[compost_tea] Re: Tea and Turf

From: chriscreid <reidchris_at_earthlink.net>
Date: Fri, 12 Dec 2003 14:17:22 -0000


Ted Peterson wrote:
>
> I'm glad you are having success with ACT. However, unless you
have added some kind of input into your tea, the basic properties of
tea will not cure any fungal infection. We tried it on grapes and
while it prevented fungal outbreak, it did nothing to plants with
established fungal infestation. The tea can be applied after
treatment and it will inhibit future outbreaks and also contribute
to the overall plant health.

Reply:

Ted, could you clarify what you mean by cure/did nothing here? Not
to split hairs, but no fungicide "cures" fungal outbreaks; they can
only stop the disease from spreading and halt the progress of the
disease. What damage is done, is done, regardless of the way you
try to stop it. But in saying that, I don't want to miss exactly
what your experience was in using tea on grapes. Does "did nothing"
mean that the plants continued to decline and showed further
evidence of infection? Thanks for the additional info.

Ted said:

Eventually, for turf systems, you can apply it as little as once a
year or less. The plants will work with the SFW and take care of
themselves.

I reply:

In a conversation with Steve Diver the other day, he was talking
about the kind of pest pressure someone on an irrigated arod climate
agricultural field sees compared to someone in the Northeast where
heat and humidity and frequent rainfall tend to correlate to
increased experience of fungal diseases.

It became clear to me that when I am listening to people either
explain their own experiences with tea or prescribe to others what
they should do, some key questions are: what soil type and condition
are you working in, what were starting conditions (compaction, soil
fertility, moisture levels, what was previous land use history ,
what climate are you working in?

Some clear, hard comparative thinking is also in order: If the
person lives on the desert where disease presssure is relatively low
and sprays once a month, does that mean if I live in Mississippi I
can spray once a month? Probably not. We have different conditions
and different disease pressures. If the desert person sprays once a
month and I have to spray once a month, does it mean my tea is bad?
Of course, that's possible and should be looked at. But it could
also mean that we are handling different sets of conditions and
problems.

I conclude that that is CRITICAL in coming to an understanding of
how to use tea in MY neck of the woods.
>
Ted said:
>> Double root zone in turf (It actually got the roots much
further. Four inches when we started to over four feet later. We
were claiming eight to ten inches but a construction crew dug down
to fix something and found turf roots at the four foot level. I
would never state to any customer that I could get his turf roots to
extend four feet. I would say we can double or tripple the root
growth. This, of course, assumes they have a traditional park root
depth of 3 - 4 inches with occasional fibers reaching down to seven -
 eight inches.)
> More than double the root mass
> Allow the conversion of thatch into food
> Broke up soil by expanding root mass
> Correctly balance the soil so the plants can more successfully
fight off disease
> Allow us to cut back water usage by _at_ 20%
>
> For grapes:
>
> Inhibit the spread and outbreak of powdery mildew
> Increase the sugar content of the grapes.

I reply:
Ted, if you would be willing to say more along these lines, I and
perhaps others would find it quite helpful to understand what your
starting point was, where the client was, what rate of tea
application and frequency you used, and any other adjunct soil/plant
management you did along with tea. I'm pretty sure you said you
were using DO meter readings and not SFI tests to get a handle on
your tea quality, so I'm assuming all we know is that it was aerobic
but maybe some idea of what you were putting in your tea would also
be of interest.


Looking forward to learning more about your experience,

Chris Reid


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Received on Fri Dec 12 2003 - 12:21:48 EST

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