The 2021 monthly ‘PlatForum’ sessions at Dagun Station run from 3.30 to 5 pm on the 3rd Saturday (different to 2020) afternoon of each month – open air on the platform of Dagun Railway Station. This overlaps with the co-ops weekly fresh produce stall and the Dagun Community Group’s Saturday afternoon wine bar.
The next two PlatForums will focus on looking at low-cost methods for scientifically measuring some aspects of soil and plant health. In May we will look at some new methods for measuring soil ‘life’, particularly the MicroBiometer method which is seeing increased scientific use both overseas and now in Australia. This method is based on computer analyses of many thousands of microscope images of soil bacteria and fungal ‘clumps’, and gives an estimate of soil microbial mass and bacteria:fungi ratio at a much lower cost per sample than older-style lab analyses. The test procedure is fairly quick, we will a have a test kit and some soil samples and a microscope on site and will ‘give it whirl’ as they say.
In June we will be joined by David Von Pein who is one of Australia’s most experienced users of refractometers to measure brix levels in plant sap and produce. Dave is also the local distributor of the MicroBiometer test kits in Australia, and we should be able to come back to him with any further questions about the soil kits.
Please print an A4 flier for our PlatForum and put it somewhere where you think it may be of interest to others : MayPlatForum
For more info contact Steve Burgess on 0428 843 749.
