Please forgive me for this political agenda on my gardening blog

I hope you will take the time to read this essay Ive written. It describes the systematic failure of our political system.

The Federal Election Campaign Act (FECA) of 1972 required candidates to disclose sources of campaign contributions and campaign expenditures. It also limited spending on media advertisements. But that portion of the law was ruled unconstitutional — and that actually opened the door for the Citizens United decision. This was a step forward for equality and transparency of our elected officials. But the very powerful very rich were still in pursuit of more control and contrived a treacherous plan to deceive us by suing in two important cases.

In 2010 the US Supreme Court ruled on the Citizens United vs Federal Election Commission and gave corporations and unions the right to spend unlimited sums on ads and other political tools. Its important to note that the Citizens United decision was about spending, not about contributions. This did not affect contributions. For that they created what is know as "independent-expenditure only committees" such as Speechnow.org which represent spending by individuals, groups, political committees, corporations or unions expressly advocating the election or defeat of clearly identified federal candidates.

In 2010 the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals also issued its ruling in the Speechnow.org v. FEC which removed contribution limits as applied to SpeechNow. Previously the courts had ruled that limits set by the Federal Election Campaign Act applied to this group called SpeechNow. It is still illegal for companies and labor unions to give money directly to candidates for federal office, but together with the Supreme Court’s earlier Citizens United decision allowing unlimited corporate expenditures, the SpeechNow ruling was just what the ultra wealth needed to create a government controlled by "Political Action Committees" (Super PAC) where most of the funding comes from just a few rich individuals.

The Supreme Court kept limits on disclosure in place, and super PACs are required to report regularly on who their donors are. The same can’t be said for “social welfare” groups and some other nonprofits, like business leagues leaving another loop hole for the billionaire industrialist Koch brothers to create a nonprofit called the “Association for American Innovation” that will act as a hub for funneling undisclosed spending towards the Kochs’ political projects.

The American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) is another "Business League" which allows corporations and wealthy individuals to use congressmen as lobbyist and collaborate on bills, often presenting industry-backed legislation as a grass-roots organization. It brings Republican state legislators and big corporations together to frame right wing legislative agendas in the form of model bills.

In November we will have an opportunity to vote on reversing the 2010 U.S. Supreme Court ruling for Citizens United. Please vote.

As you know I am an advocate of the https://mayday.us/ superPac. Its time we used their trickery and corrupt laws against them and put an end to "Political Action Committees" (superPAC) . Jim Rubens is the only Republican running for Senate that supports Campaign Reform, but there must be others who would like to get back to running the country rather than spending 70% of their resources on being re-elected. If we persist we can make this happen. Please contribute to Mayday.us

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Test results Rock Dust BioChar pH

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Mycorrhizae

I attended a class put on by Santia Morganics about Mycorrhizae.  I learned about how mycorrhizae is colonized.  These are my notes.

There are 3 major types of mycorrhizae.
(1) Endo or Arbuscular mycorrhizae (which exist on 85% of the plant families),
(2) Ecto mycorrhizae (which exist on 10% of the plant families (mostly woody plants), and
(3) Ericoid mycorrhizae (which exist on less than 5% of the plant families).
There are several other more obscure forms of mycorrhizae, but they are highly specific and not used from a commercial perspective.

Some producers grow all of their types together whereas Santia Morganics grows each isolated from the other and combines them in exact proportions when packaging the final product.  This assures that their product contains a controlled proportion of each type.  Growing several types together will allow a few to dominate the mix.  Each type has different preferences such as pH, and therefore its impossible to level the playing field for each when grown together and some types may fail to grow.

The reason so many types are sold together is to provide one that will find your soil adaptable.  So its important to have a a good assortment of different types.

Santia Morganics also grows their mycorrhizae  in vivo where as some other manufactures grow in vitro.  In vivo means that its grown in live plants and soil.  In Vitro is grown in a sterile media.  By growing in vivo the mycorrhizae become more adapted to interacting with actual live plants and other microorganisms.  The in vitro grown mycorrhizae fail to replicate the precise cellular conditions of an organism, particularly a microbe.

Santia Morganics sells mycorrhizae for soil and another for hydroponics. 



The later is finer and water soluable, but the process of reducing the size destroys some of the mycorrhizae so it will contain a little less.  These two mycorrhizae products already contain sufficient amounts of nutrients to help the mycorrhizae become established quickly, but they also make a couple additives that will and promote the growth of mycorrhizae.  One is made for soil and the other is made to dissolve into water so that it can soak down into the root zone or be used for hydroponics.  These additives contain no mycorrhizae. 


 

 The Myco-Fusion line consists of all three types of mycorrhizae, as well as Rhizo-Charge and Bio-Jolt companion products, both which are designed to maximize yield.

The relationship between plant and fungi evolved to help the plants access low levels of phosphorus in the soil but after adding mycorrhizae phosphorous should be avoided for as long as possible because mycorrhizae do not grow and colonize roots when the phosphorus level is high.  Therefore it is best to let the relationship become established before adding phosphorous.

Mycorrhizea can survive for many years as long as it is not subjected to heat over about 120 F.  It will lay dormant until the conditions are right and a host root becomes available.  It is okay to store your mycorrhizae in a warm greenhouse so long as it is kept dry and below 120 F.

Endomycilium is the type we vegetable gardeners want unless we are growing hardwood plants such as blueberry in which case we would want Ectomycilium.  Endomycilium grows inside of the vegetable roots and sends Hyphae out to feed the plant with water and nutrients.  One cubic centimeter of rich organic soil may contain 1 km of fungal hyphae. 

The mycorrhizal fungi become the interface between the soil and plant roots: the fungi colonize the roots internally, and the soil externally. Internally, the fungus becomes the interface where nutrient exchanges occur between the fungus and plant by direct contact of the fungus with the root cells: carbon energy moves from the plant to the fungus, and soil nutrients moves from the fungus to the host plant.

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