Reading list

How about we post a reading list?

I know for myself I hesitate to ask questions or jump in a thread because of all the experts who trash a newby that asks simple questions. We all are not scientists but I for one would like to understand more about the microbe world and would like a push in the right direction.........scrappy4

Teaming with Microbes is a classic microbe manual. Another book thats more plant-related than microbe-related I would recommend is The Secret Life Of Plants by Peter Tompkins and Christopher Bird.

I see two teaming with microbes books, I take it you mean the organic one wrtten by Jeff Lowenfels and Wayne Lewis?

Word.

Thanks, they are ordered, $28.70 for both with free shipping, on amazon for anyone else that might be curious.......scrappy

How about we post a reading list?

I know for myself I hesitate to ask questions or jump in a thread because of all the experts who trash a newby that asks simple questions. We all are not scientists but I for one would like to understand more about the microbe world and would like a push in the right direction.........scrappy4

Click to expand...

I am sorry you feel that people get trashed, I think that only happens when newbies make statements/claims, not when they ask honest (and simple) questions. YMMV.


RE: book "teaming with microbes"
There are two versions of Teaming With Microbes, get the newer version but be aware Jeff and Wayne are heavily influenced by Dr. Ingham who has written more than a few questionable claims...esp. about composting and anaerobic microbes that she has an unhealthy aversion to and make flat out wrong claims against.

RE: books "the secret life of plants" and "secrets of the soil"
Those books are fun to read more as fictional works than factual works. Much of the info in "the secret life of plants" has been discredited, much of the info is not proven and many studies reported in the book were pretty flawed. That book includes very few (any?) references to peer-reviewed papers published in respected journals.

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Below I complied a long list of resources for you, after you become familiar with concepts, terms and theories I suggest you use Google Scholar (link), Scirus scientific search engine (link) and Organic Eprints search engine (link) to search for published peer-reviewed papers in academic journals for specific information you may be curious about...




Below is what I would suggest along with Teaming With Microbes: (Steve Diver is a must read source of legit scientific info)



Intros:

1. "Introduction to The Soil Foodweb"
Steve Diver
http://www.ssawg.org/documents/SSAWG-Soil-Foodweb-SDiver-PDF.pdf


2. "Organic Growing from a Microbial Perspective"
MicrobeMan
http://microbeorganics.com/#Organic_Growing_Microbial_Perspective


3. "SOIL MICROORGANISMS AND HIGHER PLANTS"
N. A. Krasil'nikov
Academy of Sciences of the USSR
Institute of Microbiology
http://www.soilandhealth.org/01aglibrary/010112Krasil/010112krasil.toc.html


4. "The Soil Biology Primer"
Elaine R. Ingham, Andrew R. Moldenke, Clive A. Edwards
http://soils.usda.gov/sqi/concepts/soil_biology/biology.html


5. "Soil Foodweb in Organic Farming: Broad-Scale Landcare Examples in Texas"
Steve Diver and Betsy Ross
http://a-c-s.confex.com/crops/2009am/webprogram/Paper54506.html


6. "Sustainable Agriculture: An Introduction"
Richard Earles; revised by Paul Williams
http://attra.ncat.org/attra-pub/sustagintro.html


7. "Towards a Sustainable Agriculture"
by Steve Diver
http://www.ru.org/artagri.html


8. "What is Sustainable Agriculture?"
University of California Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education Program
http://www.sarep.ucdavis.edu/concept.htm


9. "The Ideal Soil: A handbook for new agriculture"
Micheal Astera and Agricola
(I can't comment on this e-book because I have not yet read it, but it comes well recommended to me; password to decrypt file: "more_info" [without quotes])
http://filesurf.ru/209371



Various resources:

1. "ATTRA: National Sustainable Agriculture Information Service"
http://attra.org


2. "Rodale Institute: New Farm"
http://www.rodaleinstitute.org/new_farm


3. "Rhizosphere II: Publications, Resource Lists,and Web Links"
Steve Diver
http://web.archive.org/web/20021207081754/http://ncatark.uark.edu/~steved/index.html


4. "AgWeb: The Ultimate Agricultural Research Directory"
Steve Diver
http://www.attra.org/searchAgWeb.html




Microbe Pictures and Video:

1. "Microbe Identification"
MicrobeMan
http://microbeorganics.com/#Microbe_Identification


2. "Soil Biology Movies"
http://www.agron.iastate.edu/~loynachan/mov/




Compost teas: (aerated compost tea [ACT] and non-aerated compost tea [NCT], and liquid compost extract [LCE])

1. "Compost Teas: A tool for rhizosphere + phyllopshere agriculture"
Stever Diver
http://attra.ncat.org/attra-pub/compostteashow/compost-tea-slides/sld001.htm


2. "Notes on Compost Teas"
Steve Diver
http://attra.ncat.org/attra-pub/compost-tea-notes.html


