Welcome to this online community focused on the best use of certain microbe-containing inoculants in commercial vegetable production. Please consider sharing your information, knowledge, experience, and questions, especially about selecting, using, and evaluating inoculants.
Microbial-based biostimulants (MBBs) are types of microbe-containing inoculants. MBBs are made by growers on a small scale or purchased from commercial suppliers. Commercial inoculants are advertised to enhance crop growth, abiotic stress tolerance, and/or access to water and nutrients. The products are also numerous, diverse, and increasingly popular with a rising number of growers. However, they are also minimally regulated (unlike microbe-containing biopesticides), sometimes costly to use per acre, often incompletely labeled, and, too often, unsupported with objective reports showing their effectiveness. These limitations raise many questions, some of which can be addressed through open and clear communication across the listserv.
Product manufacturers, vegetable growers, grower advisors, and researchers can share their views of, experiences with, and questions about MBBs in commercial vegetable production through the listserv. Please take a moment to sign-on and then post a question or share your comments.
Please complete the fields below to join the listserv (* for required field).
Two interactive databases of OMRI-listed inoculants advertised to enhance crop growth and/or stress tolerance are available at https://u.osu.edu/vegprolab/research-areas/microbial-bioproducts/resources/microbe-containing-products/.
We appreciate the support of OSU (Department of Horticulture and Crop Science, Center for Applied Plant Sciences, Cooperative Extension) in establishing this listserv. Please contact Matt Kleinhenz (kleinhenz.1@osu.edu) with questions or for assistance.