Curious if anyone has studied or read the works of this WSU professor. She seems to be dispelling a lot of organic gardening myths. https://puyallup.wsu.edu/lcs/
Linda is an excellent resource - I exchanged emails with her a year or so ago after she did a podcast, amazing woman.
If anyone would like to correspond with her to seek greater insight, her work address might give you a friend on the inside so to speak. lindacs@wsu.edu was listed on the link you posted.
I have and I find her to be amusing on a Jeff Lowenfells level. She should have been fired for incompetence around 8 years ago. She creates more myths than she will ever bust. Her scientific research on sheet mulching with cardboard is one example of just how wrong and incompetent she is. Like Lowenfells I find her to be a complete waste of time. RD
Let the salt flow! In all seriousness, Teaming with Microbes was my starting point, but i only read it one time. Lowenfells knows he is an author and attempts to explain things to layman. Just a place to get your toes wet.
“I know this still sounds like chemistry and not biology. However, each plant has an optimum pH requirement. What soil growers need to know (and hydroponics growers don't) is that the type of bacteria and fungi attracted to a plant's rhizosphere by the plant's exudates has a lot to do with setting this optimal pH. Bacteria produce a slim that raises the pH, and fungi produce acids that lower the pH. Since the plant is in control of the biology it attracts, in a natural system, it is the plant that determines the pH, and not some chemistry teacher. So, while you may forget the chemistry of pH, at least remember there is a biological side. Do no harm to it, and you shouldn't have to worry much about pH when you grow plants in soil. Moreover, the nutrient exchanges that occur above also have a lot to do with what kind of bacteria and fungi are attracted to the root zone as some like higher pH and others lower pH.” - Lowenfels, Teaming with Microbes ^^^^ This is the main beef I have with Jeff. AFAIK, he has never made a correction on this. I would have more respect if he did. RD