Dr Elaine At this date there is a shortage of water in the Northwest
and a severe shortage predicted. Your discussion of how TEA and soil
microbic activity reduces the need for water should be front page
news. All the way from home owners to big agriculture should become
aware, fully informed, of this very important fact. Jeff, how do we
get big news to lay off the petty murders and start talking about
constructive news? How to improve our reaction to climate changes..
Bob-
-- In compost_tea_at_y..., soilfoodweb_at_a... wrote:
> Hi Lloyd -
>
> There is more worth to CT than just nutritional. The primary
reason for
> using CT for most growers is disease suppression. Second, start
getting the
> soil into better tilth, decrease watering requirements, improve
aeration in
> the soil, etc. Third is to improve plant nutrition.
>
> For many growers, the overnight improvement in plant color and
improvement in
> disease prevention in enough evidence for them. IF YOUR TEA has
the
> organisms needed, if it contains the nutrition your plant is
lacking, and you
> get the organisms growing on the leaf surface.
>
> What if you don't see these benefits in the next couple days after
> application? You might suspect there was something not-right with
the tea,
> or the application method. Then you need to play detective. What
wasn't
> correct?
>
> Next question then:
> Do all teas improve plant health?
>
> What if your plant is already healthy? Then the tea is a
preventative and
> dramatic plant growth changes may not be apparent.
>
> So, the point here is that CT is not used for one thing alone. The
> expectation should be multiple improvements, because the right
organisms on
> leaf and in soil control a number of processes and functions.
Return the
> function to the system, and the plant cannot help but respond.
>
> Can CT be detrimental? Not if it is made correctly. Aerobic. The
correct
> set of active organisms to match the plant's requirements. Can't
over-do
> it, until the point that you start saturating the soil with water.
>
> And I've seen people do that. Getting the right organisms back
into the soil
> improves soil structure, increases water-holding capacity. In
tests on
> potato at Oregon State University, the researchers would not reduce
the water
> going onto the CT trials. Even though the soil was continuously
moist in our
> plots, and not in the other plots, disease did not occur in our
plots. But
> would the OSU scientists recognize this? Not a word......
>
> So, can CT be detrimental? Not if it is made correctly and used
with
> attention to the fact that the soil will be changed. Your current
practices
> may have to be altered.....
>
>
> Elaine Ingham
> President, Soil Foodweb Inc.
> www.soilfoodweb.com
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Received on Fri Nov 29 2002 - 20:59:25 EST