Re: [compost_tea] "this camp v. that camp"
Good posts all, especially John's.
I am getting a lot of posts off list about this "two camps" stuff. Many
don't know what this is all about. If you are bored by this, simply
skip the post.
I really don't want to beat a dead horse, but I think this subject
merits a bit more discussion. The idea that there are two camps..
doesn't capture it, WHY needs to be discussed.
The division seems to be those who believe in SFI type testing vs
those who believe in plate testing to prove the efficacy of their
aerated compost teas. This is not really true. The division is between
those who don't want to see that using SFI testing, you can improve
your machines and your tea.
This is sometimes put as SFI vs BBC, the two proponent labs. But I
think it all started because Soil Soup and Growing Solutions machines
didn't show very good fungi when tested by SFI. SFI did lots of tests
and figured out why the fungal numbers were low....one case was a
bioslime build-up and the other was an mechanical slicer and a
too-thick compost sock. Using BBC tests, no problems were indicated. In
the case of the Growing Solutions machine, a simple fix corrected the
problem. In the case of the Soil Soup machine, there wasn't a great
fix because of the impeller.
Not knowing any of this, I tested the Soil Soup machine extensively. It
was my first manufactured brewer and I was so excited about the soil
foodweb and wanted very much to be able to give my readers something in
the organic arena..(I write a newspaper column among other things). I
tested it on several different kinds of seedlings...cilantro,
marigolds, cosmos come to mind. I got the exact same growth when I
used the teas I made vs just the soil soup nutrient. In fact, in some
of the plants the nutrient did better. It is a great "fertilizer."
Then I started making homemade brewers as per Doc Elaine's article
several years back. Using the same recipes, I would test my homemade vs
the Soil Soup. I sent in tests "blind" and can still remember Dr.
Elaine asking what kind of machine was I using because of the cryptic
nomenclature I used. I kept sending in tests. I was able to improve my
homemade brewed teas, but not the Soil Soup's.
And just so you understand, once I found out the machine had a problem
with the sock, I tested a tea with a nylon sock and got a little better
results in the bacteria. I also added air to the sock using a bubbler.
(I would have let the compost go free, but it will kill the motor of
the Soil Soup machine in a jiffy if you do).
Believe me, I was not trying to prove the Soil Soup machine didn't make
good teas....it was the only affordable machine on the market and I
really, really wanted to figure out how to make it work. Fellow garden
writer Ann Lovejoy was so enthusiastic about it and the inventor was a
fellow Garden Writer Association member as well as are the PR folks he
uses to help promote his produc. I spent hundreds, if not over a
thousand dollars on this effort in tests and countless hours.
Somewhere along the line, Dr. Elaine appeared and I got her FIRST
compost tea manual and saw that she had the same poor test results on
the Soil Soup machine. I stopped wasting money. It was clear that the
machine made a tea based more on the nutrients you put in than the
compost. It was better than using chemicals and 'worked' in that
regard. However, by then The KIS, Alaska Bounty and BobOlator were on
the market, as cheap as the Soil Soup and with test results the proved
them to be far, far superior.
As for plate testing, I have no doubt that specific fungi and bacteria
can be shown to exist in a tea using them. And this may be helpful to
deal with specific diseases. But it doesn't take a scientist.. though I
have formal scientific training, to understand that providing only one
nutrient will only grow a very limited set of microbes. The type of
testing soil foodweb labs engages tell you so much more...the
difference is as great as that between a still picture and a movie. I
have no beef with plate testing and there are plenty of people who
don't use soil soup machines who plate test..including many members of
this listserve. But this is not really the problem. The problem is that
normally when you do a better test and it shows you can improve
something but you refuse to acknowledge the results claiming the
simpler test is sufficient, then you are not facing reality. This would
be fine if you live in your own world, but once you push off your
machines and teas on an unsuspecting public is wrong. And, it is not
good for those of us who really see a future for compost tea. One bad
lawsuit, one bad article and the whole industry gets in trouble....look
at the e coli controversy.
So if there are two camps, then I am proud to be in the one that does
the most complete testing....and, incidently that includes doing plate
tests when they are going to be helpful and useful.
Cheers,
Jeff L
Plant a Row in your garden to feed the hungry. Join Plant A Row for the
Hungry. Ask me how. www.gwaa.org/Par/index.html
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Received on Sun Aug 01 2004 - 19:55:06 EDT
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: Tue Feb 07 2012 - 14:15:25 EST