I started raising worms a month or so ago and just got a microscope to check the biological makeup of the castings. I’ve been seeing a lot of what you see in this video in the casting. This video has been super helpful for identifying some of the different things I’ve been finding… thank you so much, you earned my sub!
Be nice to see a bit more but was shipped to me so not surprised that we didn't see more active ones. Think it really helped my fungal bacteria ratio and that is my main goal. The indigenous complex microorganisms seem to be showing up more in my soil.
@@happydays2190 Yes 1:1 is the goal except for brassicas. But I have heard that brassicas can actually form AMF fungi relationships. Supposedly Trichoderma will cause AMF inoculation on brassica roots! As we get more fungi the PH goes more acidic overall so that's the main issue with brassicas that like it more alkaline.
@@ShootingtheSoil does 1:1mean for every one but of bacteria there should be one bit of fungi? How can you count the bacteria if they're moving so fast?
@@happydays2190 The bacteria just wiggle, well most of them. Something moving fast and small would likely be a flagellate. You would use a grid to count the bacteria at 400x. And measure the length and width of the fungi in microns. The easy way to estimate is to just to see a fungal hyphae in just about every frame at 400x.
The remote viewing software came with my sony camera. Can get an inexpensive adapter to go on any microscope with a camera port on amazon if you have a crop sensor DSLR camera. Full frame camera's like mine need a pretty expensive adapter lens to fill the frame(sensor). I would get a crop sensor camera if I didn't already have a full frame camera. I show my setup briefly in my channel into video too.
@@ShootingtheSoil im worried about how i will afford drip tape..been saving for 2 years..and well since biden ive used most of it for my meds and a pirce of nice meat for my birthday meal...cost me 25.00!!!! Two small pieces for 2 people!! Use to cost 10.00!!
@@sislertx Drip tape would be nice, I hand water myself. Good mulch layer and improving Soil Organic Matter will help cut down on watering in the mean time!
At 13:30 the clear circular ones with nice defined edges look like yeast cells we want in fermenting wort (beer). I just bought my first microscope for searching for soil life. Do you know a concise beginner’s video on how to do that? Thanks!
Hi, I’m Jason and am working to support our nations farmland soils. Please explain the proses of a biodiversity test on finished compost. Including time, costs and tools? How practical are mobile technicians, to that end? Thank you for you time in this matter.
Well I'm no pro, just a soil nerd trying to learn all that I can. I can tell you its not hard or expensive to take a sample for microscope inspection and video it these days. What we really need is AI to count the biology and give us accurate ratio's and numbers. Can bring a microscope onsite easy enough and connect it to a laptop. Hard part would be keeping the microscope clean.
@@ShootingtheSoil you may not be a pro, but that was the most complete and insightful response, I’ve received. Having asked several Professionals, already. Due to the massive demand for Biodiverse Composts, by are nations farmers. According to Elain Engam, Soil Food Web, founder. I see refining biodiversity testing in composts as a worth while pursuit. Looking forward to more of your insight. Subscribed.
@@ShootingtheSoil if you haven't read her 5th edition compost tea guide yet, I CAN NOT RECOMMEND IT ENOUGH 🤣 I'm kicking myself for not reading it sooner, it's just PACKED with incredible details. Inghams just a freaking beasssttt. Doesn't mess around when it comes to the true science behind everything, and it's the single best guide or overall literature on the subject I've come across. I know you know just how epic she is, but felt I might mention for those who might not be familiar with her and her monumental discovery of our entire soil food web haha
Clear can just be young hypea. Most of the mold / saprophytes are clear but not necessarily bad. They still break things down in the compost! If you see clear and non-uniform then that is probably a strand of actinobacteria. Which do prefer anaerobic conditions. @25:52 that strand is pretty uniform (same width) so likely a type of saprophyte. Fine to see in compost but you definitely want much more brown hyphae than clear in the soil.
@@ShootingtheSoil Okay, thank you. Keep shooting the soil. Do you have a way or a tool to convert bacteria and fungi counts into biomass (microgram /gram of soil)?
Swift 380T Microscope with a Sony A7c. Had to get a $700 adapter to fill the frame of the full frame sensor. The adapter for a crop sensor DSLR is only $30! Fyi
@@ShootingtheSoil OH, my, ok, you are using and actual camera. Probably a better way to go than a microscope one, for sure. I'll have to look into those. I am way out of my field in this department. There is just way too much to know anymore these days. Thank you so much!
