Re: [compost_tea] Weed Control using Compost Tea

From: Robert Norsen <bnbrew_at_yahoo.com>
Date: Sat, 15 Mar 2003 12:04:48 -0800 (PST)


Hi Herbnmerla from Bob - I will add a bit to what I hope is the response you need..
Weeds are strong contenders for space and soil when the soil is poor and the space not ocupied by more friendly stuff, like wild flowers, clover or grass. Weeds have the ability to drive deep for water and survive in dry adverse soil. Under better soil conditions more friendly weeds in the form of wild flowers and clover and grass will prevail against most weeds. Transition is painful. Weeds that defend themselves are often unfriendly.
 I am not an expert in contolling certain weeds by soil content. there is a lot of information on that among the TEA group
The key to good soil is microbes that support friendly plants. Microbes can't survive without the plants that furnish food to the microbes just as microbes furnish food to the plants.
When plant or microbe killing chemicals are added to the mix the soil will remain unfriendly to the plants you want.
Process for starting grass: Early spring is the best time to start grass.
Mow the stuff that is there leaving the trash where it is. Apply seed - grass and clover seed and a light amount of organic food to the trash,.all dry. Follow with a dilute Organic aerated TEA. Not enough water to wash the seed but enough to wash the seed down into th trash. Trash undisturbed. Where trash doesn't cover the soil add some straw or light layer of wood chips. LIGHT! The trash is to protect the seed while they take root. Essential that dilute tea be repeated to keep the area damp as the seeds become plants. A few weeds growoing among the seeds will help the grass and clover. Once clover and grass get going the weeds will be crowded out. Just mow with the mower set 3 " or higher. Probably best to choose the largest section you can handle to start and to demo. Probably can't do the entire Rolling Thunder Ridge at once. ( Love that name ) Add dilute TEAevery week. If there is light rain that is an ideal time to spray TEA. In that conditon TEA can be applied undiluted. Try to use yo
ur Bitti in the largest contanier your electic power can support. We are finding it will drive 50 gallons at a time with the '20 pump.
If you get enough support and find a place that has electric power to run a BobO Lator you can have a 250 gallon system that will help get microbes into a much larger area. You very likely have a free 250 gallon tank there somewhere. Look for a 4' cube with a metal frame around the tank. Latch on at least 3 if you can.
If you get that support and those tanks let me know. I will advise from there. TEA is so cheap compared to every other way to improve growth!! And TEA gradually becomes natural and is needed less and less with time. Chemical treatments go the other way. Start cheap but become more and more needed year after year. The final result is opposites too. Organics keep getting better. chemical treated keeps getting worse until finally it can't survive. Organic is hard to sell against the highly financed chemicals. But once demonstrated people fall in love with how nature had it In The Beginning
 I hope you get more and better advice from many others. Bob .
 Merla Barberie <herbnmerla_at_supersat2.net> wrote:Hello Compost Tea Experts:

On Tuesday I will present the concept of using compost tea in weed
control on a general basis to a planning committee for a county public
Weed Workshop.

I will be demonstrating the basic operation of a compost tea maker and I
will try to cover all possible ways that CT will be beneficial to the
county weed strategy. Right now, they use Curtail and Escort and they
never have enough money to reseed when they ditch a road. The Weed
Committee resists even thinking about reading a booklet such as The Soil
Biology Primer. I am trying to reach them on a financial and result (in
their terms) basis.

At this Workshop, though, we will be speaking to any private citizens
who chose to come to the all-day affair. Some will be organic. Most
will not. The last time they had this workshop, they had nothing for
organic growers. There will be farmers and ranchers, people with yards
and gardens, community organizations that are working on a weedy bike
path on a previous rocky railroad bed, county officials in charge of
budgets. I want to also address using CT in ranch and farm practices
and in drought times. Any ideas and handout material on CT uses would
be appreciated.

Thanks,

Merla Barberie
Herb's HERBS
Farmers Market at Sandpoint
Leader, Rapid Lightning Road IPM Weed Control Project
Bonner County Noxious Weed Advisory Committee

* * * * * *


Message: 6
   Date: Fri, 14 Mar 2003 19:39:27 EST
   From: jamsot_at_aol.com
Subject: Re: RES: Flaming others

Hey gang,
Jeeeeeez I lurk because I cannot allow myself to get involved in
nonsense.

Lets talk about success stories, I have been using teas and doing this
work for sometime now. Everyone tells me about how great their product
is or their tea, whoopy do and a don't.

Like Cuba gooding Jr said, show me the money, lets start showing how we
make things happen, what are peoples protocols.

Out on the East Coast we have a lot of real big companies and real big
parks that are using teas, and we developed systems that work.

We focus on getting results, because you can have the finest humus and
the finest tea, but if you don't have a system that makes it work, who
really cares. We have a 150 clients we take care of and each client
gets a foodweb test done on it yearly so we can chart our progress. We
use teas, and lots of food sources, we have our tea brewers built into
our trucks we did that over a year ago, and keep our tea active during
the day.

We have done test within months of each other and we always progress in
the right direction. We also get involved in soil replacement and
foliar disease suppression. I would love to share with others, we have
a wealth of info on the practical side.

By the way, we also make a really great living doing this, so if you
have business questions please feel free to ask.

Best wishes,

James Sottilo
Vice President Treewise, The Organic Experts
Vice President Long Island Arboriculture Association
I.S.A. Certified Arborist NY 0176
Soil Foodweb Advisor NY 09


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Received on Sat Mar 15 2003 - 23:58:44 EST

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