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Old March 24, 2013   #36
RayR
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Join Date: Jun 2010
Location: Cheektowaga, NY
Posts: 2,464
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Cole_Robbie View Post
This is a good thread to bump with my questions. I have been trying to figure out a beneficial bacteria/fungi innoculant.

What if I bought mycogrow: http://www.fungi.com/product-detail/...uble-1-oz.html

and tried to keep a constant culture of it in the water I used for my greenhouse plants? I have a 220 gallon horse trough I can fill with water. I would need a lightproof lid and an air or water pump for aeration, but that is no big deal. Last year I kept bluegill in the tank and used that water. It's a similar idea.

I have read that a lot of the US uses chloramine now in the tap water and not chlorine. Chloramine has a half-life of about three months, unlike Chlorine which is closer to three days. I am hesitant about using tap water at all. I could use pond water; it would be bacteria soup. I guess that would mess up my culture effort. Maybe pond water treated with chlorox that has sat for a week? It might be easier just to buy a reverse osmosis water filter.
I don't think it's worth it to try to keep a constant water culture going, some species may not even be able to survive long term in such conditions. I've never seen any recommendations for keeping an AACT or inoculant tea going for more than 36 hours. A lot depends on the water temperature, oxygen level and food sources.
Treating your soil is not something that needs to be done regularly anyway. Get them in the soil and they'll take care of themselves.
Although many bacteria can be cultured in a liquid medium, Mycorrhizae need to be near living roots, they can't be cultured in a tea. Trichoderma fungi are cultured in a substrate.

If using tap water, find out whether Chloramine is being used or not in your city water. Chlorine is much easier to deal with, Chloramines would need to be treated, liquid humic acids are supposed to work well at neutralizing Chloramines.
I prefer whenever possible to use rainwater for preparing commercial inoculants or AACT, no worries there.
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