@@Pursuet_Paradise Yeah with $600 price tags on the 4k microscope cams might as well get a $300 to $500 crop sensor DSLR with 4k and more megapixels imo. But I have not tried one of those microscope camera's.
can be micro plastics. I found a bunch of blue stands that looked really cool under the scope and took a bunch of pictures to then find out it was plastic from a blue tarp! Doh! An epi florescence microscope makes it easy to identify the plastics cause of its glow, dark field can kind of help.
@@sislertx flagellates are good, ciliates are not. Hard to see the ciliates hairs without a good microscope and also hard to see the flagellum on the flagellates but can discern based on their movements and things around them. Ciliates will move the bacteria around them, while flagellates typically bumble around pinball style without very linear movement
Yup, one to three on a slide is ideal. I scoped a soil for a local apple farm that had a diagnosed root feeding nematode issue and found about 20 on one slide. All with spikes in there mouth/head. This was a few months after they had put down a pesticide that was supposed to kill them... well it killed all the other biology and what came back was the ones that still had food... that food being the plant roots.
@@ShootingtheSoil thank you my friend and thanks for sharing knowledge, I honestly appreciate it. So they were all the root feeding nematodes? So to fix the problem you would introduce predator nematodes to eat them? Along with other beneficial bacteria and fungi?
Predictable. I have neighbors who spray insect killer in and out of their homes like crazy, mostly for roaches. It kills the bugs ok, but additionally poisones the lizards, frogs, spiders and birds (and also wipes out their food source). I don't ever spray for bugs, and have had 0 incidence of infestation. My simple view is that life is life, and poison is poison, and seldom does one beget the other.
If you successfully complete the SFW course, you are granted the app that determines the ratio after you have entered the count and mass of bacteria and fungi respectively
I have not taken the class yet so don't know the Soil Food Web counting method. There is a new and an old way and I hear people using their own method a lot. I just estimate most of the time, I just imagine pushing all the bacteria in the frame into a ball then pushing all the fungi into a ball and what one would be bigger, lol. But if I want to count to have some data on paper... I take a quadrant of my screen say 1 square inch of my 27 inch screen, count the bacteria and do the math for that frame. For fungi a bacteria is one micron in size. So if you have a fungi strand that's about 3 microns wide and 20 microns long that equals 60 bacteria. Works out well on the screen since a bacteria is about one millimeter on a ruler. Been thinking of cutting random 1x1 inch squares in a paper to hold against my screen to count bacteria.
@@mud3455 For sure! Its like taking a portrait with nice side lighting compared to a straight on flash. haha. I can only manage to get the darkfield filters dial at 100x with this scope though. =(
Yeah this was just a short one I uploaded while editing together a video comparing all my different garden beds. Almost done with it! Starting taking a regenerative soil class! So been a little slow on the videos, but got some good ones coming!
I would tend to agree, but with all the spores I started seeing a lot more fungi in my soil after applying it. So I'm still a happy customer. I'd be down to buy another compost and check it out under the scope have any recommendations? With this drought in the north east my fungi has been going down in my soil and needs a good boost.
@@ShootingtheSoil I think it is good that you post such a video, but the title is misleading, my brother. Spores do not get included in the count as some of them might take months or years to germinate (or not germinate at all). The title is catchy but inaccurate and can hurt people that does or want to do bio-complete compost. Thanks for the answer though 🙂
@@BongLoy13 Your critique is fair, but was recorded live, I was not sure what I would see. =) I didn't make the compost, I just bought it and shot it. Never said it was a fungal dominant compost and does one need to be for it be bio-complete? Plants liked it and I'm seeing a bunch more fungi, protozoa, and nematodes in my soil since.
@@ShootingtheSoil I understand :) though,to be bio complete,you must have a minimum biomass for bacteria,fungi,nematodes and protozoa. Here you are lacking at least the minimum requirement for fungi,thus my comment about the report :) Nevermind, mate. I am glad it gave you good results!
