Re: [compost_tea] Papaya latex
----- Original Message -----
From: Jeff Lowenfels
To: compost_tea_at_yahoogroups.com
Sent: Friday, June 18, 2004 9:10 AM
Subject: Re: [compost_tea] Papaya latex
<<Tea tree oil is one of the strongest natural antimicrobial - been used =
successfully against resistant staph aureus in hospitals, but there is plen=
ty of soil activity going on in the soils where it grows, nothing in nature=
happens in isolation>>>>
Hi Lloyd,
I am not sure I see your point. Can you help me here?
Sure, there is plenty of growth going on and the same thing applies to th=
e Papaya plant itself.....microbial activity undoubtedly helps these grown =
organically to thrive....I don't see the connection, however, between the o=
il or latex a tree produces in its fruit and the microbial activity in the =
soil. No doubt there is great interplay between fallen fruit and the soil =
foodweb, but you cannot necessarily link what is in the fruit, or bark etc =
with what is going on in a plant's rizosphere. Lloyd, your analogy applies =
to the Aloe plant which was the source of the original concern...
Cheers,
Jeff
Cheers,
We started here>
>A friend of mine has papaya trees (Carica papaya) in the tropical Caribb=
ean area of Costa Rica. He prepares some dishes with green papaya. He pee=
ls the fruit and applies those residual peelings, full with papaya latex, d=
irectly to the soil, expecting they act as a "natural" fertilizer.
I think that the latex, which is corrosive and irritating for human skin,=
may damage the soil. At least he should prepare some compost with the pee=
lings before applying it to the soil.
Yours>Based on this and the other stuff I found, I agree with your assesm=
ent. However, properly composted, it might be fine????
Mine> Interesting but just because papaya is an effective antimicrobial o=
utside its natural environment doesnt necessarily mean it is harmful to soi=
l organisms.
We'd expect fallen fruit to be a part of the natural cycle = not harmfu=
l to the soil, why then to worry about a few peelings re applied to similar=
soil? Sure excess of anything is harmful (good quality compost included).=
Maybe I missed something in the meaning of these other posts?
anyway - not important - lets leave it.
L Charles
Received on Fri Jun 18 2004 - 00:11:23 EDT
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