Re: [compost_tea] Differences between compost tea, compost piles, and vermiculture
Matt and others,
what is your organic matter level in your soil and what sort of tonnage / =
ha are you adding from sward management / pruning etc each year.
Many of these ideas and conversations are incomplete and can go down a path=
that does not relate when we have o/m levels at 8%, 15% or down at 1%or le=
ss, this has an impact on management decisions.
Please when asking questions give enough detail for them to be understood o=
n the international multi crop forum we have here.
Bill Quinn.
----- Original Message -----
From: Matt Leamy
To: compost_tea_at_yahoogroups.com
Sent: Thursday, April 10, 2003 10:43 PM
Subject: Re: [compost_tea] Differences between compost tea, compost piles=
, and vermiculture
Hi, first time contribution, a word of thanks to all those regular contr=
ibutors, the information from this group is helping to spread knowledge of =
sustainable practices far and wide.
This question was thrown at me from a commercial compost sales manager no=
t so long ago. He was concerned that Compost Tea's would compete with Comp=
ost. In at the deep end I said to him "no", for reasons that Tom and Jeff =
have said.
My understanding is that there is more to it than that. Please correct m=
e if I am wrong but it does concern me that compost manufacturers should th=
ink that they might have no future. With a CT we extract the organisms fro=
m a compost, multiply it, apply it to our crop and it is as if we get an en=
ergy boost into the system. A compost does that as well, perhaps more slow=
ly because the rate of activity may not be as high at the time of applicati=
on. The compost will have a higher diversity because it has more diversity=
and complexity of foods that will also last much longer. The brewing proc=
ess itself limits the diversity of organisms extracted because there is a l=
imit on the diversity of foods and logic suggests that with a short brewing=
cycle, the most competitive ones will dominate. The compost will have th=
ose important higher food chain organisms that a CT won't have in abundance=
, the nematodes and amoebae. It will have the bulky carbon material that b=
uilds topsoil rich in humus.
However, a CT can introduce a lot of the organisms and with some crops it=
is common practice to mulch with bulky carbon rich materials. And this ca=
n be done at a price considerably less than buying, or making on commercial=
scales, compost. Was the sales manager right to be concerned?
By the way we work very hard at selling our New Zealand Organic Avocados =
to America.
Matt Leamy
----- Original Message -----
From: Tom Jaszewski
To: compost_tea_at_yahoogroups.com
Sent: Thursday, April 10, 2003 11:18 AM
Subject: RE: [compost_tea] Differences between compost tea, compost pil=
es, and vermiculture
The comparison is really apples to oranges. CT does NOT replace compost=
or vermicompost. Most of us still need compost to build organic materials =
in our soils. Compost tea does not add carbon sources to soils in the volum=
es we need. Compost products are needed to build many agricultural as well =
as horticultural soils.
Tom Jaszewski
www.livesoil.com
702-595-7012
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Received on Thu Apr 10 2003 - 20:15:45 EDT
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