@@BongLoy13 I think the point of his answer was that he purchased something I'm guessing was called or being touted as, bio-complete. He specified it was recorded live, insinuating he is aware of what constitutes bio-complete but made the title as for what product he believed he was covering..not the outcome of said product. The title doesn't say: "results of quantitative analysis on bio-complete compost species count" or something along those lines lol
Just completed Dr Elaine's courses and never was shown this. Would have been great but anyway, THANK YOU for doing this!!
Dr elaine course teach n show you all of this.. i would love to know the camera his using
I started raising worms a month or so ago and just got a microscope to check the biological makeup of the castings. I’ve been seeing a lot of what you see in this video in the casting. This video has been super helpful for identifying some of the different things I’ve been finding… thank you so much, you earned my sub!
It's amazing what you can see at 400x power! Have a great day!
Love the kind words and so glad it helped you!
I’m so glad I found your channel! This is exactly what I want to learn how to do.
Look at the soil food web school..to learn how to do this..❤
30 minutes went by so fast. That was interesting. I just put my soil in the scope today and it has no activity. This explains a lot. Thanks.
This was awesome! Thank you for making this video!
Great video keep them coming.
Thanks for sharing this! I am curious though, wouldn't you expect to see more nematodes and other more complex organisms?
Be nice to see a bit more but was shipped to me so not surprised that we didn't see more active ones. Think it really helped my fungal bacteria ratio and that is my main goal. The indigenous complex microorganisms seem to be showing up more in my soil.
@@ShootingtheSoilwhat would cause the nematodes to die? What is a good ratio of fungi to bacterial? 1to1?
@@happydays2190 Yes 1:1 is the goal except for brassicas. But I have heard that brassicas can actually form AMF fungi relationships. Supposedly Trichoderma will cause AMF inoculation on brassica roots! As we get more fungi the PH goes more acidic overall so that's the main issue with brassicas that like it more alkaline.
@@ShootingtheSoil does 1:1mean for every one but of bacteria there should be one bit of fungi? How can you count the bacteria if they're moving so fast?
@@happydays2190 The bacteria just wiggle, well most of them. Something moving fast and small would likely be a flagellate. You would use a grid to count the bacteria at 400x. And measure the length and width of the fungi in microns. The easy way to estimate is to just to see a fungal hyphae in just about every frame at 400x.
This is so cool, what hardware and software do you need for doing it? Regards from Argentina
The remote viewing software came with my sony camera. Can get an inexpensive adapter to go on any microscope with a camera port on amazon if you have a crop sensor DSLR camera. Full frame camera's like mine need a pretty expensive adapter lens to fill the frame(sensor). I would get a crop sensor camera if I didn't already have a full frame camera. I show my setup briefly in my channel into video too.
@@ShootingtheSoil im worried about how i will afford drip tape..been saving for 2 years..and well since biden ive used most of it for my meds and a pirce of nice meat for my birthday meal...cost me 25.00!!!! Two small pieces for 2 people!! Use to cost 10.00!!
@@sislertx Drip tape would be nice, I hand water myself. Good mulch layer and improving Soil Organic Matter will help cut down on watering in the mean time!
At 13:30 the clear circular ones with nice defined edges look like yeast cells we want in fermenting wort (beer). I just bought my first microscope for searching for soil life. Do you know a concise beginner’s video on how to do that? Thanks!
This is a good short one. th-cam.com/video/ZOo2OgWnJag/w-d-xo.html
then a bit longer one I got a lot out of was this 5 part video: th-cam.com/video/eG5eQroUSGo/w-d-xo.html
Did you make this beautiful compost or you purchased?
I purchased it from crescive soil
The circles may be flagellate cysts
That one next to the one you said looks like a very fat fungal spore 21:28 looks like a pollen grain. 🤷♀️
Hi, I’m Jason and am working to support our nations farmland soils.
Please explain the proses of a biodiversity test on finished compost.
Including time, costs and tools?
How practical are mobile technicians, to that end?
Thank you for you time in this matter.
Well I'm no pro, just a soil nerd trying to learn all that I can. I can tell you its not hard or expensive to take a sample for microscope inspection and video it these days. What we really need is AI to count the biology and give us accurate ratio's and numbers.
Can bring a microscope onsite easy enough and connect it to a laptop. Hard part would be keeping the microscope clean.