3. "What is Compost Tea?"
MicrobeMan
http://microbeorganics.com/#What_is_Compost_Tea_



Compost: (I very much prefer Luebke compost to any other compost)

1. "Controlled Microbial Composting and Humus Management: Luebke Compost"
Steve Diver
http://www.ibiblio.org/steved/Luebke/Luebke-compost2.html


2. "Humus Theories"
Steve Diver
http://mailman.cloudnet.com/pipermail/compost/2004-February/011737.html


3. "A chromatographic approach to the diagnosis of humus quality and some implications for forest management"
Laird, Robert Morris
https://circle.ubc.ca/bitstream/handle/2429/24713/UBC_1984_A6_7 L34.pdf?sequence=1


4. "The Rodale Book of Composting"
Deborah L. Martin, Grace Gershuny, Jerry Minnich - 1992
ISBN: 0-87857-991-5
(buy) http://www.amazon.com/Rodale-Book-Composting-Methods-Gardener/dp/0878579915
(Read from Google books online) http://books.google.com/books?id=N6...ook_result&ct=result&resnum=3&ved=0CCIQ6AEwAg



Humates, humus and humic acid:


1. "All about humates"
a must read e-booklet by Dr. Boris V. Levinsky, PhD, a world-renowned colloidal scientist and advanced humic acid researcher
http://www.teravita.com/Humates/HumateIntro.htm

Check out the info about using humates to cause water to obtain the structure of melted water (previously frozen) for watering plants (link)! [i.e. 0.005-0.009% humates by weight; I have tried using 0.01% for ease of use])
2. MYTH: "Only Fulvic Acids are responsible for plant growth stimulation and development, while the Humic Acids are responsible for improving the soil’s structure."
http://www.teravita.com/Realities/Reality 4.htm


3. "The ferments of humic and fulvic acids."
(An article explaining research that shows how humic acids can actually play a vital role that is often attributed only to fulvic acids.)
http://www.teravita.com/Technical Articles/Ferments of Humic and Fulvic Acids.htm


4. "Are there natural fulvic acids?"
Synopsis by Dr. Boris V. Levinsky, PhD, June 2002.
(A brief synopsis of recent research indicating that fulvic acids are only "created" through extraction techniques and are not naturally present in soil, peat, or lignite.)
http://www.teravita.com/Technical Articles/fulvic acids.htm


5. "Humus, Humic Acid and Humates"
http://www.groproorganics.com/images/Humus, Humates and Humic Acid.pdf



Effective Microorganisms (EM):

1. "Introduction to Effective Microorganisms (EM)"
Vinny Pinto
(Vinny used to host this good website about EM, and it is still available on WayBackMachine. Some (many?) claims Vinny makes are more his assumption than proven information; so read without taking everything as fact...)
http://web.archive.org/web/20080528231550/www.eminfo.info/index.html


2. "GENERAL GUIDELINES FOR BREWING EM"
Abby Eagle
(this is a collection of notes taken from Vinny Pinto's book "Brewing Effective Microorganism Extensions"; thus the same warning applies to this PDF as applied to teh web page of Vinny Pinto)
http://essecopia.org/index.php?view...sions&format=pdf&option=com_content&Itemid=27


2. "BENEFICIAL AND EFFECTIVE MICROORGANISMS: FOR A SUSTAINABLE AGRICULTURE AND ENVIRONMENT"
Dr. Teruo Higa
http://www.agriton.nl/higa.html


3. "EM APPLICATION MANUAL FOR APNAN COUNTRIES: KYUSEI NATURE FARMING WITH EFFECTIVE MICROORGANISMS (EM TECHNOLOGY)"
Dr. Teruo Higa
(APNAN = ASIA-PACIFIC NATURAL AGRICULTURE NETWORK)
http://www.agriton.nl/apnanman.html


4. "SOIL AND SUSTAINABILITY: Effective Microorganisms as Regenerative Systems in Earth Healing"
Dan Woodward BA(Hons), MSc (in progress)
http://www.livingsoil.co.uk/learning/soilsustain.htm


5. "Effective Microorganisms for Sustainable Community Development: A National Case Study of Cooperation and Co-Prosperity in North Korea for the Preservation of Environmental, Agricultural, Economic, and Cultural Integrity"
Higa, Dr. Teruo, Wood, Matthew
(Sustainable Community Development is the source I suggest for EM "mother culture"; Matthew Wood has trained directly with Dr. Higa)
http://www.envismadrasuniv.org/pdf/Effect Microorganisms.pdf


6. "EM research in the Netherlands: a Review (1997-1999)"
by Agriton and EMRO Nederland
http://www.agriton.nl/higareview.html


7. Research and Development of EM
(use this site to search for studies on EM)
http://emrojapan.com/about-emro/research-and-development-of-em.html



