Beneficial Bacteria/Microbes

I've always heard that if the temperature gets above 85 degrees, beneficials start dying off.
If this is true, how does that work for outdoor growers using organic nutrients and beneficial bacteria products such as Plant Success Great White as far as storing the beneficials if you are on a remote piece of land, or guerilla growing, etc? Kinda hard to keep the temperatures below 85 without A/C, a swamp cooler, electricity, etc.

Thanks!

What i do is i cover the soil with a layer of straw/hay and it cools down the soil alot. I also wrap my pots with a dark cloth also

A light cloth

StrictlyClassified said:

What i do is i cover the soil with a layer of straw/hay and it cools down the soil alot. I also wrap my pots with a dark cloth also

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Ah naw, I didn't mean the actual container lol. The products used. For example: I use Plant Success Great White Shark which is a whole bunch of beneficial bacteria and on the bottle it says to store in a dark, cool place, but when you are on raw land without electricity (except a generator) then it is difficult to keep the nutrients/bacteria in a cool place.
Also if you use organic nutrients full of life then the same thing.

So I'm trying to figure out how to keep nutrients/beneficials cool in a remote area so it does not kill off the beneficials in them. Am I over thinking this?

I'm not sure about bacteria dying off at 85 degrees. However if you want to keep temperatures lower clay pots will keep the soil cooler than plastic.

Nyan Rapier said:

I'm not sure about bacteria dying off at 85 degrees. However if you want to keep temperatures lower clay pots will keep the soil cooler than plastic.

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Maybe that is not accurate? (Beneficials dying off at 85 degrees) That is just what i've always been told and read quite a few places. I am not really concerned about the soil, they will be in the ground. I do appreciate your suggestion though!

My question is more so of the nutrients that have beneficials in them. It sort of makes sense that beneficials would die off with heat. Naturally in nature, beneficials are in the soil, underground, where it's always relatively cool regardless of the above ground temp.
I've taken probiotics before (Basically beneficial bacteria/microbes for people) and when researching them it seemed very important to keep them cold or the beneficials die off. To transport certain brands of them, they drive them in a refrigerated truck in order to keep the beneficials cold and alive.

Out in the woods with no electricity other than a generator this could be tough. (Keeping beneficials in nutrients cold)

Usually the temperature of the ground is the hottest and driest at the top of the soil, around here in Colorado that's about 6". After 6" depth even if you have pretty scrub ground you should start seeing moisture retention which would support soil microbes. At that moisture point, even if the top 1" of the soil is a scorching 100*F+, that soil at 6" depth would be below 86*F by far. If the farmers were utilizing soil microbes, the soil would be even better ameliorated and would generally be cooler mainly due to the fact it is retaining water better.

Soil that has microbes in it supports everything better, including itself. Heat will not kill all microbes. Same goes with drought. While some of the beneficial bacteria, mycorrhizae, and trichoderma fungi die off, as soon as water is present again they are rehydrated and begin to re-proliferate. Keep in mind most of the applied beneficial organisms are in the form of dust or dry granules.


8 hours after beneficials application to container potatoes. Media is virgin coco coir with nothing added.


Close up of above.


I cut some clones, soaked the plugs in beneficials solution, and added the clones. This is 8 hours after application. You can see hyphae growing vigorously. These are Root Riot cubes, the only starting media I recommend unless you can afford Jiffy Pre-forma. (have to custom order in pallet size)


I do the same for my seeds. I find the best result that when a live inoculant is already applied that even before pre-emergence and extension of the root radicle there are already symbiotic "roots" helping the plant out. Also, because of the mixture I use, there is no chance of damping off, mildew, downy or powdery mold, anthracnose, fusarium, pithium, etc etc etc.

ForeverGreen42 said:

Maybe that is not accurate? (Beneficials dying off at 85 degrees) That is just what i've always been told and read quite a few places. I am not really concerned about the soil, they will be in the ground. I do appreciate your suggestion though!

My question is more so of the nutrients that have beneficials in them. It sort of makes sense that beneficials would die off with heat. Naturally in nature, beneficials are in the soil, underground, where it's always relatively cool regardless of the above ground temp.
I've taken probiotics before (Basically beneficial bacteria/microbes for people) and when researching them it seemed very important to keep them cold or the beneficials die off. To transport certain brands of them, they drive them in a refrigerated truck in order to keep the beneficials cold and alive.

Out in the woods with no electricity other than a generator this could be tough. (Keeping beneficials in nutrients cold)

Click to expand...

If the fertilizer is liquid and in a sealed container odds are that whatever strength of beneficials they are touting are in reality less than 75% of what they were at production. Think of it this way: almost every living thing requires the use of oxygen to survive. Aerobic bacteria as we are attempting to cultivate are no exception. If it is in a package that is sealed, depending on the food for the beneficials and oxygen in the packaged product, and diminished by the length of time stored, there could be no living organisms left in the mix at all. There could be dormant organisms you would "bring back to life" once conditions are met again to sustain life, but again, if packaged as such... I call it sketchy.

I do not apply myco dust. I brew up living organisms and apply them directly, alive day one.

when growing outdoors I use a few shovels of dirt from around my yard bushes, to add native living organisms, to my soil mix. the good life will colonize on your roots as long as they have a living plant. after harvest I plant winter rye grass so the good stuff keeps living all year around. turning the rye grass into the soil early spring helps to add fresh N to the soil mix.