Re: [compost_tea] RE: [compost_tea and soils tests

From: <soilfoodweb_at_aol.com>
Date: Sat, 15 May 2004 11:56:19 -0400
Bob asked:
> Is there a more general test that goes a step beyond the measure of soil content?  Can we measure the plants reaaction?  I can't. Don't know how. Some of you can?  

Plant responses that have been measured are things like yield, biomass of the plant, biomass of fruit, BRIX, nutrient content (vitamins, minerals, calcium, boron, etc), height, runners, and so forth.


> When you measure the protien in your hay does that tell you how the ACT worked?

Measuring protein in the plant is not enough as a stand alone measure.  You have to have an area where you did NOT apply the tea, and an area where you DID apply tea.  Comparison of the protein, or brix, or plant biomass then can tell you if the tea improved plant response or not. 

But you always have to have the comparison with the control, not-tea treated area.  Your toxic chemical neighbor's lawn, or veg garden, or ag field works as a comparison point. 

 
> Is it possible to tell whether the activation made you hay a better feed for your animals?

You would need to make a tea with not-activated compost, and tea with activated compost, spray them out, and then compare plant response.  SFI has done that (on the website, in the CTBM, on the WSARE website) and shown that if you do not have more than 5% coverage, you cannot achieve disease suppression.  So, activation may be needed to get the fungal component you need.

If you apply to soil, then you need a threshold level fo fungal biomass in the tea, or you don't get the soil building that is possible from getting the organisms out there.  Again, lots of anecdotal information, but also data in the CTBM, on our website. 

> I think Elaine suggested that when they tested TEA with certain microbe content they were able to relate that to plant
> quality in the field.  Measured quality? I think so.   

Yes.  Three applications of tea to a pasture in Texas, compared to a conventional pasture next to it (actually, the rest of the ranch).  Conventional pasture had 0.5 lb weight gain per animal per day, the tea treated had 2.5 lbs weight gain per animal per day.  Protein AND a shift in species of dominant grasses.  Read the SFI e-zine for the full information.


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 Sponsor
ADVERTISEMENT
click here


Yahoo! Groups Links

Received on Sat May 15 2004 - 13:14:05 EDT

This archive was generated by hypermail 2.3.0 : Tue Feb 07 2012 - 14:15:16 EST