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[compost_tea] Weed Control Using Compost Tea



Elaine said:
Take a few minutes and figure out what what information that weed is
telling you.

Too high nitrate level?  Then apply a tea that will result in organisms
growing that will suck up that extra nitrate.

Too low calcium?  Then apply a tea that will help bring up the calcium
level and keep that calcium in the soil.

Anaerobic conditions?  Build soil structure.  That means a FULL foodweb
must be in place.

Mother Nature has set a book before you.  Learn to read it.  The book is
a complex detective story.  You have to be a soil life inspector in
order to understand the clues, but all the clues are there before you.
Learn to solve the mystery.

                                                  . . .

Set the habitat in your soil correctly to grow the plants you want to
grow.  Compost tea can be part of the process of making the habitat
correct.  It's up to you to understand what is needed to change the
habitat.

Elaine, I am just an ordinary person who wants to make one road in a
county a NO SPRAY road.  It would be better if the county hired a soil
biologist to tackle this, but they are very happy putting 2,4-D on it.
I'm hoping it's possible for me to make enough headway on this problem
to get their attention or at least to keep them from polluting our soil,
our creek and us.

This is glacial till soilósandy loam.  We have moisture in spring and
fall and in July-September we have drought  This is a brittle
environment.  The road right-of-way is even drier.  Itís a magnet for
weeds, but now we have knapweed everywhere up all the private roads and
lots of common tansy holding up banks on the sides of the creeks.

I have had 4 soil tests done from Bruce Tainioís preferred lab.  They
were all done in the same one mile of road, but each one  of three had
different weeds:  hawkweed, common tansy and knapweed.  The fourth was
soil that had been scraped clean in a ditching process two years before.
The four reports were more different than I imagined they would be. Here
are the numbers for the hawkweed patch.  All I can do is follow Bruceís
instructions when I do the test plots because I don't have a good enough
math and science background. I need some way of  understanding the
varying areas on the road besides taking a million soil tests.   Is
balancing the soil and adding microorganisms and enzymes what we want to
do?  Bruceís Biogenesis I  (bacteria , fungi, etc.) and Pepzyme G
(enzymes) are quite expensive.  Canít we do it either with Biodynamics
(BC & 500) or with CT (compost+AH+kelp) or both?

The plants we want to grow are native grasses and native broadleaf
plants.  Whatís growing there now is native grasses, red and white
clover, black medic, wild sorrel, kinnickinnick (bearberry), moss, etc.
and the weeds--knapweed, tansy, hawkweed and thistle.

Here is the Soil Analysis Report for the Hawkweed test plot.  We have to
extrapolate the amount for the size of the test plot from pounds per
acre in Bruce Tainio's nutrient balance calculation.


SOIL ANALYSIS REPORT                  NUTRIENT BALANCE
Hawkweed                                              CALCULATION
(Tainio)

Organic matter  4.5 H
Phosphorus, weak bray       5 ppm VL                 P 200# / acre
Phosphorus, strong bray    59 ppm VH
Potassium                         182ppm VH                K 2ppm
Magnesium                       134ppm H                  Mg 10ppm
Calcium                           1229ppm H                  Ca 76ppm
Sodium                               19ppm VL
pH 1:1                                6.3
pH buffer index                  6.9
Cation Exchange Capacity 8.7
% Base Saturation
     Potassium                      5.4
     Magnesium                  12.8
     Calcium                        70.6
     Hydrogen                     10
Nitrate                              1ppm
N        60#/acre
Nitrate                              2lbs/A
Sulfur                               19ppm  H
S           0
Zinc                                    1.3ppm M
Z         2.4#/acre
Manganese                       10ppm M                   Mn
20#/acre
Iron                                  39ppm VH
Fe           0
Copper                                0.7ppm L
Cu         2.6#/acre
Boron                                  0.5ppm L
B          2#/acre
Excess Lime Rate                  L
Soluble Salts 1:1                 0.2mmhos/cm L

Thanks, Elaine, et al., for any comments you can make.  I will also
email Hendrikus Schraven.

Best,

Merla



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