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Once again, my personal garden plants are reminding me of the difference between chemically-forced plants and those grown with a biological emphasis. My young corn, squash and tomato plants are all considerably different in appearance from those in neighboring gardens. I also have an older rose bush that I have "converted" from the chemical fertilizer routine of the previous homeowner to a soil biology routine. My plants are generally shorter, lighter green, and have much thicker stems with not much distance between branches or leaves. Over time I have learned that these are signs that mycorrhizal fungi have colonized the...

I recently had the following exchange with one of the newsletter subscribers. I think it illustrates how microscopic soil diseases and other pathogens can take advantage of opportunities to enter damaged tree roots. I really wasn't able to offer him much encouragement about the situation, but I'll be happy to pass along helpful suggestions from any of you. To: Don Chapman Subject: Verticillium Wilt We have purchased a variety of products from you over the years for use with seeds or transplanting a wide variety of plants and receive your email newsletters. A very serious problem has arisen with one...

Well, it seems that more and more soil products at garden stores now "contain mycorrhizae." Guess we've arrived, eh? Actually, to be accurate, the labels should say "contains mycorrhizal fungi propagules" as mycorrhizae is the term that describes the actual linking of a plant with the fungi, but why quibble over semantics? Of course, a close reading of the labels always reveals propagule content nearly as microscopic as the fungi themselves, so it's more of a marketing pitch than a serious ingredient. Still, any recognition of biological organisms is probably a good thing, and we appreciate our commercial customers who...

It is very simple for home gardeners to use biological methods to grow super-healthy vegetables and flowers, and not too difficult for landscapers, small farms and market growers - but what about large corn and other grain farms that have been following a chemical fertilization routine for decades? In most situations, heavily-fertilized farms have eliminated the beneficial bio-life in their soils - as evidenced by lack of earthworms and compaction problems. These vast acreages across the grain belt of the country are now dependent on continued applications of synthetic fertilizer, and one can't really argue that it isn't an effective...

It's difficult to think of anything in this world that we humans alive today will leave in better condition than we found it - air, rivers, forests, oceans, fisheries, the ozone layer, crop soils, drinking water, etc. etc. You name it, during the past 50 years or so we've managed to either deplete, destroy, diminish, pollute, exterminate, or contaminate just about everything in sight. I guess urban deer and coyotes are thriving, and bald eagles have made a comeback from DDT, but mostly we've plundered and consumed resources at amazing rates - all of us. The increases in world population...