Would anyone care to respond to part of an e-mail I
received in reply to a question I posed to an
accomplished agronomic researcher? In all honesty, I
don't know enough about our subject matter to properly
respond myself, but I've been interested in hearing
criticism of the theory that surrounds CT, hoping that
such remarks would help me to better formulate my own
opinion concerning it. Now, can you criticize the
criticism for me, so that I might regard the opinions
of others (proponents and opponents of the benefits of
CT) from a more educated background?
He says:
I've read a bit from Elaine Ingham who is
quitepopular among the soil biology believers. I'm
very interested in the subject and have done some
reading of both anecdotes and replicated data sets.
I recently completed a very detailed study of the
contribution of soil microorganisms to dormant weed
seed decay.
My present understanding is that microbial
communities are very dynamic and very complex; add
to that equally dynamic and complex webs at higher
trophic levels and you get a very difficult to
understand system. The straight-forward application
of compost tea to encourage colonization of leaf
surfaces with desirable organisms that will preempt
the colonization of these surfaces by undesirable
organisms is logical and, while variable, clearly
substantiated. Inoculations with Biodynamic
preparations have been shown to alter compost
deterioration but few other effects have been robust
enough to detect in the field.
Thus, inoculating soils with "good" microbes seems
to me to often be a placebo effect for growers;
makes you feel good and you will likely see positive
effects if you want to. However, due to the
complexity and our general lack of understanding of
the dynamics and interrelationships among these
organisms I am generally skeptical of overwhelming
effects of general microbial inoculations.
---
Thanks!
-Marc Kline
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Received on Sun Jul 27 2003 - 01:34:24 EDT