Re: [compost_tea] RE: Application rate

From: Mike Harvey <mharvey_at_westnet.com.au>
Date: Sun, 2 May 2004 17:08:15 +0800
What you have described certainly makes some sense, I guess it depends on
where the soil is at re Mineralisation and fertility.
However the soils I deal with in West Aus are very infertile soils with very
low calcium and Magnesium levels, low trace minerals and hence low pH.
Albrechts work stands the test of time and once we begin balancing soils -
rectifying low Ca especially we begin to see great improvements in the
overall fertility as well as weed profile. Mineral balancing (Calcium
especially) is important to allow the soil to flocculate and hence allow
oxygen into the soil. Low or nil Ca in the soil means low or poor soil
biology.
Profitable production on the farm requires soil Mineralisation as well as
attention to and building up of the soil biology. If there is very low Ca in
the soil the tiny amounts that are added via compost tea will not address
the massive deficits in Calcium in the soils I deal with. Having said that
if you have a soil with good Ca Mg etc ratios and balancing then yes you may
be able to make the adjustments via small amounts of biological forms of
minerals and then achieve good results. We do not have soils like this where
I come from, we need to address major deficiencies in the soil minerals in
order to get production and quality.
Albrecht was able to adjust soil Cation balance and achieved great results,
however in our severely depleted soils with toxic chemical application we
need to  both  do Cation soil balancing as well as compost tea amendments.

Regards Mike Harvey New Life Soils.
www.composttea.com.au

"God is the basis of life, life is the basis of energy,
energy is the basis of matter." Carey Reams



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> Typically, we are reducing the need to apply mineral nutrients on the soil
by getting the nutrients into the compost, and thus into the tea.
>
> You will always have to replace the nutrients removed in harvest, but if
you get the biology back into your soil, you no longer have to replace
nutrients lost as a result of leaching, or out-gassing.  Neither of these
processes is significant, once the aerobic biology is back in place and soil
strucutre has been re-built.
>
> So, if you don't have to replace leached nutrients, think of the reduction
in mineral fertilizers you would see!
>
> --
> Elaine Ingham
> President, Soil Foodweb Inc.
> SFI Corvallis, OR
> SFI Port Jefferson, NY
> SFI Lismore, NSW, Australia
> SFI Hilversum, The Netherlands
> SFI Cambridge, New Zealand
> SFI Culiacan, Mexico
> SFI Jerome, Idaho
> http://www.soilfoodweb.com
>
>
>
>
>
> Yahoo! Groups Links
>
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Received on Sun May 02 2004 - 13:35:31 EDT

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