[compost_tea] Re: compost tea a pseudoscience?

From: chriscreid <reidchris_at_earthlink.net>
Date: Tue, 25 Nov 2003 13:46:43 -0000

--- In compost_tea_at_yahoogroups.com, "Ted Peterson"
<ted.peterson_at_t...> wrote:
TED SAID: In my experience, brewing tea still has a way to go
before we can say with 100% certainty that doing things a certain
way will give us exactly the same results every time.

REPLY: Ted, I think this gets to the heart of the matter more than
having a contest over the broadbrush statement about whether tea is
science or not. What would be most interesting is to hear about
some of the work you've logged in the method you described and where
you have been perplexed by the results. IMHO, that is where the
people on this list might make a difference to you, and your good
tracking of info can make a contribution here. I'd be most
interested in hearing your specific experiences.

TED SAID: Let's take, for example the idea of "Growing Fungi" in a
24 - 48 hour brewing cycle. I have seen it presented as fact
several times on this group and did some investigating on my own.
Bacteria are easy to grow and multiply in a short time period.
Fungi, as least the ones I have researched, just don't replicate as
fast or at the same rates. There are some commonalities but that's
about it.
>
REPLY: You are right. If any of us backyard astronomer types
misstated "growing fungi", or used this like we meant reproduction
of fungi, then that's inaccurate. I could have done that. If I
did, it's not because I think I am increasing numbers of
individuals. Getting better fungal numbers (of individuals) on a
tea assay has naught to do with growing individuals, and everything
to do with good compost, extraction methods, aerobic conditions, and
not using too violent an aeration method. What we can hope to do in
tea is increase fungal biomass by growing out fungal hyphae. the
number of indidivual fungi is not where the fungal growth occurs in
tea. It's the hyphae. Elaine has made this point numerous times.

TED SAID:I am running a business. My business depends on my being
able to deliver what I say. I need to validate my assumptions and
my tea has to work the way I say it will. I cannot tell people they
will get A, B and C if I know it is untrue to make a sale or get a
profit because at some point I have to provide testing to validate
my statements. I'm not talking about testing my tea, I am talking
about plant essays and soil tests. When these give me the readings
I want, I know I am on the right track. I need to document
everything I do to each batch of tea and every additive I use and I
need to see the results in the plants. .

REPLY: You are not alone in running a business or desiring to only
say what you can deliver and deliver what you say. Since many
people on this list are running businesses and have similar desires,
anything you would like to share about your methods of assuring your
customers that you're delivering what you say, or your tracking
system of your variables such as tracking sheets or the like, would
be welcome, if you would care to be so generous.

TED SAID: If I don't or can't, I more represent a snake-oil salesman
and the compost tea business has a enough of those. I run into them
all the time.

REPLY: Ted, this is a very provocative thing to say. If you could
state objectively the practices or statements that you have heard or
seen and explain why these are unproductive, I think we could all
learn from your observations. The provocative statement expresses
in part how you feel your own standards are violated by what some
other people are doing, but I fear what may happen is that people
will react to the way you are saying it and not be able to hear what
you are trying to say.

Anything more you can say to be more, well, uh, *scientific* in your
statements would be most welcome.

Thanks for your post. Lots of good food for thought.

Chris



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Received on Tue Nov 25 2003 - 11:25:59 EST

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