[compost_tea] Weed Control and Compost Tea

From: Merla Barberie <herbnmerla_at_supersat2.net>
Date: Sat, 22 Mar 2003 10:59:52 -0800


Steve Diver, ATTRA
Appropriate Technology Transfer for Rural Areas
Rural Business--Cooperative Service
USDA

Hi Steve,

Thanks for chiming in. Maybe I should be posting off list, it's so
involved. I wonder if this is of interest to CT people?

I'm still trying to conceptualize this after many years' work. I have a
Bitti-O-Later, 3-30 gallon tea maker, and am working with Bob Norsen who
has 27 years experience making CT. He has helped us by providing two
types of air pumps one for solar DC with limited capacity and one for AC
with his apparatus.

1) I'm trying to find effective non-chemical weed control strategies
for use by the county weed supervisor who now swears by 2,4-D in a
mixture of Curtail and Escort and no money in the budget for reseeding.
I am working under a state cost-share grant on an 8 mile road that
contains

    1. spotted knapweed,
    2. common tansy (on the county noxious weed list, not on the state
list, but we still have to conform),
    3. Canada and musk thistle,
    4. meadow and orange hawkweed.

There are many other weeds on the county and state lists, but these four
categories have the largest amount of plants and it's what's on our
road.

Methods:

Flame weeding early in season for new rosettes will set back but not
completely kill.

Urea-sprinkle on hawkweed in 90º weather (unproven folk remedy says weed
supv.) and pull off flowerheads. Good result.

20% vinegar (have a big discrete musk thistle patch)

Soil test then add micronutrients+organisms
    a) Bio-Dynamic-Pfeiffer, BC+500, peppers
    b) CT-Bitti with AK humus, kelp, molasses
    c) Bruce Tainio's expensive patented hormone & enzyme formulas that
are registered in Idaho

Mulches

Live
    a) white and red inoculated clover
    b) native grasses for reseeding

Chips
    a) cedar-kills everything so nothing will grow
    b) birch, aspen, vine maple, red and river alder,
hawthorne, poplar (cottonwood), choke cherry, willow (reputed
to foster mycorrhizal fungus growth) (What is the protocol for this,
Steve?)

DeWitt Sunbelt Weed Barrier - nice but Weed Supv. says not for
right-of-way.

I am aiming for 4 repetitions and a control so we can publish our
findings, but Steve, it takes so long and the weed supv. is mad cause
the weeds aren't gone yet. I have to balance testplotting and just
keeping the road looking good so they won't spray.

Bare soil - We have 2 miles of bare sandy poor soil that was ditched
three years ago in a forested area. The weeds are just starting now. I
can put fungal CT on this to get mycorrhizal fungi, can't I? If it
needs humus, we could sheet compost with composted horse manure (has
weed seeds in it? )? What is a reasonable treatment that would be a good
model for the county to use? You'll never get the county to put horse
manure on the right-of-way. Wouldn't a CT treatment and ramial wood
chips then native grass seeding be more acceptable?

2) I went to the county Weed Workshop Planning Meeting and it was
business as usual--local businesses that sell herbicide financing it.
Mailing list-people who have pesticide applicators licences. Courses-for
credit toward their license requirements. A tip on the peak of their
caps to mechanical, biocontrols and pasture management for organic. I
spoke up asking for a class for organic growers and their response is
that they don't know how to do that and would I give them an outline.
I'm overwhelmed. Need exhaustive protocol for both organic farmers and
ranchers and organic residents who are taking care of their own
right-of-ways. I need an experienced organic professional to come to
their workshop for free and wow the socks off of them with new
technologies and equipment. Are you free on May 3? Next year?

When the county people weren't interested in a weed control class for
organic growers, I immediately went to the Farmer's Market President and
he offered a free space at the market for a table on the subject. If I
can work up the protocol, I can get both groups involved in this. I
went to SANET Search and put in "deep humus" "weed control" "Luebkes
field trials" "humidified compost" in, but nothing came up. Then I
started on the archives list by month/year. I'm just at the beginning
of 2000. (Bob, this table could be close to the electricity source. My
long-time space just where I like it is far away from that plug on the
bandstand.)

3) CT will work well once we get the mature deep-rooted knapweed, the
woody-rooted common tansy and the 30 ft deep rooted musk thistle gone
and we need a reseeding component to our county weed control. It's just
that they keep cutting funding and that is the first to go. I want them
to take a more long range approach that will work better than the
herbicide treadmill. Should I give in and use RoundUp with a syringe
plant by plant to kill the tansy and thistle then spray CT to reverse
the damage? I've never used herbicide and the thought revolts me.

4) Obviously, this will be a more expensive program than is presently
used in capital outlay and labor in the short run, so we will have to
get grassroots support in the form of individuals and roads that want to
do this on their own. How can we organize a fun program that will draw
in volunteers to help me do this work on our road so we can show a good
model?

I think I'm praying in writing for this.

Best,

Merla


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Received on Sat Mar 22 2003 - 13:54:43 EST

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