fungas and acid

[pjt]

I was ferreting about in amongst the mulch were I disturbed a patch of fungas, I decided to test the PH of a lump of it, they tell us that fungi produce acids so I was interested to see if that was the case
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A colour of yellow is about 5, (acid) if you look closely there is a little bit of green, this is moving towards 6, so based on my very basic backyard test it would seem to be the case that fungi do produce acids. I wonder how much effect fungi has on soil PH? I tested some compost as well....
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A little bit of purple ~9 (alkaline) but mostly grey ~8, hot compost made from just grass clippings would have been a definate 9, this compost has been made with the inclusion of tree trimmings from the tree loppers, this compost is still relatively fresh so most likely still some bacteria activity which produce alkaline substances but it would seem that the fungi that is at work on the woody material are moving the PH towards neutral, this is good.


Pete

[HUON]

Pete were the tree trimmings native or exotic? As for acid, neutral or alkaline, I suppose it depends on what you're trying to grow as to whether it's good or not. For example, from what I've heard or read strawberries prefer soil on the acidic side Blueberries maybe most berries(not sure)as well. Horses for courses.

[pjt]

Trimmings were mostly bottle brush that are planted on a lot of the road verge here in Rocky, broadly speaking tho I dunno that tree species would make a difference, as long as the wood contained lignin/cellulose/hemicellulose the fungi produce acids in the breakdown process, the ratio of the three may change for different types of wood and there may be specific species that decomposes a specific species/type of wood but from what I gather fungi produce acid substances and bacteria produce alkaline substances.

To maybe answer my own question I guess the minerals (sand silt clay) that make up the soil play a part in the PH as does the acids/alkalis produced by the fungi and bacteria also play a role in the final PH as well as all the other soil critters. As Elaine Ingham says; as the landscape changes from barren to grassland to forest the ratio of bacteria to fungi moves from bacteria dominated to fungi dominated and this is where strawberries originally were found (in forests). My strawberries this year is the best they have ever done and I reckon the move towards more fungi has been a major factor in that.



Pete

[HUON]

Thanks for that info, Pete, makes good sense.