Re: [compost_tea] Re: Jill Clapperton at a no-till conference.

From: <soilfoodweb_at_aol.com>
Date: Fri, 21 Jan 2005 12:03:37 EST

 
Great thread on no-tilling. Just a few comments for people to consider -
 
When tillage is used, a great deal of the biology will be harmed, just as
Jeff pointed out. Fungi, microarthropods and earthworms in particular will be
reduced in biomass.
 
This work has been published in the scientific literature, Cambardella,
Elliott, Beare, Coleman, Hendrix, Edwards and others would be the folks to look
up as they have done much of the best work on this topic.
 
BUT, think about this.
 
Are there times when you would WANT to reduce fungi, microarthropods and
earthworms?
 
When you are raising plants that do not do well when the soil is
fungal-dominated, then tillage is ONE way to quickly and rapidly reduce fungal biomass
and the predators of fungi. As Dave pointed out, occasional tillage to adjust
the soil biology is a logical approach.
 
Can one over-till?
 
That has been a problem in conventional ag. Too much tillage, with the
concomitant result of destroying most of the beneficial biology.
 
Sadly, not all the biology is destroyed: disease-causing organisms survive
tillage better than beneficials, because diseases are boom-and-bust organisms.
 Grow rapidly on available foods, making billions of dormant propagules
(spores) which survive chemical means of killing organisms as well. Beneficial
organisms do not respond to disturbance like diseases do: they don't make
billions of spores, they don't find and totally consume their hosts or food
resources, but instead take months to years to re-establish to an adequate level.
Need references? Any basic microbiology textbook, or microbial ecology
textbook, or soil foodweb book will go through this.
 
So, is tillage a bad thing? It depends. We can't say that tillage is
ALWAYS bad: sometimes it is the best thing to do.
---------------------------------
Consider the nutrient stratification issue. Tillage generally results in
compaction at the depth where the plowshare, or discs, or chisels, or rippers
runs. The reason tillage equipment has gone to deeper and deeper levels is to
break up the compaction layer that the plow itself has imposed.
 
So, here we are trying to till at 3 to 4 feet. What can the solution for
that be? Tillage to 6 feet? What equipment are you going to use to pull that
ripper through your field? A locomotive?
 
If you put the biology back into your soil, get them working at the right
depth, then they can form soil structure.
 
But when someone puts soil organisms out, without first testing to know what
biology they are lacking, and then does not test to see if the organisms
they added survived addition to the soil, isn't it ridiculous for them to then
conclude that biology doesn't work?
 
If they ignore the requirements for biology to do the job, then they are
doomed to failure, sooner or later.
 
In anything that is done in a field situation, understanding the impact and
effect on the organisms in that soil is required. Much of the time, just
thinking about the principles of microbial ecology can be enough to help you
figure out your course of action. Sometimes taking a course on soil
biology will help well.
---------------------------------
And finally, on Jill's work. Excellent initial stages of working on
understanding soil biology. But read her description of making compost tea. Tea
bag in water for 18 to 24 hours. Didn't aerate during their first trials, so
really, there was a mix of not-aerated tea, and then aerated tea used, as I
recall.
 
And, as I recall, they had fields that had been pesticided, herbicided, and
inorganic fertilized. There is often a time period where these chemical
toxins have to be worked on by the biology, in order that the biology can begin
to do all that the biology can do.
 
As Bob pointed out, there is a time factor involved in having the biology do
it's work. Will addition of organisms work IMMEDIATELY?
 
Well, sometimes. Consider aphids and caterpillars. If there is the proper
biology in the compost or the tea, there can be an "instant" response.
Building soil is going to at least take several weeks for the process to get
going. And the further from the problem the organisms are placed, the longer it
will take to get the organisms to move to the site of the problem. If you
don't place the organisms where they are needed, don't blame the organisms for
not doing their job.
 
So when someone says that compost or tea didn't instantly affect aphids or
whatever, what all of the rest of us should be thinking is,
 
1. they did not make sure that the proper biology was present in the
compost or tea that would affect the target they were interested in,
2. they did something that made that biology inactive in the spraying that
was done,
3. they did not actually deliver the organisms to the place they wanted to
see some action,
4. they did not add foods to help the organisms survive when they arrived
at the place where action was desired
 
5. the condition they sprayed the organisms into was toxic and
inappropriate for the organisms to survive.
 
So, does compost tea "not do" insect control? Compost tea CAN have the
organisms to do the job. If you have the proper biology in the tea, and you make
sure they arrive alive and with food to help them do their job, then the use
of compost tea to deliver the organisms will result in the desired affect.


 
So, when criticism is heard, think through these things. Compost tea
doesn't fix everything, especially if it doesn't contain the organisms to do the
job.
 
As I said before, great discussion going on here.
 

"Hugh,
Thanks for the comments. I am not against notill at times.
Planting corn in wheat stubble can be the best seed bed possible.
Problems occur with years of notill in my OPINION. I do not no of a
no till farm (a no till farm which has been no till for several
years) that raises hi brix quality crops which I am starting to try
and raise. There are several situations where people are no till. I
am a no til farmer with my alfalfa. I have some fields that are
continous alfalfa for 10 years. Orchards are generally no-till. Its
just that some farmers see no-till as a way to farm but don't
recognize the need to improve the quality of the produce."




Elaine R. Ingham
Soil Foodweb Inc., Corvallis, Oregon
Soil Foodweb Inc., Port Jefferson, New York
Soil Foodweb Institute, Lismore Australia
Soil Foodweb Institute Cambridge, New Zealand
Laboratorios de Soil Foodweb, Culiacan, Mexico
Soil Foodweb Inc., Jerome, Idaho
Soil Foodweb Inc., South Africa








Received on Fri Jan 21 2005 - 12:37:05 EST

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