@@ShootingtheSoil you may not be a pro, but that was the most complete and insightful response, I’ve received. Having asked several Professionals, already. Due to the massive demand for Biodiverse Composts, by are nations farmers. According to Elain Engam, Soil Food Web, founder. I see refining biodiversity testing in composts as a worth while pursuit. Looking forward to more of your insight. Subscribed.
@@jasontoolan3816 glueegal
@@ShootingtheSoil if you haven't read her 5th edition compost tea guide yet, I CAN NOT RECOMMEND IT ENOUGH 🤣 I'm kicking myself for not reading it sooner, it's just PACKED with incredible details. Inghams just a freaking beasssttt.
Doesn't mess around when it comes to the true science behind everything, and it's the single best guide or overall literature on the subject I've come across.
I know you know just how epic she is, but felt I might mention for those who might not be familiar with her and her monumental discovery of our entire soil food web haha
25:52 Isn't that an anaerobic fongal hyphae (meaning not so great)? I say that mainly because it's transparent. I saw 2 or 3 others like that i think.
Clear can just be young hypea. Most of the mold / saprophytes are clear but not necessarily bad. They still break things down in the compost!
If you see clear and non-uniform then that is probably a strand of actinobacteria. Which do prefer anaerobic conditions.
@25:52 that strand is pretty uniform (same width) so likely a type of saprophyte. Fine to see in compost but you definitely want much more brown hyphae than clear in the soil.
@@ShootingtheSoil Okay, thank you. Keep shooting the soil. Do you have a way or a tool to convert bacteria and fungi counts into biomass (microgram /gram of soil)?
The micro biology in soil on earth is like a different universe 🌌. At what magnification will you be able to see the atoms of the microbes ???
To see atoms you need an electron microscope. Far beyond the optical limits of 1000x.
@@ShootingtheSoil Even with an electron microscope it is difficult to see atoms.
@@michaelanderson3096 for sure, you are basically getting a shadow of an atom from electrons passing by it. So you would need a very thin cell!
What type of microscope camera do you have? This has been fantastic learning, thank you!
Swift 380T Microscope with a Sony A7c. Had to get a $700 adapter to fill the frame of the full frame sensor. The adapter for a crop sensor DSLR is only $30! Fyi
@@ShootingtheSoil OH, my, ok, you are using and actual camera. Probably a better way to go than a microscope one, for sure. I'll have to look into those. I am way out of my field in this department. There is just way too much to know anymore these days.
Thank you so much!
@@Pursuet_Paradise Yeah with $600 price tags on the 4k microscope cams might as well get a $300 to $500 crop sensor DSLR with 4k and more megapixels imo. But I have not tried one of those microscope camera's.
Thank you for sharing this. I’ve been finding blue and pink colored fungi looking hyphae’s, do you know what these are? Good or bad?
can be micro plastics. I found a bunch of blue stands that looked really cool under the scope and took a bunch of pictures to then find out it was plastic from a blue tarp! Doh! An epi florescence microscope makes it easy to identify the plastics cause of its glow, dark field can kind of help.
For some reason I thought the video thumbnail was a photo of Solid Snake in the Micro Cosmos.
Its like a whole new world under the scope! I can't wait to get my scope set up for darkfield, then everything looks like its in space!
this is very cool
I’m pretty sure the round things at 11:35 are flagellate cysts
The soil lady in the series on Diego channel said anything with those are not ehat u want for plants
@@sislertx flagellates are good, ciliates are not. Hard to see the ciliates hairs without a good microscope and also hard to see the flagellum on the flagellates but can discern based on their movements and things around them. Ciliates will move the bacteria around them, while flagellates typically bumble around pinball style without very linear movement
Where did you get this sample?
This was Compost I got from Crescive Soil
Is one nematode enough for a small sample like that?
Yup, one to three on a slide is ideal. I scoped a soil for a local apple farm that had a diagnosed root feeding nematode issue and found about 20 on one slide. All with spikes in there mouth/head. This was a few months after they had put down a pesticide that was supposed to kill them... well it killed all the other biology and what came back was the ones that still had food... that food being the plant roots.
@@ShootingtheSoil thank you my friend and thanks for sharing knowledge, I honestly appreciate it. So they were all the root feeding nematodes? So to fix the problem you would introduce predator nematodes to eat them? Along with other beneficial bacteria and fungi?
