea. Not only are the archaea genetically distinct from the other prokaryotes--which Woese renamed eubacteria, or "true" bacteria--they are more closely related to us than they are to Escherichia coli. It's now believed that the archaea and eubacteria diverged from a common ancestor nearly 4 billion years ago, soon after the origin of life; only later did the ancestors of today's eukaryotes split off from the archaea.


INITIALLY CONSIDERED INSIGNIFICANT

That makes archaea pretty fascinating beasts. But even Woese, their intellectual father, long assumed they were but an ecological sideshow today. They seemed to live only in freak environments--in the middle of hot springs, in salt lakes like the Dead Sea, or in oxygen-starved swamps--and to be few in both number and species. "They were confined, and there was a feeling that they couldn't compete in aerobic conditions," says Woese. Struggling to survive in their nasty habitats, the archaea had found little opportunity to diversify and multiply--or so it seemed to Woese and most others until recently.


LATEST - ARCHAEA MAY BE THE MOST COMMON ORGANISMS ON EARTH

In the past few years, Woese has been happily eating his words. Hot springs in Yellowstone National Park have revealed head-spinning levels of archaeal diversity--including a pair of organisms that are the most primitive forms of life alive today. Meanwhile, other strains of archaea have been discovered leading perfectly contented lives in the cool, oxygenrich ocean, in such incredible numbers that they must play an important ecological role. Far from being sideshow freaks, archaea may be the most common organisms on Earth.


DIFFICULT TO CULTURE ALONE

The flurry of new discoveries has come with the invention of a new way to look for microbes. Traditionally microbiologists have studied bacteria by extracting them from a sample of soil or water and then growing them in culture in order to get enough to look at. But what they saw through their microscopes was a poor reflection of reality: the hardy "weeds" of the microbial world took over the culture, while other strains that were common in nature vanished. "If you're culturing, you're getting the wrong picture," says Woese.


RNA PROVIDES THE METHOD

In the 1980s, Norman Pace of Indiana University figured out how to take a census of microbes in the wild. Using Pace's method, microbiologists don't struggle to raise individual species; instead they suck out bits of genetic material from the whole lot of species in a sample. They go for the same bit from each bug: a piece of RNA that forms part of the core of ribosomes, which are the protein factories of a cell. Archaea, eukaryotes, and eubacteria all have ribosomes, so ribosomal RNA is good for comparing different organisms.

Researchers do so by reading the sequence of base pairs that make up the RNA. In general the sequence is slightly different in each species, which makes it like a name. When microbiologists find a new name, they have discovered a new species (although the organism itself is destroyed along the way). Moreover, the more closely related two species are, the more similar RNA they have, so researchers can readily arrange all the species they find on a family tree. A computer helps them determine how all the observed RNA sequences might have evolved in the simplest possible way from a common ancestor.


THE PRIMORDIAL ANCESTOR?

Susan Barns, a member of Pace's lab, used this method to look for archaea in Yellowstone park. Yellowstone is an archaean mecca; researchers have been going there for 20 years to find and study the hot-spring microbes. In 1993 Barns noticed a weird place called the Obsidian Pool, a bubbling dark cauldron, 9 feet by 27 feet in size, lined with obsidian sand. She soon found there were treasures lurking in its blackness. To begin with, she identified a pair of archaea that are the most primitive organisms on Earth: their ribosomal RNA is very close to what the primordial ancestor of all archaea and eubacteria must have had. Barns thinks the lineage of her two new species can be traced to shortly after that primordial split, and that they have changed very little in the past 3.5 billion years. Her discovery of such venerable organisms in the Obsidian Pool lends further support to the notion that life may have begun in a hot spring, either on land or on the seafloor.

In all, Barns has discovered 38 species of archaea in the Obsidian Pool, most of which aren't related closely to any known genus. "There's twice as much evolutionary distance between these new organisms in this one pool than between us and plants," she says. The Obsidian Pool may be able to support such diversity because it contains so many microhabitats--temperatures in the pool range from boiling in the sediments to 165 degrees at the surface, and the acidity and oxygen levels vary greatly as well. But Barns doesn't think her research turf is special. "I lean to the Ignorance Theory: we've been ignorant of diversity everywhere, and this happened to be the place where it jumped out at us," she says.


