Re: "I appreciate the skepticism"

From: Elaine Ingham (Soilfoodweb@AOL.COM)
Date: Sun Jan 19 2003 - 02:17:25 EST


Hi Joel -

Many, but not all, of your questions are addressed in the Compost Tea Brewing Manual. Addressed with data.

We have also been working on these questions over the last two years using funds from SARE, but we are in year two of a three year study. The data to date will be presented at the U.S. Composting Council meeting in a few weeks. The study will be published when the three year study is finished.

The studies you cited that anaerobic teas were more suppressive than aerobic teas were teas made without the benefit of the aeration technology we have today.

Therefore, for you to cite those papers to say the truly aerobic teas, where oxygen is measured through the entire aeration cycle, is less suppressive than anaerobic teas is not appropriate. Technology has improved.

We show, in the Compost Tea Brewing Manual, that leaf surfaces need to be covered a minimum of 70% with bacteria and fungi in order to see disease suppression on foliage. The results are night and day. Leaves without disease visible in any way after three weeks post-spray, versus leaves overwhelmed with disease fungi after three weeks when only 50%, 30%, 10% or no coverage of the leaves with tea organisms.

You can't really argue with those pictures, or with the data we have in the Tea Manual.

But, we are really in the testing stage for compost tea. We have initial data that show some impressive results. Can it be repeated? Which machines are going to do the job of getting adequate organism growth so you only have to spray a gallon per acre, versus 100 gallons per acre?

So, it isn't really a question of getting enough growth during the tea aeration cycle, it's a question of leaf coverage.

If you can extract enough organisms so the solution you apply has an adequate diversity and biomass of organisms, without any addition of food resource, then use that machine.

If you need to grow organisms during the aeration cycle in order to have enough organisms to cover the leaf surfaces at least 70%, then you have to add foods and get the organisms to grow.

Do you want to apply 5 gal per acre, or 100? Pick the machine that gives you what you want. If you have to add the 5 gal to 95 gal of water in order to cover your acre of plants, then why not use a less efficient aerated compost tea machine, if it costs less money?

The smaller machines are less expensive, however, so if a smaller machine gives great organism diversity and biomass per gal, adding a gallon into the 9 gallons of water in order to spray an acre makes more sense.

The sprayer needs to actually be able to deliver the organisms to the leaf surface without killing the organisms. Again, coverage is the critical factor.

Replicated scientific studies to assess all this? The intitial studies are in the Compost Tea Brewing Manual. Folks at Rodale are doing a replicated study this summer. We are finishing a three year SARE study on grapes on mildew and botrytis control using teas.

We have three years of data on potato. Please contact Oscar Gutbrod at Oregon State University, I believe he has access to the growers' yield, storage and disease data.

Talk to Helena Chemical Company, Tom Piatkowski, for his studies on turf, strawberry, wine grapes, vegetable crops in California, Florida, New York, Arizona, and New Mexico.

Growing Solutions Inc. has a study (not replicated however) with Xanthomonas suppression by teas on carrots on their website.

Takes funding to do replicated field trials. We're out here saving growers money. Less expense because reduced pesticide and fertilizer, 15 to 20% yield increases, longer shelf life on the crops, IF YOU GET THE ORGANISMS ON THE PLANT SURFACES.

The data on the soil? Please read Ingham et al, 1985, Ecological Monograph about what organisms, if they get established in your soil, do for plants. Herds of papers about that since that original paper. There is no question that if you get the life back in the soil that plant health is improved. D. Coleman at Univ. of Georgia is the leader in the scienitific world on these studies. the Sol Ecology Society meeting is coming up again soon. You probably go to those.

Does application of tea improve life in the soil? Yes. Published yet? No. Data ready to publish? Yes. Replicated studies finished, just have to get them written up and submitted.

Patience?

Hope this helps.

Elaine Ingham
President, Soil Foodweb Inc.
Corvallis, OR
Port Jefferson, NY
Lismore, NSW, Australia
Hilversum, The Netherlands
www.soilfoodweb.com

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