@@happydays2190 Exactly! Also some plants like marigolds have a defense against root feeders. Think they have an exudate the nematodes don't like.
Predictable. I have neighbors who spray insect killer in and out of their homes like crazy, mostly for roaches. It kills the bugs ok, but additionally poisones the lizards, frogs, spiders and birds (and also wipes out their food source). I don't ever spray for bugs, and have had 0 incidence of infestation.
My simple view is that life is life, and poison is poison, and seldom does one beget the other.
Which scope are you using?
I have a Swift 380T, I think the 350T is the newer version I see on Amazon and Swift's website now.
what do you use to see this?
Swift 380T Microscope with a Sony A7c DSLR camera. Crop sensor DSLR with 4k video will work just about as good.
Obrigado
Can you count the F:B ratio? How?
If you successfully complete the SFW course, you are granted the app that determines the ratio after you have entered the count and mass of bacteria and fungi respectively
I have not taken the class yet so don't know the Soil Food Web counting method. There is a new and an old way and I hear people using their own method a lot. I just estimate most of the time, I just imagine pushing all the bacteria in the frame into a ball then pushing all the fungi into a ball and what one would be bigger, lol. But if I want to count to have some data on paper... I take a quadrant of my screen say 1 square inch of my 27 inch screen, count the bacteria and do the math for that frame. For fungi a bacteria is one micron in size. So if you have a fungi strand that's about 3 microns wide and 20 microns long that equals 60 bacteria. Works out well on the screen since a bacteria is about one millimeter on a ruler. Been thinking of cutting random 1x1 inch squares in a paper to hold against my screen to count bacteria.
@@ShootingtheSoil that's a novel way to measure, nice.
You should do the course, you're already part way there
really would like to, just need to find the time and the money. =)
@@ShootingtheSoil They have the classes on sale sometimes, I'm waiting to do my certs. GOOD VIDEO!
do darkfield with the soil microbes!
Got some darkfield in a few of my video's
@@ShootingtheSoil im very new to microscopy....i just feel dark field gives so much more depth to the image.
@@mud3455 For sure! Its like taking a portrait with nice side lighting compared to a straight on flash. haha. I can only manage to get the darkfield filters dial at 100x with this scope though. =(
grouse vid mate fanx
More, please.
Yeah this was just a short one I uploaded while editing together a video comparing all my different garden beds. Almost done with it! Starting taking a regenerative soil class! So been a little slow on the videos, but got some good ones coming!
@@ShootingtheSoil Class, sweet because we know you are going to share what u learned. Such as Plants are omnivores, like humans.
Thats a bannana..lol
Where is the report that shows the count? You have almost no fungi in your sample,there is no way this is biocomplete
I would tend to agree, but with all the spores I started seeing a lot more fungi in my soil after applying it. So I'm still a happy customer. I'd be down to buy another compost and check it out under the scope have any recommendations? With this drought in the north east my fungi has been going down in my soil and needs a good boost.
@@ShootingtheSoil I think it is good that you post such a video, but the title is misleading, my brother. Spores do not get included in the count as some of them might take months or years to germinate (or not germinate at all). The title is catchy but inaccurate and can hurt people that does or want to do bio-complete compost. Thanks for the answer though 🙂
@@BongLoy13 Your critique is fair, but was recorded live, I was not sure what I would see. =) I didn't make the compost, I just bought it and shot it. Never said it was a fungal dominant compost and does one need to be for it be bio-complete? Plants liked it and I'm seeing a bunch more fungi, protozoa, and nematodes in my soil since.
@@ShootingtheSoil I understand :) though,to be bio complete,you must have a minimum biomass for bacteria,fungi,nematodes and protozoa.
Here you are lacking at least the minimum requirement for fungi,thus my comment about the report :)
Nevermind, mate. I am glad it gave you good results!
@@BongLoy13 I think the point of his answer was that he purchased something I'm guessing was called or being touted as, bio-complete. He specified it was recorded live, insinuating he is aware of what constitutes bio-complete but made the title as for what product he believed he was covering..not the outcome of said product.
The title doesn't say: "results of quantitative analysis on bio-complete compost species count" or something along those lines lol
Hello, What is the mega pixel of the camera in your microscope?
24MP, its a Sony A7c.
@@ShootingtheSoil thank you