Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Can I use it on my GB's. I have a dirt organic farmer who swears by it. I can't find much about it in AP?

Did you google what it is and can you show a photo of the container you would buy. People may recognise it. Call the manufacturer and talk to them may help.

http://pmep.cce.cornell.edu/profiles/bi ... _0305.html

I found this. NY has one of the toughest standards for state registration. There's a section about trout toxicity. 83 x the max amount would kill them in a 6" deep area. Doesn't sound like it would be a problem...has anyone used this product before? I don't like quoting internet posted or sources...unless they're educational based...this one is.

I've never used it in AP but it looks like a good candidate.

The active ingredient appears to be fairly safe and probably works by out competing the other organisms present and likely by producing antifungal, antibacterial and antiparasitic agents (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Streptomyces). I would spray everything above the media and I would probably use it as a dip for new plants going into the system (probably like they used it for cuttings). I wouldn't dump a whole bunch in to the system water. It's possible someone could have an allergic reaction but very unlikely. My guess is this is just a preparation of Streptomyces lydicus spores mixed with a filler. My main concern is what is the filler

The choice is yours, for my system, I think I'd use it but there may be something I don't know about the product. They did mostly acute testing not chronic exposure testing likely because this is a common soil organism and they probably figured most people who garden already have been exposed. I may try this out myself.

Did some more digging around and found that actinomycetes can cause off flavors in fish. S. lydicus is an actinomycete. Whether this particular one will cause off flavors is the question. This article has been around for awhile but talks about different causes of off flavors and mentions actinomycetes as a possible source. It also talks about ridding fish of off flavors.

http://fshn.ifas.ufl.edu/seafood/sst/AnnPdf/Vol_456.pdf

Since the organism is responsible for the earthy smell of soil, I would guess this will be a problem. On the other hand the fish can be purged and will be fine to eat so it's more of an inconvenience.

Thanks Scotty. I have wholesale pricing and it's still over $80.00 a qt.

Putting on my tree hugging hippy hat...

A lot of these biological supplements should be present in your growing environment already. If they are not then adding a small vial of them is probably going to do squat because they are not there for a reason.

Better to focus on keeping your environment (veggie garden or AP system) conducive to ecosystem health. Pretty much all of these fungi and bacteria additives are present around the world in the air and water and they will colonise your system if the environmental conditions are right.

It is my belief that the increasing complexity of the ecosytem in AP systems is a major part of what makes them more productive over time.

While this particular addition isn't as promising based on my last find, I'm riding the fence on the issue of biological supplements. It's probably true that many are already present. On the other hand,

1. If you're trying to beat an already existing fungal disease, applying millions of organisms even in a small vial might give a competitive advantage, and increasing the numbers even temporarily might cause competition problems for some of the not so benign neighbors.

2. If they do succeed in establishing themselves, in some cases, they provide lasting protection compared with chemical treatments, also a plus.

3. We think of these as ubiquitous but they don't really occupy all the environments that they could, for various reasons.

4. Sometimes only a particular subspecies possesses the traits needed. In order to get enough you have to breed pure cultures which can be applied as needed. What exists in nature is virtually identical but lacks the desired trait.

On a macro level there would be no point in adding lacewings, ladybugs, predator nematodes and other predators for the same reasons you mention. I grant you that they don't reproduce as fast but still something to consider I think. Honeybees might be another example.

Cheers