ARCHAEA IDENTIFIED IN NEARLY ALL ENVIRONMENTS

Archaea have lately been jumping out of the open ocean too--far from the hot springs and swamps that were once thought to confine them. When microbiologists Edward DeLong of the University of California at Santa Barbara and Jed Fuhrman of the University of Southern California first took Pace's method to sea a few years back, they expected to find only eubacteria and eukaryotes. Instead they found archaea--and in such stunning numbers that they've continued searching for them everywhere they can. "It's an obsession of mine now," says DeLong. Working independently, he and Fuhrman have found archaea all over the world, at the surface and in deep abysses. "Suddenly this whole domain of organisms that had been relegated to weirdo environments turn out to do fine in normal habitats," says Fuhrman. "You just have to look for them in the right way."


OCEANIC ARCHAEA - NUMEROUS

Ocean archaea aren't quite as diverse as the Obsidian Pool creatures, but they are numerous. DeLong has discovered that nearly a third of the microbes in surface water off Antarctica are archaea. Fuhrman meanwhile has found signs that archaea are actually the dominant type of microbe in deep-ocean water. If you assume his samples from nine locations are representative of the whole deep ocean, says Fuhrman--a big assumption but not a crazy one --"there's a very good chance that these are the most common organisms on Earth."


ARCHAEA PLAY ROLE IN EARTH'S CLIMATE

With only tatters of their RNA in hand, though, Fuhrman can't say for sure how they do so well. He thinks they may be eating dissolved organic matter--in which case, if they are indeed as common as he believes, archaea must have a big effect on the chemistry of the ocean and even the atmosphere. Without archaea to eat the dissolved organics, the ocean might resemble chicken soup. And by eating so much carbon, archaea must affect the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere as well as the ocean, because the two are continually exchanging CO 2 . Once mere curiosities, archaea have become something that might influence Earth's climate.


WITHSTAND HEAT, ACIDS, SALT

The most interesting things about archaea may remain hidden, though, until researchers can examine the actual living organisms rather than their genetic dog tags; although dead specimens have been isolated, the bugs have proved devilishly hard to grow in culture. Biotechnologists would love to grow archaea for their enzymes, which withstand heat, acids, and salt. To Woese, though, the chief importance of archaea will remain the unity they bring to our understanding of life. "Before, one had the prokaryotes over here and the eukaryotes over there," he says. "The relationship was a wall. With archaea, that relationship is a bridge we can cross."

also from the same site something on archaea and plant growth:
http://www.archaeabiosystems.com/Imp...ons Rev1.pdf

 

[Scay Beez]

more cw... credit to Green Supreme for this find:

Lithotamnium- vegetable calcium, magnesium and iron

Lithotamnien, also „stone algae” mentioned, are extraordinarily rich at organic, natural calcium (approx. 34%), magnesium (approx. 3.3%) and iron (approx. 2.1%).

Can also be found as a decoration for marine aquarium supply.


- sbz

 

[Guest]

Excellent info Scay Beez and others. I will need to go on a scavenger (and cash) hunt for some of these minerals. I'm more interested in making a rock substrate for a 'permanent tea' than paying for ground minerals to add to the tea/soil though if I had some Azomite I'd be putting it round one or two of my trees right now.

Presently I'm brewing some peat and seaweed with molasses and fulvic acid, this in 5 gallons of water from a mature Aquaponic system which is loaded with humic acid. I suspect fulvic acid too but have not found verification yet so added some -I hope the fulvic acid content of Aquaponics is high, makes it very easy for me to get both acids free - Anyhoo - The tea goes black and the superfine silt that gets on the sides I sweep back in.

After 2 days I add limestone, remove the teabag (all plant/peat matter) and continue to brew. As pH rises up over 7 it clears nicely the speed depending on proportions and temperature I believe.

When the airstone is then turned off a couple of hours later it is really clear and all the superfine silt stuff is left at the bottom.

I suspect a large portion of this would be humins? It is easy to siphon off.

I can then take the limestone out, add the teabag back, and bring the pH back down again. Replenish things as needed and keep brewing.

The rocks like leonardite, langbeinite, and others I'd like as permanent fixtures of this tea. From what I've read lately I'm also taking a wild stab at thinking that humus, or the components of, are capable of breaking down minerals (like fulvic acid breaking up silicon).

The effect I'm looking for is making a tea that is well buffered with the (readily available) micro-components my system (and soil) need to produce humus.

Am I on the right track?