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[compost_tea] Calcium addition



Dr. Elaine,

 

I understand that you have been doing some tests with calcium and, was it dandelions?  Maybe it was just calcium in compost as you talked about in our seminar.

 

But anyway, I want to do some testing on my own here with calcium and the pesky dandelions that are plaguing one of my pastures – in the spring it looks like a snowy field out there.

 

I’d like to section off a 50x50 area and inoculate it with compost (unless I get myself a brewer soon) that had been supplemented with calcium.  Would a oyster shells do the trick for the calcium?  If so, how much calcium in this form would be needed for a given amount of compost?  If some other form is necessary, how much of that?  Can calcium be overdone to the point of killing my pasture grasses, and/or soil?

 

Hmmm, why do I feel the ‘have you had your soil tested’ lecture coming???  Grin  ok, ok, I have the form filled out, just haven’t done the dirty work of filling the bags and writing the check…. I will!!  I will !!   =)

 

Mike

 

-----Original Message-----
From: soilfoodweb@aol.com [mailto:soilfoodweb@aol.com]
Sent: Wednesday, July 23, 2003 12:12 AM
To: compost_tea@yahoogroups.com
Subject: Re: [compost_tea] Hot (not warm) weather AACT considerations

 

Right, you've recognized that fewer foods are needed in hot weather. 

But assume that your garden is lacking in fungi, not bacteria (you have been tilling?), so you still want to maximize fungi to the greatest extent possible.

So, activate the Wormgold compost by adding fresh compost (a handful, for example from a local source of good worm compost, or thermal compost), OR the activator sent by Wormgold (gfood foods for fungi AND bacteria in there).

Should see some good visible fungi in the compost coming up pretty soon.  Jeff Lowenfels has some great pictures of what you want to see.  So do the WormGold folks.  So does David Loring (Rincon - Vitova), and SFI has a few pictures on the website too. 

Just don't overload the tea with too much food when your temps are high!

Otherwise, I think you have it. 

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
www.soilfoodweb.com


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