A UK soil and compost microbiology testing laboratory has been conducting trials on an Irish company’s chemical-free fertiliser, and is impressed with the results.
Nick Cooper, agronomist director at Mycolife Ltd., which is based in Hampshire, England, was first contacted by Irish company Supersoil via its website.
“We had an initial look at the product and its built from there,” he said.
Tests
Mycolife Ltd. operates out of a 2,500ac estate and its lab sits on a farm which, Cooper said, “has been looking at soil biology for the last 25 years”.
The company has been analysing thousands of samples and has done many trials on Supersoil.
Supersoil is a fast-acting chemical-free organic fertiliser, suitable for farmers, growers and hobby gardeners. It is harmless to animals and there is no time delay after application.
In Mycolife’s trials, after just one week, Supersoil “massively increased” active bacteria, fungi and more, according to Cooper.
It also resulted in a 9% yield increase in spring barley. However, it was Supersoil’s effect on the biology of spring barley – and winter wheat – that took the researchers by surprise.
Commenting on the winter wheat that used Supersoil, Cooper said: “We ended up with three times more active fungi, 50% more nematodes- that’s good nematodes, not bad ones – ten times more flagellates, 100 times more amoeba, 100 times more ciliates.
“It’s a very significant increase.”
The trial team also saw an “outstanding difference” in the seeds of potatoes treated with Supersoil than those without, with the seeds showing “quicker germination, quicker elongation and emergence”.
Cooper added that they are “really excited to look at that” this coming spring.
For more on the team’s findings, watch the video below:
Long-term effects
The other effect “only coming to light now” is the long-term effect, Cooper added.
The agronomist said that farmers are coming to him saying that they can still see where they applied Supersoil in the fields they didn’t plough because it’s “greener”.
He also found that Supersoil performed excellently in various manures and digestates by substantially improving the microbe population and plant-ready nitrogen, phosphorous and potassium.
To learn more about Supersoil, click here.