Kyusei Nature Farming: (makes extensive use of EM)

1. "Kyusei Nature Farming in Japan"
Y. Arakawa
http://www.infrc.or.jp/english/KNF_Data_Base_Web/PDF KNF Conf Data/C1-3-003.pdf


2. "Kyusei Nature Farming and the Technology of Effective Microorganisms Gudelines for Practical Use"
T.Kyan, M.Shintani, S.Kanda, M.Sakurai, H.Ohashi, A.Fujisawa and S.Pongdit
(password to decrypt file: "more_info" [without quotes])
http://filesurf.ru/209412


3. "Nature Farming"
Steve Diver
http://www.mail-archive.com/ecopath@csf.colorado.edu/msg01393.html


4. "CASE STUDIES ON THE POTENTIAL OF EM TECHNOLOGY AND KYUSEI NATURE FARMING IN COMMERCIAL AND RURAL AGRICULTURE IN SOUTH AFRICA WITH SPECIAL REFERENCE TO ITS ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT ON CROP PRODUCTION AND REGENERATIVE QUALITIES ON HERBICIDE CONTAM NATED FRUIT TREES
JF Prinsloo,HJ Schoonbee and R Eiselen
http://www.bionrg.it/upload/studi/KYUSEI.pdf



Beneficial Indigenous Microorganisms (BIM):

1. "Using the ordinary to cultivate the mysterious power of beneficial indigenous microorganisms"
Lisa M. Hamilton
http://www.rodaleinstitute.org/20040401/Hamilton


2. "Indigenous Microorganisms: Grow Your Own Beneficial Indigenous Microorganisms and Bionutrients In Natural Farming"
Gil A. Carandang
http://www.permaculture.org/nm/images/uploads/Indigenous_Microorganisms.pdf


3. "Re: Beneficial Soil Microbia"
Steve Diver
(about EM, BIM and Luebke composting)
http://www.ibiblio.org/ecolandtech/...sttea+soilfoodweb+soilquality/1/msg00013.html


4. "Indigenous Microorganisms + Korean Natural Farming Association"
Steve Diver
(with info about Luebke compost methods)
http://www.ibiblio.org/london/agriculture/composting/compost+soilfoodweb+links+info2/0169.html


5. "Indigenous Micro Organisms put to work: Effective indigenous micro-organisms can be made to work without external resources and without commercial preparations"
by Trainee Masami Sakaban August 1999
(also info about Effective Microorganisms)
http://web.archive.org/web/20080722045310/http://www.genevar.com.au/seedsavers/resources/10.html



Permacutlure:


1. "Introduction to Permaculture: Concepts and Resources"
Steve Diver
http://attra.ncat.org/attra-pub/perma.html



Biodynamics (BD):


1. "Biodynamic Farming & Compost Preparation"
Steve Diver
(I have strong reservations about many "preparations" from BD due to lack of scientific validation, to me it's like horticultural voodoo. There are many anecdotal accounts BD preps work well, which I do not refute because I have no experience using BD preps, methods or compost...I just don't like the mystical side of it...)
http://www.attra.org/attra-pub/biodynamic.html



Plant Physiology: (not specifically about microbes but about plant physiology including info about microbes)

1. "Plant Physiology Online"
by L. Taiz and E. Zeiger.
(Online companion to their seminal work: "Plant physiology. 3rd edn." Sunderland: Sinauer Associates. $104·95. 690 pp.)
http://4e.plantphys.net/index2.php


2. "Plant Physiology" Academic Journal
(free access to online peer-reviewed published papers)
http://www.plantphysiol.org/

What is Sustainable Agriculture?
http://attra.ncat.org/fundamental.html

"Whether you're a beginning farmer, or an experienced agricultural producer interested in transitioning to more sustainable practices, you may want to start by learning more about the principles of sustainable agriculture and some of the "systems" approaches associated with it. The publications in this series introduce and discuss concepts, and provide a general overview of planning and managing a more sustainable farm operation."

ATTRA Publications

[large list of publications]

Links to Other Introductory Sustainable Agriculture & Agroecology Information

Agroecology: Principles and Strategies for Designing Sustainable Farming Systems
by Miguel Altieri
http://www.cnr.berkeley.edu/~agroeco3/principles_and_strategies.html


Defining and Implementing Sustainable Agriculture
Kansas State University Extension
http://www.kansassustainableag.org/Library/ksas1.htm


Definition of the term "Sustainable Agriculture"
Ecological Agriculture Projects, Macdonald College of McGill University
http://eap.mcgill.ca/sustain.htm


Exploring Sustainability in Agriculture
Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education
http://www.sare.org/publications/exploring.htm


Farms as Ecosystems
Dalhousie University
http://dp.biology.dal.ca/sask99/paper.html


Future Horizons: Recent Literature in Sustainable Agriculture
http://asap.sustainability.uiuc.edu/members/dananderson/files_to_convert/127/index_html


