RE: [compost_tea] Fruit Club Update

From: Robert Norsen <bnbrew_at_yahoo.com>
Date: Tue, 28 Oct 2003 22:15:29 -0800 (PST)

wonderful work, Judi bob

Judi Stewart <js_at_olympus.net> wrote:Chris,

North Olympic Fruit Club members are bringing their soils to our next
meeting for laboratory soil testing, whether or not they use compost
tea. We're doing this as a group in order to understand what our
present soil conditions are and what if anything needs to be amended.
We're hoping the neighboring county extension agent with his farming
background will make it to the following month's meeting and help us
understand the test results.

I plan on discussing both your and Jeff's suggestions at a board meeting
and seeing if that's something that we can do. There are many variables
in the equation and they need to be addressed.

I just checked and the compost tea is bubbling away. There's a thick
layer of foam all around the insides of the tank. SFI will have the
sample
by tomorrow morning and I'll be sure to post the results here.

Judi




-----Original Message-----
From: chris reid [mailto:reidchris_at_earthlink.net]
Sent: Monday, October 27, 2003 2:23 PM
To: compost_tea_at_yahoogroups.com
Subject: [compost_tea] Fruit Club Update

Judy,

Suggestion? You all have a really, really great opportunity to do --
then
write up - some observations and analysis on tea in your group's
orchards
next season in your club if enough people are game to do it. One thing
you
could do before the apricots bud out is get everybody (tea and nontea
users)
to at least do a regular soil test on their fruit orchard/fruit tree
soil,
and start a log of what inputs they are adding to their soil, and take
some
baseline starting observations about conditions in soil, (moisture,
compaction), condition of trees and so on. People with lots of trees
might
like to do a comparison of tea vs. no tea on similar trees in similar
conditions for a season. Elaine's description in the last e-zine about
how
to do observations would probably help everyone learn from each other
about
why results are so good or mediocre.

As to the doubters -- they sound like budding scientists. I have
learned a
lot this summer just reading over Paul Sachs's shoulder while he posts
his
"theory" about how he's going to make the tea, and then his results.
Some
of the most beautiful theories about how to make tea or what should
happen
if some aspect of tea making is changed actually didn't yield better SFI
results, and some other great test results he got are not yet clearly
explainable as to what made the difference. Without testing, how would
he
know? The recent discussion that involved Tim Livingstone's powdery
mildew
on his tea-treated market strawberries and Mike Harvey's looking at soil
mineral balance in conjunction with tea is a good example of the fact
that
there's a lot that goes on in re-establishing a soil food web, and from
what
I have been reading in the archives, tea by itself doesn't always
necessarily constitute the optimal intervention or fully address the
long-term need to replace nutrients that come out of the soil in the
form of
apples, grapes, or lettuce.

Everybody's got their own approach, but for me, I really don't want
compost
tea to be about a movement, religion, or jumping on a bandwagon, or
"swaying" or "convincing" anyone. I don't want to prove anything. I
just
want a clear eyed picture of the ways in which it works and also the
ways in
which it does not work, has limitations, fails miserably or can be used
in a
way detrimental to a plant or the soil. That makes it much easier to
choose
the most appropriate tool to use in a given horticultural situation.

Looking forward to hearing all about your test results, which I hope
you'll
share with us.

Chris Reid





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Received on Wed Oct 29 2003 - 10:45:41 EST

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