Cornmeal and fungi

[Pirate]

We use cornmeal for fungal problems because cornmeal kills fungi. So if cornmeal kills fungi, it must kill mycorrhizal fungi. So we buy mycorrhizal fungi, use it, and then we buy cornmeal and kill it. Is there an explanation for that? I’ve been using cornmeal for years to control fire ants. How much damage have I done?

PL

[CaptainCompostAL]

I don't understand your confusion nor your questions, my friend.

First of all there are beneficial microbes, and the there are disease and pathogen forming microbes. There are good fungi and bacteria, and the there are bad fungi and bacteria. There are aerobic bacteria, and there are anaerobic bacteria. Almost all good gardening and soil building microbes are aerobic. Almost all good fungi are aerobic.

Corn meal and all other corn products are rich in sugars and starches. Sugars and starches are great food sources for beneficial soil and composting microbes, especially beneficial aerobic fungi.

In order words, corn meal products feed aerobic beneficial fungi, which in turn either digest, control, or overpower bad disease forming fungi, either found in the soil, on plants, or in your compost pile.

There is absolutely no danger at all in using any forms of corn products in your composting, or any "compost tea brewing" methods in any truly organic gardening system.

Keep feeding the soil!

Happy Gardening!

[Pirate]

Yes, I see that you do not understand the question. No one else seems to have noticed the inconsistency. Perhaps someday I can pose the question to The Dirty One himself.

PL

[Dirt Doctor]

You seem to be a little bitter. Cap. Compost gave you an accurate answer. Our organic controls control without killing. They work by stimulating life. I would be more than happy to discuss this further. Give me a call on the show Sunday.

[Pirate]

Not in any way bitter. I speak as one with a degree in biology, as a life-long naturalist and one who enjoys the flourishing of flora and fauna alike. I will have to listen a little closer. I could have sworn I have heard you say that cornmeal kills fungi. Brown spot, for instance, and the fungi farmed by ants. Perhaps, after all these years, you have been saying one thing, and I have been hearing another.

Bitter has its place in flavor, but never in mood.

PL

[khwoz]

I read the Captains post & what I got from it was that cornmeal feeds the good fungus which in turn kills the bad fungus. This makes sense but makes me wonder how this applies to using the cornmeal on ones body for fungus control (are we still feeding good fungus to control bad)?

[Pirate]

How does nature go about determining which of the fungi are deemed by us to be bad? After determining which are bad, how does nature deny the nourishment of the cornmeal to the bad fungi? It seems to me that nature would be indifferent to our preferences, and the cornmeal would either nourish all fungi or be detrimental to all. What we think of as a disease is actually a niche - an opportunity.

And I'm really confused about the aerobic / anaerobic postulation.

Perhaps we are a disease, and by killing our host, we kill ourselves.

PL

[Dirt Doctor]

The key to all this is that the food products, cornmeal, sugar, molasses, garlic, etc., work by performing a balancing act. All microbes, even the so-called pathogens, are beneficial when in their proper populations. The natural products we use don't kill, they just suppress the diseases by stimulating the good guys such as trichoderma.

[Dirt Doctor]

The key to all this is that the food products, cornmeal, sugar, molasses, garlic, etc., work by performing a balancing act. All microbes, even the so-called pathogens, are beneficial when in their proper populations. The natural products we use don't kill, they just suppress the diseases by stimulating the good guys such as trichoderma.