Recommended resources for more knowledge

[LearningLawn]

Looking for resources to understand and learn more about good soil health.

I ordered a copy of Elaine Ingham’s book, A Soil Biology Primer, and most of Jeff Lowenfels’ books, Teaming With Microbes, Teaming With Fungi, and Teaming With Nutrients. This should keep me occupied for the next month.

[Dchall_San_Antonio]

I'm guessing you're interested in compost tea. I used to hang out with those two on the Yahoo forums. One thing that was going on back then was Dr Ingham was defending her tea in a flap with a professor from ASU in Tempe, AZ. The professor made a batch of tea and tested it for various microbes. She found it had pathogenic microbes and few if any beneficials. Dr Ingham dug into it and found the AZ prof made the tea at an ambient temperature of 86 degrees F. Dr Ingham repeatedly scolded the AZ prof for not remembering her chemistry - warm water holds less oxygen than cold water. Water above 80 degrees can support very little aerobic life, but it can support a lot of anaerobic life. The entire point of making compost tea is to start with a few microbes and grow them into bazillions of microbes with air, water, and food. As it turns out, air is the problem. Pumping air into warm water does no good, because water simply cannot hold the dissolved oxygen. The point of this is that any talk of making actively aerated compost tea in the summer time is a waste of talk. You can't do it unless you have a refrigerated room. Making it indoors in air conditioned conditions (70 degrees F) will work to a point, but don't let it sit unaerated. Make it and spray it. If you don't make it indoors, then it is much easier and better to simply dunk the compost into the coldest water you can, scoop it out, and pour the water immediately into the garden. That rinses the microbes off the compost and into the water. Then dump the compost back into your compost pile and stir it in. This approach is called a leachate instead of a tea.

I sprayed a lot of tea back then (circa 2006) and never saw any change in anything. The best thing I ever did to improve my lawn and garden was to go to organic fertilizer. Of course my lawn has never looked this good with chemicals, and mowing is like mowing cabbage due to the density of growth. But my wife's cherry tomato plants grow up to 7 feet high before the weight of the tomatoes bends it over. These are some sturdy plants.

[andy10917]

I still recommend James Beard's "Turfgrass: Science and Culture" to anyone that is interested in grass and soils. The book was originally published in 1972, and was the go-to textbook on the topic forever. While some things are so out-of-date that they are entertaining, the overall book is something I still read some each Winter.

You can find and old hardcover textbook copy for like $5 online.

[emtravelers]

I'm not one of the long standing people but I have some research tips:

Try using Google's site search function like "site:.edu"

So you would mosey over to google and type in: "site:.edu soil health turfgrass"

This will help you look for agriculture extension articles... like this one from MSU on Soil Fertility and Turfgrass Nutrition.

I tend to like the agriculture extension articles.

[Chris LI]

I like a variety of sources, including the Cooperative Extensions. I've searched through various CE sites from various states and found helpful information. I would suggest thoroughly searching through the CE for your state, as it will have more relevant info for your region's soil, climate, etc.

Here in NY, Cornell University is our CE and they have an excellent Turfgrass Science Program. They have a great site and I've met a few of their professors who have been very helpful for work with seminars and "field days" back in my golf course days.