Soil Food Web – Predator-Prey Protists Bacteria Fungi Microarthropods in an Aerobic Environment
Soil Food web – Predator-Prey Protists Bacteria Fungi Microarthropods are some of the main components in soil microbiology. Below is a predator/Prey food/eating chart. Arrows indicate who is eating what. Some of the food materials are organic (meaning they contain some carbon), while other organisms are eating inorganic materials (like NO3, NO and etc…) The tangled [...]
Ancient Earth’s Atmosphere History – Oxygen for Anaerobic and Aerobic Bacteria
Earth’s Ancient Atmosphere – Understanding how anaerobic and aerobic bacteria evolve teaches us how modern Earth ecology works. Oxygen is the key turning point in Earth’s bacterial history. The GOE is one of the turning points in Earth’s creation of life. Below is a pictorial summary when free oxygen appeares in Earth’s atmosphere. The rest of [...]
How to Plant Mesquite in Clay and Non-Dessert Areas
How to Plant Mesquite in Clay soil and/or Non-Dessert Areas. That is easy. The best way to plant Mesquite is in a combination of sand, clay, compost and pumas. Yes, pumas. It is also known as lava rack. It can be purchased at any home improvement store. It can be found in the landscaping section, [...]
Identifying MicroOrganisms using a Microscope
Identifying what is in your soil takes you many steps closer to understanding how the world works around us. If you are a beginner to microscopes and to microscope slides with sample preparation, you first need to get a lesson oh how to use a microscope. Using microscopes is not hard, but is not as simple [...]
Soil Test Equipment
Testing your won soil with a microscope is fun, but there is a large learning curve. It is simple to make the samples, but identifying the animals on the slides takes a lot of practice. Here is a list of items you need for basic microscope soil analysis. These items can be used for analyzing compost, [...]
Using Compost Tea for Pest and Disease Suppression Control
Compost Tea is the easiest and safest way to control blight, leave curl and most fungi problems in trees. The process is very simple. Spray compost tea on the leaves and tree branches. Yes, this does not go into the ground, but on the upper canopy of the tree. About 4 weeks before buds open [...]
Aphids
What to use to Control: Beauveria bassiana Strain GHA For more Information on Beauveria bassiana Strain GHA and how to use it, Click Here
The Nitrogen Cycles – Videos
In this episode we looking at two Nitrogen Cycles. This is a replacement for chemical pesticides and fungicides. Applications are done as compost teas. And applications are done with Azos bacteria. Nitrogen Cycle part1 from Paul Holowko on Vimeo. For More Information on Nitrogen Cycles, click here. Nitrogen Fixing Cycle Part 2 from Paul [...]
Testing Confocal Microscope on Compost Tea
Here is an interesting test case of compost tea made this week. The tea was brewed with protists and fungi in mind. The tea was made in a 5 gallon bucket with 4 tablespoons of liquid kelp and 4 tablespoons of fish hydrogisate. It was bubbled for 48 hours at 68 degrees F. Below is [...]
Foiloir Layer Case Study – Laurel Bay Leaf Images
The sample is set up with two different stains. One stain shows all of the live bacteria (green) and the dead bacteria (red). Below is the BL (Back Lite) of the Bay leaf. The stomata are shown in semi-bright circles in this image. A stoma is a pore, found in the leaf and stem epidermis [...]
Azotobacter chroococcum
Azotobacter chroococum is one of many nitrogen fixing species of bacteria found in soils and plants. Their purpose is to take food from the plant through the roots, eat it, change it to a protein. Once the protean is released, nitrifying bacteria covert it to a Nitrate. Nitrate is fixed nitrogen. It is the same [...]
Nitrogen Cycle With Rhizobium Bacteria (Legumes)
Rhizobium Bacteria is part of the nitrogen fixing cycle for Legumes. It has a symbiotic relationship with plants where starches are eaten by the bacteria and the bacteria give back proteins to the host plant. The protein is stored in nodules connected to the roots. For Information on bacterial and mycorrhiza inoculants, click here. [...]
Nitrogen Cycle from Nematodes (Bacteria Feeding) Cycle
This is one of the more tricky and interesting Nitrogen Fixing Cycles. The Ammonium comes from the nitrogen eaten of bacteria by nematodes. By default, bacteria bodies have a C:N ratio of 5:1. Bacteria have a very narrow split between Nitrogen and Carbon. Nematodes have a C:N ratio of 100:1. The split between the Nitrogen [...]
Examples of Free Living Nitrogen Fixing Bacteria
Free living nitrogen fixing bacteria Aerobic Azotobacter Beijerinckia Klebsiella Cyanobacteria Anaerobic Clostridium Desulfovibrio Purple sulphur bacteria Purple non-sulphur bacteria Green sulphur bacteria Symbiotic with plants nitrogen fixing bacteria Legumes Rhizobium Other plants Frankia Plant Examples Betulaceae: Alnus Casuarinaceae: Gymnostoma, Casuarina, Allocasuarina, Ceuthostoma Coriariaceae: Coriaria Datiscaceae: Datisca Elaeagnaceae: Eleagnus, Hippophae, Shepherdia Myricaceae: Myrica, Comptonia Rhamnaceae: Colletia, [...]
Primary Plant Succession
This form of Succession is for new un-developed rock. When a volcano erupts and lava flows out, it cools and forms new rocks. Water gets into the cracks and crevices of the newly form rock and splits them apart. Water and wind erosion does this until we have some form of sand, clay and/or silt. [...]
Microscope to Purchase for Soil Analysis
You can purchase a common binocular microscope with a under light illumination (or back lit) for analyzing your own soil samples. The microscope magnification range needs to be 40X to 400X. These objectives come standard with most microscopes. A halogen lamp and condenser lens needs to be equipped on the microscope. A foreground lit microscope [...]