[compost_tea] More SoilSoup

From: Susan Cruver <scruver_at_msn.com>
Date: Mon, 24 Feb 2003 16:41:11 -0800

I used SoilSoup in my garden for two years and it definitely improved my so=
il and plant growth. During the first season, improvement was astonishingl=
y rapid. The second year was not the same; an equilibrium seemed to have b=
een reached and the depth of quality soil is the same as it was last June. =
 I believe I have reached the point of diminishing returns for a bacterial =
tea: without fungus, any further improvement will be slow as molasses (cou=
ldn't resist). So now I have a new machine which has been well-tested and =
shown to produce fungi in quantity and keep it active. Kirk, I see your po=
int.

However, I may just have been lucky. From the start, I approached tea maki=
ng with great care, knowing the danger of using too much nutrient solution.=
  Even before I heard Elaine speak, I had put the felt compost sock aside i=
n favor of a clean but aged nylon, a relic of my days in the Big Corporatio=
n. Cleaning the bioblender, which always had biofilm in its numerous nooks=
 and crannies, was a long process and I was never highly confident in the e=
nd results. Some areas are impossible to reach and I just had to hope that=
 the hydrogen peroxide had encountered all the biofilm and that I had adequ=
ately rinsed it (with the electric motor attached, soaking is not an option=
).

A friend did make a batch, certain that she carefully followed instructions=
, and it never foamed. She applied it to her garden and plant death ensued=
.

To me, the bottom line is that consumers should be able to buy a machine, f=
ollow the recipes and produce material that, at the least, is harmless. Th=
ey should be able to do this without modifying the machine. I understand t=
he limitations of bacterial tea and think it is very unfortunate that SoilS=
oup can't yield fungi. It puts users in the position of spending more mone=
y to buy another brewer that IS capable of extracting and nurturing fungi. =
 But producing stuff that kills plants is much worse. Doesn't the Hippocra=
tic Oath begin, "First, do no harm." Sure, we aren't medical doctors.

And then people generalize about all CT based on results from SoilSoup biob=
lenders and other problematic machines. Dr. Linda Chalker-Scott and others=
 who can't support compost tea have a point. There's good stuff and bad st=
uff, but it is all called compost tea (yes, Elaine, your point about nomenc=
lature is well taken) and the average gardener thinks it is all the same th=
ing. As I said before, here in the home of SoilSoup, the terms "SoilSoup" =
and compost tea are considered interchangeable by many. The teeth grind on=
.

Susan Cruver



Received on Tue Feb 25 2003 - 00:53:00 EST

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