Smoking Gun
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I do hope you weren’t thinking I am trying to get you to use neem, you clearly have a regiment that works wonders; don’t change anything you do. I was simply putting in my 2 cents on the question 123grow asked.
But since we are on the topic, I don’t think you have to worrying about your micro-beasties with neem. While most fungicides are going to have some effect on soil fungus, a healthy soil will easily recover from any fungicide and have no ill effect on your plants results. Neem may be even safer than most other fungicides and have little to no effect on those soil microbes. It is the oil itself that does most of the work, putting up physical barriers insects and fungus have a difficult time penetrating. Yes the active compound azadirachtin found within neem will have some level of effect on fungus, it does tend to effect insects more. Other fungicides will absolutely raise the pH of the leaf surface making it a hostile environment for most fugal spores to take hold; I do not believe the increase in pH is as drastic with neem as it is with other fungicides. Given that you expressed concern over the antifungal properties of the neem effecting the micro life of the soil you may want to keep in mind the addition of baking soda to increase alkalinity will also negatively effect the soil microbes. Given that fungus tends to thrive in more acidic ranges, by adding alkalinity to your soil with the addition of baking soda you are creating a slightly more uncomfortable environment for the soil fungus using that method as well.
I am not suggesting you change anything you are doing, clearly you have an effective method down; I have certainly learned a few things from this thread and your grow. I just felt the desire to share a bit of info that was rattling around in the old noggin.
But since we are on the topic, I don’t think you have to worrying about your micro-beasties with neem. While most fungicides are going to have some effect on soil fungus, a healthy soil will easily recover from any fungicide and have no ill effect on your plants results. Neem may be even safer than most other fungicides and have little to no effect on those soil microbes. It is the oil itself that does most of the work, putting up physical barriers insects and fungus have a difficult time penetrating. Yes the active compound azadirachtin found within neem will have some level of effect on fungus, it does tend to effect insects more. Other fungicides will absolutely raise the pH of the leaf surface making it a hostile environment for most fugal spores to take hold; I do not believe the increase in pH is as drastic with neem as it is with other fungicides. Given that you expressed concern over the antifungal properties of the neem effecting the micro life of the soil you may want to keep in mind the addition of baking soda to increase alkalinity will also negatively effect the soil microbes. Given that fungus tends to thrive in more acidic ranges, by adding alkalinity to your soil with the addition of baking soda you are creating a slightly more uncomfortable environment for the soil fungus using that method as well.
I am not suggesting you change anything you are doing, clearly you have an effective method down; I have certainly learned a few things from this thread and your grow. I just felt the desire to share a bit of info that was rattling around in the old noggin.
