"There's a continuum among necrotrophs, from those readily kill tissue
(Pythium, Fusarium, Verticillium)to those that need special conditions.
Something like Choanephora is largely a "composter", but if it gets an
energy boost, it will turn pathogen. Many fungi like this attack blossoms;
they eat the nectar, get strong, then attack the branch. Botrytis cineria is
a weak pathogen, but in the presence of flowers, wounds, or honeydew
secreted by aphids, it will turn mean."

This makes me wonder about the "benefits" of compost teas that are now being
populary sold this season!


Why? Compost tea uses a good deal of heat (in addition to the
heat generated in the making of good garden-type compost) in the
process of making it. It should be free of pathogens as a
result. I've never seen the stuff sold (and think it would be
foolish to buy it if you make your own compost), but I've been
known to make it myself. Organic gardeners say that this tea
does have some fungicidal uses, but they also admit it is very
slight. They also tout baking soda, but again don't claim a lot
for it.

The compost spoken of above is so-called "natural" compost --
the stuff that forms under a bed of forest leaves, or in normal
decaying organic material in soil. It is moisture and time,
rather than significant heat (though some heat is involved, of
course in any oxidation-decomposition process), that makes this
compost, and pathogens and other "bugs" are not killed.

Jim Lewis - - Tallahassee, FL - Nature
encourages no looseness, pardons no errors. Ralph Waldo Emerson

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