I am excerpting from the excellent October E-zine from Soil Food Web here.
We have talked about anecdotes vs. tests. For people who are not testing
but want to report what has happened in their fields and gardens and
orchards in conjunction with compost tea use, Elaine gave a description of
how to go about making a useful test.
I have poured tea here and there in my yard, but can't say for sure what is
the cause of either the good things or the bad things I'm seeing, because
tea was not the only thing I did or didn't do, and the weather this year has
been remarkably different from the nearly two-year drought we suffered the
past two summers.
This points to the usefulness of keeping a log. The only log I keep is a
daily work order/notes for each of my clients, but I haven't kept such a
list of activities for my own yard. When discussing roses with another list
member about what results or occurrences in the rose garden have coincided
with compost tea use, it was gratifying to read the log of what inputs the
gardener had added and when, and what observations had been made at that
time.
So -- for the best practices project -- I'm thinking that your suggestions
and input about what you have logged, how you have logged it, and what
turned out to be very useful to you might help us come up with a suggested
approach or list of tips for people as they begin to track their efforts
with tea.
Your comments?
And here's Elaine's E-zine discussion of tracking what you do.
Chris Reid
"Here’s what is needed:
A couple ways that this can be done, depending on what you want to do -
The anecdotal approach:
BEFORE you start with a biologically reasonable approach (and I don’t care
what biologically reasonable approach you use – organic, biodynamic,
holistic, Demeter, sustainable, whatever), take a picture of the site in
spring, summer and fall. Write down the typical yields and the money per
fruit/seed/produce you received. Record some notes on flavor, shelf life,
color, whatever.
Implement the part of the biological approach that you want to do. Write
down exactly what you did different. Take pictures. Record yield, take
notes on flavor, color, shelf life,
The paired approach:
Define an area in which you want to try the set of practices you want to use
to become more sustainable. Apply your practices there. BUT, take pictures
of both areas before you start (we need to be able to “prove” they were the
same before you started!
Take pictures of the control and treatment areas through the season. Note
when you had to use chemicals in the control, when you had to apply compost
or tea in the sustainable area. Note the costs. Then at the end of the
season, write down yield, color, shelf life, etc from the two different
areas.
Of course, if you can do the SFI testing to show that it is improving
bacteria, or fungi or protozoa, or mycorrhizal colonization, then we can
have the solid scientific data to show that it is the biology that is doing
the work. A SARE grant might be a good way to go, but you need to work with
a local SFI advisor in your area to do the writing. I’m sorry that I don’t
have time to help on SARE grants anymore. And SFI does not have an in-house
grant writer. That didn’t work out.
PLEASE be aware, however, that the chemical treatment (the “control”) needs
to be some distance from the biologically sustainable area.
We worked with folks in Horticulture at Oregon State University on 10 foot
by 10 foot plots some years ago. As I review the data, I realize that as we
put compost in the randomly assigned compost plots, the biology moved out
from those plots into the surrounding non-biological plots. Variability
made this project impossible to publish – wonder why? (Sorry, being
sarcastic there - J). The chemical plots were so variable in their
biological response that we couldn’t tell the difference from the
biologically sane plots. Well, 10 foot by 10 foot…….. anyone tried to
prevent an earthworm from moving out of a crowded area in a field? Right.
Even if your two treatments are right next to each other, make sure you take
the samples from the different areas separated by a good buffer strip.
I mess up sometimes. I was one of the biologists on the project, and I didn
’t see that this experimental design was going to be a mistake. Darn, we
just aren’t trained to think in a biologically rational manner. OK,
education is the key, but sometimes education takes a while to sink in.
Please e-mail me at info_at_soilfoodweb.com if you have comments on this,
ideas, discussion. I will assume that you won’t mind if I put your
comments/discussion in the next e-zine, so please be aware that unless you
tell me you don’t want your comments, ideas, discussion in the e-zine, I
make that assumption that it is ok.
OK?
Elaine"
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Received on Thu Oct 16 2003 - 12:06:59 EDT