{"id":3109,"date":"2013-09-07T15:33:23","date_gmt":"2013-09-07T22:33:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/learnbyblogging.com\/?p=3109"},"modified":"2013-09-08T11:31:41","modified_gmt":"2013-09-08T18:31:41","slug":"book-review-teaming-with-microbes-a-gardeners-guide-to-the-soil-food-web-by-jeff-lowenfels-wayne-lewis","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/learnbyblogging.com\/?p=3109","title":{"rendered":"Book Review: &#8220;Teaming with Microbes &#8211; A Gardener&#8217;s Guide to the Soil Food Web&#8221; by Jeff Lowenfels &#038; Wayne Lewis"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>My first time with the book review on video: It&#8217;s a lot of work but worth a try.<br \/>\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"640\" height=\"480\" src=\"\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/oQVyAToqvHk\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>Learned a lot of bacteria and fungi and how they affect the plants &#8211; the symbiotic relationship among them. Very interesting. This is a must read for any one aspiring to be have a green thumb &#8211; gardener. <\/p>\n<p>The book starts out with the basic science of the food web &#8211; how the roots secretes exudates to feed the microbes which in turn feed the the root. The nutrients come from the microbes in the organic world instead of the N-P-K petroleum-based fertilizers.<\/p>\n<p>The <a href=\"http:\/\/soils.usda.gov\/sqi\/concepts\/soil_biology\/images\/A-3.jpg\">food web from USDA<\/a>.<br \/>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/learnbyblogging.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/09\/USDA-Food-Web.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/learnbyblogging.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/09\/USDA-Food-Web-300x229.jpg\" alt=\"USDA Food Web\" width=\"300\" height=\"229\" class=\"alignleft size-medium wp-image-3116\" srcset=\"https:\/\/learnbyblogging.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/09\/USDA-Food-Web-300x229.jpg 300w, https:\/\/learnbyblogging.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/09\/USDA-Food-Web-1024x784.jpg 1024w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Chapter 2 goes into the soil science &#8211; informative but not very interesting.<\/p>\n<p>Chapter 3 covers the bacteria. Now that&#8217;s the half of the magic. The two groups: aerobic and anaerobic bacteria. The good soil smell comes from the volatile chemicals given out by the actinomycetes &#8211; particularly adept at decaying cellulose (long chain of carbon-based glucose that gives plants structure) and chitin. The Nitrogen cycle is introduced here.<\/p>\n<p>Chapter 4 covers the fungi. The job of fungi is still mysterious to many scientists and it&#8217;s a huge topic by itself. I think this chapter added more confusion than clarification. I&#8217;ll find other sources to dig deeper.<\/p>\n<p>Chapter 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11 cover the  Algae and Slim Molds. (Not much there). Protozoa (single-cell organism that eats bacteria), Nematodes (nonsegmented, blind roundworms), antropods (flies, beetles, and spiders), earthworms, and gastropods (snails), reptiles, mammals, and birds.<\/p>\n<p>Part 2: is about applying soil food web science to yard and garden care.<\/p>\n<p>I got the most out of the compost tea making. But for the most parts the following 19 rules are the key points:<\/p>\n<p>1) Some plants prefer soils dominated by fungi; others prefer soils dominated by bacteria.<br \/>\n2) Most vegetables, annuals, and grasses prefer their nitrogen in nitrate form and do best in bacterially dominated soils.<br \/>\n3) Most trees, shrubs, and perennials prefer their nitrogen in ammonium form and do best in fungal dominated soils.<br \/>\n4) Compost can be used to inoculate beneficial microbes and life into soils around your yard and introduce, maintain, or alter the soil food web in a particular area.<br \/>\n5) Adding compost\/ compost teas and its soil food web to the surface of soil will inoculate the soil with the same soil food web.<br \/>\n6) Aged, brown organic materials support fungi; fresh, green organic materials support bacteria.<br \/>\n7) Mulch laid on the surface tends to support fungi; mulch worked into the soil tends to support bacteria.<br \/>\n8) If you wet and grind mulch thoroughly, it speeds up bacterial colonization.<br \/>\n9) Coarse, dryer mulches support fungal activity.<br \/>\n10) Sugars help bacteria multiply and grow; kelp, humic and fulvic acids, and phosphate rock dusts help fungi grow.<br \/>\n11) By choosing the compost you begin with and what nutrients you add to it, you make teas that are heavily fungal, bacterially dominated, or balanced.<br \/>\n12) Compost teas are very sensitive to chlorine and preservatives in the brewing water and ingredients.<br \/>\n13) Applications of synthetic fertilizers kill off most or all of the soil food web microbes.<br \/>\n14) Stay away from additives that have high NPK numbers.<br \/>\n15) Follow any chemical spraying or soil drenching with an application of compost tea.<br \/>\n16) Most conifers and hardwood trees (birch, oak, beech, and hickory) form mycorrhizae with ectomycorrhizal fungi.<br \/>\n17) Most vegetables, annuals, grasses, shrubs, softwood trees, and perennials form mycorrhizae with endomycorrhizal fungi.<br \/>\n18) Rototilling and excessive soil disturbance destroy or severely damage the soil food web.<br \/>\n19) Always mix endomycorrhizal fungi with the seeds of annuals and vegetables at planting time or apply them to roots at transplanting time. <\/p>\n<p><iframe src=\"http:\/\/rcm-na.amazon-adsystem.com\/e\/cm?lt1=_blank&#038;bc1=000000&#038;IS2=1&#038;bg1=FFFFFF&#038;fc1=000000&#038;lc1=0000FF&#038;t=learbyblog-20&#038;o=1&#038;p=8&#038;l=as4&#038;m=amazon&#038;f=ifr&#038;ref=ss_til&#038;asins=1604691131\" style=\"width:120px;height:240px;\" scrolling=\"no\" marginwidth=\"0\" marginheight=\"0\" frameborder=\"0\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>My first time with the book review on video: It&#8217;s a lot of work but worth a try. Learned a lot of bacteria and fungi and how they affect the plants &#8211; the symbiotic relationship among them. Very interesting. This is a must read for any one aspiring to be have a green thumb &#8211; &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/learnbyblogging.com\/?p=3109\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Book Review: &#8220;Teaming with Microbes &#8211; A Gardener&#8217;s Guide to the Soil Food Web&#8221; by Jeff Lowenfels &#038; Wayne Lewis<\/span> <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,24],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3109","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-book-reviews","category-gardening"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/learnbyblogging.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3109","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/learnbyblogging.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/learnbyblogging.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/learnbyblogging.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/learnbyblogging.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3109"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/learnbyblogging.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3109\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3118,"href":"https:\/\/learnbyblogging.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3109\/revisions\/3118"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/learnbyblogging.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3109"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/learnbyblogging.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3109"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/learnbyblogging.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3109"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}