[compost_tea] Re: Sorry, yet another air pump question...

From: elear2 <elear2_at_yahoo.com>
Date: Sat, 31 Jul 2004 08:18:28 -0000
--- In compost_tea_at_yahoogroups.com, sbrustkern@a... wrote:
> Hi,

> Please share your great results that you refer to.

> Thank you,
> Steve

Well, I actually called them "good results."  I have no test= s from
soilfood web to actual quantify the exact make-up of the "critters.&qu= ot;

I've been using a apply tea to one area, and not to another approach
(and have selected certain plants to use for comparison purposes).

Here's some anecdotal evidence... please just take it as such...

Roses treated with compost tea via drench and foliar had near zero
white fly and fungus.  Roses in identical soil, but 10 feet away in a similar microclimate are still covered with a light covering of
mildew and are still being chewed up.  The treated roses have not
suffered from mildew (this is a first for me).

Grass area (RTF tall fescue) in a 10x10 patch is similar to the
patch that is shown in the soilfoodweb publication.  Zero thatch,
dark green, with a noticeable difference from non-treated area.  The <= BR> soil is improving as well.  As a note:  both 10x10 areas are gett= ing
humic acid, Yucca, and other organics to fix some pretty hard clay
soil.

There are four red rubber trees and only one of them got a weekly
regimen of "casting tea."  First batches were castings only = and I
only did a shake-shake-shake aeration method (It's very tiring
and I only used a half-cup of worm castings per ½ gallon jug).
Follow-on batches used aeration + humic acid + kelp + rock dust +
worm casting + molasses with slight variation from batch to batch.  Heavy foam was produced at 12 hours and first attempt with nutrients
+ small air pump -- in near-full bottle -- resulted in a god-awful
smell at 36 hours.

The 4 weekly sessions were only applied to a red rubber tree and
palm on one side of the complex.  All of the other rubber trees were <= BR> attacked with white fly and mealy bugs. The sweet sticky goop ended
up bringing on some dreadful mold and the new foliage from the
untreated trees has only now recovered after getting casting tea AND
neem oil.  The untreated trees looked very unhappy (they looked like <= BR> bio-warfare survivors).

The treated trees (one palm and one red banana tree) are "bug free&quo= t;
with the exception of one small spot of mealy bugs (they disappeared
in a week and I was spared having to pull out any neem oil)

Sorry if this smacks of mediocre scientific method, but the plants
that have received treatments have done well and resisted infection
much better than plants that were not.  The soil and other
conditions are very close (IOW, microclimate, soil, ferts, and other
amendments were doled out in equal amounts.)

So, I'm not sure if that's what you were asking for, but that's
what's given me the bug for bigger and better brews...

Oh, and one final benefit:  the lawn area that has been getting
regular dosing with tea and castings "seems" to recover much
quicker from "female dog spot disease.."  The treated area sill gets burn spots, but the area recovers in about a third of the  <= BR> time when compared to the no-tea areas.  I would hesitate to start telling people that I've found a cure for the problem.  It only
seems to help and isn't a panacea.

 



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Received on Sat Jul 31 2004 - 07:23:04 EDT

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