[compost_tea] Fruit Club Update

From: chris reid <reidchris_at_earthlink.net>
Date: Mon, 27 Oct 2003 17:23:17 -0500

Judy,

Suggestion? You all have a really, really great opportunity to do -- then
write up - some observations and analysis on tea in your group's orchards
next season in your club if enough people are game to do it. One thing you
could do before the apricots bud out is get everybody (tea and nontea users)
to at least do a regular soil test on their fruit orchard/fruit tree soil,
and start a log of what inputs they are adding to their soil, and take some
baseline starting observations about conditions in soil, (moisture,
compaction), condition of trees and so on. People with lots of trees might
like to do a comparison of tea vs. no tea on similar trees in similar
conditions for a season. Elaine's description in the last e-zine about how
to do observations would probably help everyone learn from each other about
why results are so good or mediocre.

As to the doubters -- they sound like budding scientists. I have learned a
lot this summer just reading over Paul Sachs's shoulder while he posts his
"theory" about how he's going to make the tea, and then his results. Some
of the most beautiful theories about how to make tea or what should happen
if some aspect of tea making is changed actually didn't yield better SFI
results, and some other great test results he got are not yet clearly
explainable as to what made the difference. Without testing, how would he
know? The recent discussion that involved Tim Livingstone's powdery mildew
on his tea-treated market strawberries and Mike Harvey's looking at soil
mineral balance in conjunction with tea is a good example of the fact that
there's a lot that goes on in re-establishing a soil food web, and from what
I have been reading in the archives, tea by itself doesn't always
necessarily constitute the optimal intervention or fully address the
long-term need to replace nutrients that come out of the soil in the form of
apples, grapes, or lettuce.

Everybody's got their own approach, but for me, I really don't want compost
tea to be about a movement, religion, or jumping on a bandwagon, or
"swaying" or "convincing" anyone. I don't want to prove anything. I just
want a clear eyed picture of the ways in which it works and also the ways in
which it does not work, has limitations, fails miserably or can be used in a
way detrimental to a plant or the soil. That makes it much easier to choose
the most appropriate tool to use in a given horticultural situation.

Looking forward to hearing all about your test results, which I hope you'll
share with us.

Chris Reid




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Received on Mon Oct 27 2003 - 19:47:14 EST

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