Watch: Does Elemental Sulfur Help Build Soil Microbes?
A Keg River TV subscriber asked if repeat applications of elemental sulfur will build the microbial community in the soil. WATCH as independent agronomist Ray Dowbenko explains how it works. (Spoiler alert… the answer is YES!)
As we learned in a previous blog, microbial communities in the soil are responsible for converting (oxidizing) elemental sulfur into plant-available sulfate.
Elemental sulfur provides a food source to these bacteria. Like other symbiotic relationships in the soil, the more plentiful the food source (in this case, sulfur), the larger and healthier the microbial community. Or, simply put, keep the beneficial microbes in your soil well-fed and watch them thrive!
This has been demonstrated repeatedly in research and explains why an annual elemental sulfur program will steadily increase sulfur levels in the soil, which will lead to a preferential shift in the microbial population.