Principles of Agricultural Sustainability
by John Gerber
http://www.umass.edu/umext/jgerber/principl.htm


Principles of Agroecology and Sustainability
University of California-Santa Cruz
http://www.agroecology.org/Principles.html


Sustainable Agriculture Case Studies
NRCS
http://ftp-fc.sc.egov.usda.gov/WSI/pdffiles/Sustainable_Agriculture_Case_Study_1.pdf


Sustainable Agriculture: Balancing Profits and Human and Natural Resources
Center for Integrated Agricultural Systems, University of Wisconsin
http://www.cias.wisc.edu/archives/1...its_and_human_and_natural_resources/index.php


Sustainable Agriculture: Definitions and Terms
Alternative Farming Systems Information Center
http://www.nal.usda.gov/afsic/AFSIC_pubs/srb9902.htm


Tracing the Evolution of Organic/Sustainable Agriculture
Alternative Farming Systems Information Center
http://www.nal.usda.gov/afsic/pubs/tracing/tracing.shtml

Click to expand...

If any of those links break you can use WayBackMachine to find cached versions: http://web.archive.org/collections/web.html


UPDATE:

I just updated the list to add like 10 more links. Look under the sections "Intros", "Various resources", "Microbe Pictures and Video" and "Effective Microorganisms (EM)" for the links I just added.

@ CTGuy:

If you could add your blog/website URL here that would be good, I would have done so but I don't have the URL. Thanks.

Thank you very much spur, that should keep me busy for a while.

I should have said newbies get intimidated instead of saying they get trashed.

Truthfully I get lost in some of these threads and don't even know what questions to ask. Maybe I should read first and smoke later......

On the other hand I have a nice little grow going with an organic type soil mix that I'm starting to recycle, it rocks, but it would be nice to know, why it works, and to optimize the grows, although things seem to go better when I stay out of it............scrappy

See the first section "Intros", it should provide you with a great foundation for learning

Scrappy4 said:

I know for myself I hesitate to ask questions or jump in a thread because of all the experts who trash a newby that asks simple questions. We all are not scientists but I for one would like to understand more about the microbe world and would like a push in the right direction.........scrappy4

Click to expand...

hey scrappy i cant say ive ever seen a n00b trashed for asking a question here, but i have seen people get a hard time for professing to be experts on things and giving out bad advice or perpetuating junk science.
scientific types are just that - they like things to be accurate and backed up - and they arent necessarily skilled diplomats as well as scientists
thing is, due to the illegal nature of mj growing, it has developed largely in a 'bubble' and been someone isolated from real science (thats a generalization but mostly true) and many myths and misinformation are perpetuated on these growers forums. now we are lucky to have people around who really know their arse from their elbow when it comes to the science behind it all - and this can lead to some heated discussions about stuff.

but we should rejoice - because bringing together experience and science and theory and proper experimentation can only build a better and more complete knowledge base, albeit with a few arguments along the way.

so never be scared to ask questions, but getting some good background reading in will only help.

VG

big thank to spurr
just what a information junkie loves the most

spurr you are a legend!

Scrappy - we all felt a bit overwhelmed by information at one stage. I'm slowly learning I know nothing. Enjoy the ride it's rather amazing.

Updates to my list: (edit: see my list, I cleaned up this post)


http://www.plantphysiol.org/

MrFista said:

spurr you are a legend!

Click to expand...

Me thinks you are "one toke over the line"! (lyrics: Brewer and Shipley). Seriously though, thanks. However, I don't think I am a legend, maybe slightly infamous (lolz); but I thank you none-the-less.

Scrappy - we all felt a bit overwhelmed by information at one stage. I'm slowly learning I know nothing. Enjoy the ride it's rather amazing.

Click to expand...

I 100% agree. It's odd to me that the more I understand, the more I understand how much I don't understand. Apparently, Socrates agrees with us too:

Updates to my list: (edit: see my list, I cleaned up this post)

Here's a good overview of the neem tree industry in India as well as the application of the various agents found in the seeds that are used in a number of industries.

The linked cites are sometimes more interesting and informative than the actual article which is often the case I suppose.

CC

The Growing Importance of Neem (Azadirachta indica A. Juss) in Agriculture, Industry, Medicine and Environment: A Review

We gotta sticky this for later references........scrappy

spurr

If I overlooked a link in your posts then I apologize - have you checked out Steve Solomon's 'Soil & Health Library' by any chance?

Pretty amazing resource for researchers.

CC

Scrappy4 said:

I know for myself I hesitate to ask questions or jump in a thread because of all the experts who trash a newby that asks simple questions.

Click to expand...

well sometimes the questions are of the obvious "i didn't read at all please help fix my plants so i can go back to watching Jersey Shore" variety..you obviously want to read which helps a ton.