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[compost_tea] News: Protecting potato crops against blight infection using"compost tea"



I belong to a list which sends environmental news around.  Thought you might
find this news interesting.  The compost tea is not aerobic compost tea, but
the connection with compost tea and disease suppression is there.  Maybe
somebody ought to help Steven Watts figure out the best way to make his tea
so the research doesn't come back equivocal!

Chris Reid

**


Researching the Benefits of Compost Tea

A Prince Edward Island farmer is testing the use of compost tea to
protect potato crops against blight infection.  The compost solution,
commonly used as a fertilizer, will be evaluated by Steven Watts of Eric
C. Robinson Inc. for its effectiveness as an alternative fungicide.

The compost mixture is made from a specific recipe containing the most
appropriate organisms which will protect the crop against late blight
infection. It also contains beneficial plant and soil organisms.

Adding water to the compost extracts the beneficial organisms from the
compost and allows growers to spray the tea solution on soil and crops
to provide disease protection. This sprayed compost tea can be an
intense source of living organisms which increase the plants' natural
resistance to soil-borne and airborne diseases.

Watts will test the compost spray this summer on trial plots and compare
results to plots treated with commonly used fungicides.

"Compost tea technology has been used on other crops to help protect
them from various diseases. This project will allow us to investigate
this technology here on our farm to determine its potential to be
integrated into our production system," said Watts.

The Prince Edward Island ADAPT Council, responsible for the provincial
administration of Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada's Canadian Adaptation
and Rural Development (CARD) Fund, has awarded up to $61,000 to Eric C.
Robinson Inc. for this project. Other contributors to this project
include the PEI Department of Agriculture and Forestry and the Organic
Agriculture Centre of Canada at the Nova Scotia Agricultural College.
 Since 1999, the ADAPT Council has contributed close to $840,000 in CARD
funding for 87 projects under the environment component.

 * * *

Phil Ferraro, Executive Director, P.E.I. ADAPT Council
c/o The Farm Centre, 420 University Avenue, Room 103
Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island Canada  C1A 7Z5
Phone: (902) 368-2005
Fax:     (902) 368-2520
Email: adapt.pei@pei.sympatico.ca
     or adapt@pei.aibn.com



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