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Inoculating Composted Pine Bark with Beneficial Organisms to Make a Disease Suppressive Compost for Container Production in Mexican Forest Nurseries
- Native Plants Journal
- Indiana University Press
- Volume 5, Number 2, Fall 2004
- pp. 181-185
- 10.1353/npj.2005.0002
- Article
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At a Mexican nursery, we compost pine bark, inoculate it with beneficial microorganisms, and use it to grow conifer seedlings in containers for reforestation. In this article, I describe how we make composted pine bark (CPB), a technically and economically viable alternative to expensive, imported growth substrates. CPB is easy to produce and can be made on a small scale, generating permanent nursery and reforestation jobs and promoting the stability of Mexican forest plantation companies. We have found that using CPB minimizes use of fungicides in the nursery. I discuss how to inoculate composted bark with bacteria (Bacillus spp.) and fungi (Trichoderma spp.) to enhance suppression of root disease organisms.