Re: % leaf coverage

From: Steve Diver (steved@NCAT.ORG)
Date: Mon Jan 20 2003 - 12:12:53 EST


It's good for the tea to drip off the leaves and
soak the soil.

Think of a young transplant in a vegetable field.
The plant is only 3-4 inches.

This is a good time to apply CT because it
provides soluble nutrients, bioactive substances,
and beneficial microbes which populate the
leaf-zone called phyllosphere. It sets the stage
for a healthy, robust plant that is thrifty and
actively growing and tough enough to ward
off pest and disease. It is a critical growth stage
and a good time to manipulate the plant's
environment.

Yet, the CT runs down the stem and wets a ribbon
of soil going down the row. The soil also gets a dose
of extra biology.

The principle is Abundant microbial biomass and
a Diversity of soil foodweb creatures. Abundance
and Diversity. Go around the world and spend
a decade reading all the papers you want, the
so-called "data", and when you are done you
will conclude this same universal principle.

On some of the California farms where chemical
ag had become standard over several decades,
the re-introduction of soil biology through composts
and CT's have resulted in outstanding changes to
soil tilth and crop yields.

No data, just an observation. Well, some
parameters are known such as pushing a rod
into the ground like "slicing through butter."

Prominent farm after prominent farm, cutting
their old chemical bills down by Hundreds of
Thousands of $$$ through the adoption
of Biological Farming. Not a scientific
parameter, but an economic indicator.

The larger vision of this trend includes pictures
from the field as well as images from the microscope
lab. That is why people go to sustainable ag
conferences and workshops, to hear it from the
people and to tour the farms.

Steve Diver

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