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May 2011
The warmer weather is coming any time now! Time to start encouraging
healthy soil that brings healthy plants and turf.
This Spring consider promoting the soil food web through the use of compost
teas and beneficial nematodes.
Nematodes now available!
At Ontario Growers Supply we are carrying grass seed, and an alternative
to grass - Whiter clover seed. Clover is well known for it's nitrogen
fixing capacity. To make your lawn 5 % clover use 1ounce of clover seed per
1000 square feet.
Also available soon will be Praying mantis egg cases. Please call for pricing.
We have all heard of using compost teas for lawns and gardens but what is
"Actively Aerated Compost Tea"?
Actively aerated compost teas are compost or organic teas that have been
well aerated for 24 - 36 hours.
Typically people will steep compost in a pail of water for a week or two,
stirring ocasssionally. Actively aerated teas are aerated with an aquarium
air pump and are considered exponentially stronger because the air pumped
into the tea is separating or stripping the microbes right off the raw organic
ingredients. It is these microbes - bacteria, fungi, etc that we want to introduce
to the soil to encourage the Soil Food Web. These teas also work well
as foliar spray and aid in combatting plant diseases.
Actively Aerated Compost Tea Recipe
You will need:
5 gallon pail, air pump, airstone, apprx. 4ft. of airline tubing.
1 kg of Bradfield 3-1-5 or any type of compost.
You can add to a compost and encourage a bacterial dominated tea or
fungal dominated tea depending on the types of plants.
Most vegetables, annuals, and grasses prefer bacterially dominated soils.
Most trees, shrubs, and perennials prefer fungally dominated soils.
Additives: to encourage bacterial growth increase use
of worm castings, fruit juices, simple proteins and carbohydrates. To encourage
fungal growth increase use of kelp, humic acid, fulvic acid, soybean meal
and soft rock phosphate.
Put the ingredients into a mesh bag or pair of nylons, place into approximately
5 gallons of water and aerate mixture for 24-36 hours. Room temperature
is ideal, avoid direct sunlight. After brewing you may add mycorrhizal fungi
if desired. Adding mycorrhizal fungi in advance may inhibit it's beneficial
properties.
Use the tea as a soil drench or as a foliar spray.
Other Links
Compost Value Day!
Saturday May 7, 2011
4 Locations to choose from:
1. Amway: 375 Exeter Road at White Oak Road
2. Masonville Place: Fanshawe & Richmond (behind Nash Jewellers)
3. Try Recycling: enter off Medway Road, east of Clarke Road
4. Try Recycling: Dingman Drive, west of Wellington Road
$2 for 30 litres of compost!
Bring a container and shovel
Compost available while supplies last!
A guide for Southern Ontario, beautiful non-invasive plants for your garden
www.ontarioinvasiveplants.ca
Visit us at one of our two locations: 1 Adelaide St. N. or 1540 Fanshawe
Park Rd. W. in London
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